Available online
Description
A toy truck opens the programme and Raymond Mackintosh demonstrates its ability to store energy. He reveals that the energy is stored in a rotating flywheel, an idea which is far from new, as attes...ted by a giant flywheel on an oid pumping engine. Ray explains how this is also used as an energy store. However, flywheels for storing energy find use for more than toys and. antique steam engines, they are becoming the subject of increased interest in hybrid vehicles. But just how much energy can a given flywheel store? To begin to answer this, Alan Durrant demonstrates with a windmill model how the distribution of mass is important to determining energy storage. This point is taken up quantitatively by Ray who derives a formula for the kinetic energy of a windmill and extends his ideas to the kinetic energy of a general rotating body. Ray then speaks to Dr. Cliff Burrows of the University of Sussex about his work on modern flywheel systems and he explains the various ways in which energy storage can be maximised - though one must be careful about the wheel flying apart, a point which allows Alan to revise some points relating to motion in a circle. Finally, Ray ends by looking at a gigantic flywheel - our own Earth. The Earth & the Moon are slowing down, but that requires a knowledge of angular momentum to explain and that's the subject of the next unit.
A toy truck opens the programme and Raymond Mackintosh demonstrates its ability to store energy. He reveals that the energy is stored in a rotating flywheel, an idea which is far from new, as attes...ted by a giant flywheel on an oid pumping engine. Ray explains how this is also used as an energy store. However, flywheels for storing energy find use for more than toys and. antique steam engines, they are becoming the subject of increased interest in hybrid vehicles. But just how much energy can a given flywheel store? To begin to answer this, Alan Durrant demonstrates with a windmill model how the distribution of mass is important to determining energy storage. This point is taken up quantitatively by Ray who derives a formula for the kinetic energy of a windmill and extends his ideas to the kinetic energy of a general rotating body. Ray then speaks to Dr. Cliff Burrows of the University of Sussex about his work on modern flywheel systems and he explains the various ways in which energy storage can be maximised - though one must be careful about the wheel flying apart, a point which allows Alan to revise some points relating to motion in a circle. Finally, Ray ends by looking at a gigantic flywheel - our own Earth. The Earth & the Moon are slowing down, but that requires a knowledge of angular momentum to explain and that's the subject of the next unit.
| Module code and title: | S271, Discovering physics |
|---|---|
| Item code: | S271; 03 |
| First transmission date: | 17-03-1982 |
| Published: | 1982 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | John Stratford |
| Contributors: | Cliff Burrows; Alan Durrant; Raymond Mackintosh |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Earth; Engine; Flywheel; Kinetic energy; Mass distribution; Model; Pumping; Toy truck; Windmill |
| Master spool number: | HOU3839 |
| Production number: | FOUS227T |
| Videofinder number: | 1782 |
| Available to public: | no |
