Hydropower

Title: Water Wheel Powering a Millstone
Type: Diagram
Date: no date
Source: Scott F. Anfinson

Description: Before turbines were used, mills often used wooden waterwheels to create power. This diagram demonstrates how a water wheel would be used in a flour mill.

Activities:

1. Does a water wheel do the actual grinding of the wheat?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: No, the water wheel turns the main shaft which turns a series of other gears and shafts that are attached to the grinding devices in the mills.
2. Would it make any difference which way the water wheel was turning?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: It does not appear to matter in the diagram which way the wheel turns since either direction will cause the runner stone to spin, but the stones were made to grind best in only one direction.
3. What would you expect to be the effect of running too much water over the wheel? What about running too little water over it?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Too much water would spin the wheel too fast, which would run the milling machinery too fast. A slow wheel might not have enough power to make the mill work properly or at all.
4. What other industries besides flour milling could make use of a water wheel's power?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Any machinery that could make use of a spinning motion could use a water wheel. A spinning saw blade in a lumber mill is one example.