The windmill competition was a part of teaching and learning activities, arranged for freshmen in engineering program, of Principles of Physics I course, in academic year 2018, at Walailak University.
This activity had arrived after a lecturer questioned the students about "power" of a Dutch wind turbine operated pumping water, under steady wind flow and at a certain height. The students were reluctant to answer. Moreover, they misunderstood that the power efficiency increases as weight of water increases.
In basic theory, the power (P) of a wind turbine operated pumping water can be determined from energy (E) per unit time (t): P = E/t. For gravitational potential energy, P = mgh/t, when m is mass, g is gravitational acceleration, and his height. Therefore, lifting to the same height, the P. is proportionally increased with m/t.
To help the students to understand the term of power from a real situation, the windmill competition was arranged. In this competition, each team of students had to build their own windmill for lifting mass. They have to design a windmill to reach the highest power.
Windmill, Competition
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