Science Hurumanu: Measuring Weather

Wind power|Conservation|Sustainability
              
         Extreme weather|Measuring weather

Definitions:

1. Anemometer: Is an instrument which measures the wind.
2.  Beaufort Wind Scale:  It is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observe conditions at sea or on land. 

Materials:

1.  Sellotape
2.  Pencil
3.   2 Pencils
4.   4 cups
5.  Pin

Steps:

1. Sellotape the sticks to the cups
2. Sellotape the sticks together to make a cross
3. Pin the cross to the rubber on the pencil   

Group Investigation:

 Group Sizes: 5

Roles:

• Timekeeper
• Counter
• Recorder
• Anemometer Manager
• Wind Manager

1. Mount the anemometer in a place that has full access to the wind from all directions.
2. When the time keeper says "Go", the counter in each group will count how many times the marked cup passes them in one minute and write it down. 
3. Repeat the above step four (4) times and record the number of spins on the chart.

FINDINGS

• Record how many times it spins and record it in the table below.

• You will need to time them and count the number of spins.

	Place name on school grounds	Number of Spins in 15 seconds
1.	Field	20
2.	Old J Block site	15
3.	Grass hill in squad	10
4.	Tennis court gate	3

       

WHICH IS THE WINDiEST AREA AND WHY?

 WHICH IS THE CALMEST AREA AND WHY?

WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE ON LAND TO BUILD A WINDMILL?

Conclusion:

On the old J Block site, the Anemometer spun 60 spins per minute. It had a wind speed of 13-20 kph. This speed is 3 on the Beaufort Scale.

On the Grass Hill in the squad, the Anemometer spun 40 spins per minute. It had a wind speed of 2-5 kph. This speed is 1 on the Beaufort Scale. (Shown by direction of wind smoke drift, but not by wind vanes.)

On the Tennis Court gate, the Anemometer spun 12 spins per minute. It had a wind speed of 2-5 kph. This speed is 1 on the Beaufort Scale.

According to the data, the most spins on the Anemometer is on the field, with 80 spins per minute and it had a wind speed of 13-20 kph. The least spins on the Anemometer was by the Tennis Court gate, it spun only 12 spins per minute. It had a wind speed of 2-5 kph. 

Based on your findings what was the Wind Speed and the Beaufort Wind Force for each area.

	Spins per minute	Wind speed ( kph)	Beaufort Scale
Field	80	13-20 kph	3
Old J Block site	60	13-20 kph	3
Grass hill	40	2-5 kph	1
Tennis Court Gate	12	2-5 kph	1