Our topic in class is renewable energy. We visited Whitelee Wind Farm to find out more about wind energy. It is located in the Eaglesham Moors. It has 215 turbines that turn wind energy into electricity.
There are three different types of blades 40, 45 and 50 metres. The turbines are 110 and a 140 metres tall. All of the turbines can supply electricity for half of Glasgow. A wind turbine can spin up to 180 miles per hour but it depends on the speed of the wind. If you walked half of the farm it would be 10 miles.
While we were there we split into two groups to do some activities. At the learning hub we did the windworks experiment. We used a fan, metre stick, energy metre, light and mini turbine to find out the best amount and shape of blades on a turbine. There were spoon, paddle, square and rectangle blades to test. We had to make sure all the blades were angled at 40 degrees. We recorded all of our results and most groups found the spoon or the rectangle were the best to use. They don’t use these on the turbines though because they are too heavy. They use three paddle blades instead.
We also got to go on a tour of the farm with Andy. We found out that all the turbines have numbers. There are people that fix the blades but they have to be switched off for them to go inside. There is a transformer attached to the turbine that changes the energy. The nose of the turbine always faces the way the wind is blowing.
We really liked the tour of the turbines because we got to hear lots of interesting facts and we got to get up close and hug a turbine! We also liked the experiment because we got to use lots of equipment to find our results. It was fun to try an experiment we haven’t done before.
