Great Neck South High, Great Neck, NY

The United States is highlydependent on electricity. Most of this electricity comes from burning fossil fuels. As the world's supply of fossil fuels diminishes and the waste products accumulates in the atmosphere, harming all organisms, the United States must find alternative sources of energy. Some of the sources of energy that the country is using are nuclear fission, moving water, wind, tides, geothermal, vents, biomass,the sun, and photovoltaic cells.

The best way to produce electricity would be to use the least amount of energy and to have the least amount of waste produced. With this in mind, we designed a self-contained, hydraulic system utilizing the energy in a spring and the concept of capillarity.

In the apparatus we designed, a pistol-spring system creates pressure gradients at the ends of vertical tubes. This pressure gradient draws water up the tubes to a height from which it will fall to turn a turbine to generate electricity.Capillary tubes are used to continue the cycle of creating the pressure gradient.

This is a good way of generating electricity mainly because it is cyclic. It requires a minimal amount of energy input which is needed only because of loss due to friction. The water is constantly reused within the system and there are no waste products.