Surrey Library Lab: Make a Water Wheel

Waterwheels have been used in the past to power machinery, like in Victorian mills, but today they can be used to make electricity. Hydro power accounts for 71% of the world’s renewable energy output. Although not used as much in the UK, where it accounts for only 18% of the country’s renewable energy, it is used more in China, Brazil, Canada, USA and Russia

You may need an adult to help you with parts of this activity!

The first thing that you need to do is cut out 2 circles out of thick cardboard. You might want to use something like a plate as a template to help you cut out your circles.

The next thing that we are going to do is get our plastic cups and arrange them evenly around one of the circles. This will help you work out how many cups you are going to need. In this example I have used 8, but you may need more or less depending on the size of your cardboard circle.

You now need to make some holes around the edge of the cardboard circle at equal distances, where the plastic cups are positioned

You now need to make a hole in your plastic cup approximately 2cm down from the top. Make a second hole on the opposite side of the plastic cup and repeat this on each cup. Every plastic cup should have 2 holes, on opposite sides, near the top.

Thread a split pin through the plastic cup and then through the cardboard circle. Repeat this around the entire cardboard circle and make a hole in the middle of the circle

You now need to add the back of the water wheel. Make holes in the second cardboard circle at equal distances around the edge, like you did with the first cardboard circle and make a hole in the centre of the circle. Then thread a split pin through the plastic cup and through the cardboard circle to attach the back. Repeat this through all of the plastic cups