How to Build Your Own Wind Speed Sensor

You can make a working anemometer from small paper cups and a few other household items.

A wind speed sensor, also known as an anemometer, can be complex or simple. You can make a simple anemometer with items found around the home. This project is good for kids of all ages who want to study wind. Very young students may need help with some of the steps. After you construct your anemometer, place it outside in an area open to the wind yet protected from rain and snow.

Things You'll Need

• 5 3-ounce paper cups
• Single punch hole-punch
• 2 plastic drinking straws
• Stapler
• Pencil with new eraser
• Push pin

Instructions

1. Punch a hole approximately 1 inch from the rim of a paper cut using the hole punch. Repeat in three other cups.

2. Punch four holes in the remaining paper cup. Space the holes evenly around the cup about one-quarter inch below the rim. Punch one hole in the middle of the bottom of the cup.

3. Pick up one of the cups with one hole. Push a straw through the hole until it reaches the other side. Bend the straw so that one-half of an inch is lying against the inside of the cup. Staple the bent part of the straw to the cup. Do this with the second straw and a second cup with one hole.

4. Slide the long part of one of the straws (now attached to a cup) through one of the holes in the cup with four holes. Continue to slide the straw through the cup and out the opposite hole. Do this with both straws.

5. Place an unstapled side of a straw through the side hole in a one-hole cup. Turn the cup until it is facing the opposite direction as the cup directly across from it; one opening should face right and the other left. Bend the end of the straw against the inside cup wall the same way you did on the other two cups and staple. Repeat this step with the last one-hole cup and empty straw.

6. Push a pin through the point where the straws intersect inside the cup with four holes. Take the pencil and insert it through the bottom hole of the middle cup. Push the pencil's eraser into the exposed area of the pin.

7. Secure or hold your anemometer outside while the wind is blowing. Count the number of revolutions in 10 seconds your anemometer makes. Use a chart---such as the one found on the Tracking the Weather website---to determine the wind speed.

Tips & Warnings

• The pin is sharp, always use caution when making and using your anemometer.

References

• The Franklin Institute: Make Your Own Anemometer
• Tracking the Weather: Man It's Windy Outside-Let Me Get My Anemometer
• Tornado Chaser: Make an Anemometer