An Energy Playground

Laboratory
Engineering Challenge: An Energy Playground

Using Human Power

People expend a lot of energy walking, running, riding bicycles and lifting things. In playgrounds children run around, climb, jump and move pieces of equipment like swings, see-saws and merry-go-rounds. Some people go to a gym where they lift weights, run on treadmills and ride bicycles that don’t go anywhere.

What if all this energy could be harnessed to do work that is now being done by using conventional sources of energy?

Could we

• Connect a bicycle to an electric generator?
• Use a see-saw to lift something?
• Use a merry-go-round to power a ventilation system?

Here is a picture of a see-saw driven water pump in a village in Thailand.

The bicycles in the background also drive water pumps.  The water is drawn from the pond and delivered to a terraced garden nearby where it is used to water plants.

The Energy Playground

Design a playground or gym where human energy is captured and used to do work. 

Build a working prototype based on your design.

Or, design any device that captures human energy – motion or heat – and uses it for some purpose.

Look at the web sites and projects listed below to find examples, information and ideas that may help you with your project.

PDF Version of this Experiment