Early Engineers opened the floodgates of building fun this week with this lesson on civil engineering and hydroelectric power!
A dam is a structure created to restrict and control the flow of water. Dams serve many roles, but are created primarily to help combat damage caused by flooding. Many dams are also equipped with turbines and a hydroelectric power station so that they can also generate electricity from the flow of the water. Almost all dams have something called a spillway, which is used in case of overflow and to help prevent erosion downstream.
Our Early Engineers used cardboard tubes to form the spillways in their model K'NEX dams. Once these were in place, our intrepid innovators installed moving "turbines" with rotating K'NEX pieces. In this way, our bold builders were able to simulate the real process in which hydroelectric power is created in a dam!
We hope your little builder enjoyed this civil engineering challenge. Join us again next week, where we'll explore new worlds with a radical new CitiBloc build!
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