Hydroelectric+Dam+Power

BY MALLORY CUTLER, ALLY GILLIS, AND JACKIE DIFFLEY
 * HYDROELECTRIC DAM POWER...Get Water Logged on Hydroelectric Power **


 * Hydroelectric dam power is basically just a type of hydroelectric power. Using a dam is the way to help gain the energy. Hydropower is a renewable energy. It is renewable because water can never be thrown away and consistently goes through a cycle making it replenish fast and easy. It generates electricity and claims 2.5% of the United States’ energy consumption. [1] **
 * The electricity is produced by the power source which is falling water. That source is used to turn a turbine, which then turns a metal shaft in an electric generator, which is the motor that produces electricity. The task is to build a dam on a large river that has a large drop in elevation. The dam stores lots of water behind it in a reservoir. Near the bottom of the dam wall there is the water intake. Gravity causes it to fall through the penstock inside the dam. At the end of the penstock there is a turbine propeller, which is turned by the moving water. The shaft from the turbine goes up into the generator, which produces the power. Power lines are connected to the generator that carries electricity to houses. The water continues past the propeller through the tailrace into the river past the dam. [2] **

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 * **This video can teach you all about Hoover Dam. It gives examples of how energy is in real life and some comparasines. It also provides some consquences on what problems may arise.** ||

[4]
 * **This picture clearly shows how energy is produced and where those steps occur** . ||

**RECENT NEWS ARTICLE** [|"Hydroelectric Power"] "plugging a toaster in" requires "driving water". It also teaches different ways hydroelectric energy can be produced.** ||
 * **This article teaches the connections between little energy matters such as


 * Hydroelectric Power: How it works **

  · · ** In step 4, the transformation is from kinetic energy from the water to the turbine into electrical energy from when the generator turns on. ** · ** In step 5, the transformation is kinetic energy from the turbine into electrical energy. **
 * 1) **Water is held back in a reservoir by a dam. **
 * 2) Water comes up to a dam and is now gaining pressure, which makes the flow to speed up because it has a smaller opening to flow through.
 * 3) Once the water makes its way through the dam, in the middle, it comes across a turbine
 * 4) The water strikes and turns the large blades of a turbine, which is attached to a generator above it by way of a shaft.
 * 5) The genorator creates electric energy from the turbine.
 * 6) The transformer inside the powerhouse takes the AC and converts it to higher-voltage current.
 * 7) Out of every power plant come four wires: the three phases of power being produced simultaneously plus a neutral or ground common to all three
 * 8) Used water is carried through pipelines, called tailraces, and re-enters the river downstream. [1]
 * Conservations of energy **


 * Advantage & Disadvantages **


 * Advantages: **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. Dams can store rain water or water directly from the river itself. Then, in case of a drought, the dam will still have a relatively constant supply of water. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. Produces Power. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">3. Controls flooding & provides recreational activities such as boating, fishing and swimming. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">4. Simple design makes for inexpensive repairs and maintenance costs. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">5. Produce inexpensive (after completion) and clean power. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">6. Renewable energy source, because the water is not destroyed by passing through the dam. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">7. If needed, dams can be shut down instantly, where thermal plants take hours, and nuclear plants can take days. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">8. Very few breakdowns. **


 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Disadvantages: **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">1. Hydroelectric power production requires flooding of entire valleys and scenic areas. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">2. Disrupts natural seasonal changes in the river, and ecosystems can be destroyed. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">3. Ends flooding that help to clean out the silt in rivers, causing them to clog. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">4. Studies show that the plant decay caused downstream of major dams produces as many greenhouse gasses as more conventional methods of producing electricity. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">5. Dams are expensive to build, and due to drought may become useless, or produce much less power than originally planned. **
 * <span style="color: #0080ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">6. Dams can break in a massive flash flood. [2] **


 * Vocabulary **
 * Hydroelectric- the generation of electricity using flowing water. **
 * Turbines- a machine that produces power in which a wheel or rotor is made to revolve by a fast- moving flow of water. **
 * Dam- a barrier made of concrete that is constructed to hold back water. **
 * Power-energy that is produced by mechanical and electrical devices [2] **

[1]= Perlman, Howard. Hydroelectric Power: How it Works. U.S Apartment of Interior and U.S Geological Survey. March 29, 2010. April 11, 2010. []. [2]= Renewable Hydropower. U.S Energy Information Administration. 4/11/10. []. [3]= New Hoover Dam. National Geographic. YouTube. 2010. [4]= Kornberg, Guy. Hydroelectric Power. Hydroelectric Power. []. 4/11/10.
 * Footnotes **