Activity C

Read the expanded definitions below and identify the methods used.

1. A wind turbine is the modern version of the windmill. It is a device which turns the power of the wind into electricity. It is made up of five main parts: the foundation, the tower, the rotor, the nacelle, and the generator.

   • The foundation is the base on which the turbine stands and is made of concrete or steel.
   • The tower is a tall shaft usually made of steel which has to be strong enough to bear the weight of the nacelle and rotor and to withstand the stress created by the turning rotor blades, as well as the force of the wind.
   • The rotor consists of the rotor blades and the hub, which is the central part that the blades are attached to. The rotor blades, of which there are usually three, are hollow, made of composite material such as glass-fibre reinforced plastic in order to be light and strong, and shaped to be aerodynamic. They are attached to the hub which directs the energy created by the blades to the nacelle and the generator.
   • The nacelle holds much of the wind turbine’s machinery, including the rotor shaft, gearbox, brake, and generator.
   • The generator converts the wind (kinetic) energy captured by the rotor blades into electric energy.

2. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is the process of producing a solid object by laying down layers of material, such as plastic, according to a digital model. The first ever 3D printer was patented in the 1980s by Chuck Hall who used a technique called ‘Stereolithography’, the curing and hardening of photosensitive resin layer by layer to build up an object.

   3D printing differs from regular 2D printing in that it is a process of making an object out of some material while 2D printing is the process of putting an image on paper.