Year 8 STEM: Designing Propellers

This week our Year 8 STEM class looked at why propeller ducts could be used to improve the efficiency of their drone propellers. They watched and were debriefed on several videos which introduced them to the Bernoulli Principle.

A great activity to showcase the Bernoulli Principle was when the students were given a thin strip of paper and asked to blow air over the top of the paper. Before doing this, they were asked what they thought might happen.

When the students blew air over the top, the moving air had to squeeze between the paper and the air above it. As the air squeezed through, it sped up, lost pressure, and stopped pushing as hard. The still air below the paper had greater pressure and pushed the paper up.

In addition to learning about the Bernoulli Principle, students had their first chance to design their propeller duct. Students were given modelling clay to create their prototype. These models were then placed in the oven and baked hard. While the clay models were baking, students then modelled their ducts using TinkerCAD.  

Next week, our class will look at other designs to create to improve the efficiency of their drone motors.

Mr Wesley Warner, Head of Department – Innovation, Entrepreneurialism and Business