Students will be introduced to hydroelectric energy. Students will learn how the depth and width of a "reservoir" affects the potential energy of water to do work.

 

Students will use Google Earth to examine diverse dams in the world and infer why dams are placed near population centers. Students will use the measurement tool to measure dam widths and the distances from each dam to nearby population centers.

 

Students will use My World GIS or Web GIS to examine and query features of hydroelectric dams in the United States. Students will examine a shape file of 1,184 hydroelectric dams and analyze dams by height of dam, year of completion, river name, state name, watershed, reservoir volume, and capacity.

 

Students will examine the 10 most powerful USA dams. Students will then create and analyze a layer of all Pennsylvania dams. Students will query Pennsylvania dams by height of dam, year of completion, river name, state name, watershed, reservoir volume, and capacity.