Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I need help as soon as possible, the project I'm doing is Unleash the Power of a Pinwheel for my 8th grade science project assignment due in a 2 weeks. The directions are a little unclear to what I need to do. So if you could clarify it, I gladly appreciate it. It goes:

1) You will be testing your wind turbine at five different points around the rotor, as shown in Figure 5. To mark these points on the table, do the following:

--Place a protractor so that its base is lined up directly below the point where the rotor meets the skewer and the skewer is pointing straight at 90 degrees, as shown in Figure 6, below.

--Extend and lock your measuring tape so that it is approximately 15 cm longer than the radius of your rotor.

--Hold one end of the measuring tape directly below the point where the rotor meets the skewer, and the other end of the measuring tape at the approximate points around the pinwheel, shown in Figure 5. Mark the points on the table with small sticky notes or pieces of masking tape or painter's tape
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Note: When you begin the test, you will hold the handle of your hair dryer on the sticky note and the blower end will point at the rotor. The goal is to have about 2 cm – 5 cm between the rotor and the blower. If you do not have enough room, or have too much space, then adjust your sticky notes outward or inward.

Hello JomTaco,

I'm assuming that you're working on the project described here:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p025.shtml

The part of the procedure that you’ve posted is about setting up five “stations” where you’ll place a hair dryer to power the rotor during testing. You place the protractor in line with the center of the rotor so that you can consistently mark off five different angles for the test “stations”. You use the measuring tape to set the distance from the rotor to each of the test “stations”. Line up the measuring tape at the center of the rotor and along one of the angles on the protractor. Mark the spot with tape at 15 cm from the rotor. Repeat this for the other four angles. The 15 cm distance suggested in the procedure is a starting point. You should adjust this distance based on the size of the hair dryer you’ll use as noted in the procedure.

I hope this helps. Please ask again if you have more questions.

A. Norman