Hurumanu - Science: Weather

Weather and Climate Change 

Extreme weather

Measuring weather.

Wind

Beaufort Wind Scale

Beaufort Force	Wind Speed (KPH)	Spins	Indicators	Terms Used in NWS Forecasts
0	0-2	0	Calm; smoke rises vertically.	Calm
1	2-5	10	Shown by direction of wind smoke drift, but not by wind vanes.	Light
2	6-12	40	Wind felt on face, leaves rustle; ordinary vanes moved by wind.	Light
3	13-20	80	Leaves and small twigs in constant motion; wind extends light flag.	Gentle
4	21-29	130	Raises dust and loose paper; small branches are moved.	Moderate
5	30-39	190	Small trees in leaf begin to sway; crested wavelets form on inland waters.	Fresh
6	40-50	250	Large branches in motion; whistling heard in telephone wires; umbrellas used with difficulty.	Strong
7	51-61	320	Whole trees in motion; inconvenience felt walking against the wind.	Strong
8	62-74	390	Breaks twigs off trees; generally impedes progress.	Gale
9	75-87	470	Slight structural damage.	Gale
10	88-101	550	Seldom experienced inland; trees uprooted; considerable structural damage occurs.	Whole gale
11	102-116	640	Very rarely experienced inland; accompanied by widespread damage.	Whole gale
12	117 or more	730+	Very rarely experienced; accompanied by widespread damage.	Hurricane

Wind speed - Making an anemometer.

MATERIALS 

1. Pencil with a  rubber on top
2. Cups
3. Straws
4. Pins
5. Tape

STEPS

1.   Take your straws, bind two together to make a longer straw, do that twice.
2.  When bound for extra security tape the bound part.
3.  Lay them perpendicular to each other to form a cross.
4. Bind the elongated straws together in a cross position.
5. Pin where the two centres meet into the pencil.
6. Create small insitions in the cups and stick them into the straws in the same direction, either the opening facing right or left.

Once you have made an anemometer we are going to record the wind speed.

Group size: 5

You will need:

Anemometer (above) 

Roles:

• Timekeeper
• Counter
• Recorder
• Anemometer Manager
• Wind generator

1. Mount the anemometer in a place that has full access to the wind from all directions.
2. When the timekeeper says "Go", the counter in each group will count how many times the marked cup passes them in one minute and write it down.
3. If possible, repeat the above step four (4) times and record the average number of spins on the chart.

FINDINGS

• Record how many times it spins using the table below.

You will need to create the wind yourself by blowing. Get 4 different wind speeds by blowing.

You will need to time them and count the number of spins.

	Time Interval	Number of Spins
1.	10 sec	8
2.	10 sec	9
3.	10sec	7
4.	10 sec	11

	Time Interval	Number of Spins
1.	1min	48
2.	1min	54
3.	1min	42
4.	1min	66

• Can you make a statement connecting the number of spins of your anemometer and the speed of the wind? 

CONCLUSION:

The stronger the wind the more the anemometer will spin, The first and the third rounds were fairly the same. As for the other results they were stronger than the other two. In the scale they rank up to around the 6 and 7th beaufort wind scale. The force and how strong our blows determined the number of spins that it spun at. Our blows were fairly strong therefore our results were quite high, surpassing the half mark. Meaning of that were to happen, on a larger size/natural, smalll trees and branches will begin to sway as stated in the scale.