The Wind

Today in Science we were talking about the Wind and how it is connected to the weather. We started off the exploration by looking at a picture of a palm tree on a beach which ignited a discussion about the wind. We talked about times where we have seen the wind affect something by either blowing very hard or only a little bit. The discussion also covered us talking about whether the wind is helpful or harmful. We came to the conclusion that it can be both.
- Nataya suggested that could be helpful if a tree is blocking your way and the wind could blow it out of the way.
- Taylor said that it can be helpful to make windmills spin.
- Will suggested that it can be harmful as it can blow trees down which could break things.

We then began to talk about ways in which the wind could be measured. The questions was posed to the class about if they could think of a tool that they have seen which measures the wind. This was a tricky question which nobody was able to answer so Mr. Donaldson showed us a picture to jog our memories....

After seeing this picture the students noticed that they had seen them before...
- On the side of the road
- At the airport
- Near the beach

Mr. Donaldson showed us another picture of a more complicated wind measuring tool called an Anemometer which spins either fast or slow depending on the speed of the wind.

We then set to work creating our own windsock to test the strength of the wind around the school. However we had a problem as we didn't know what material to use to make the best wind sock. To solve the problem we chose three materials of differing thickness (crepe paper, printer paper, and cardboard). After choosing one of the three (ensuring all three where being tested) we attached a strip of our material to some paddlepop sticks using some glue. Then went for a walk around the school to test them out and see which one indicated the strength of the wind the best.


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