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[Dino and Coop singing]

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Guess what?

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Today's video isn't going to be about boring old study techniques. [Kid at his desk with his eyes shut]

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No, siree!

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Today, we're going to be making water wheels out of plastic cups! [Picture of a water wheel]

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Feel free to hit pause and go laugh at your friends who are learning about boring old

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study techniques.

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…Got it out of your system? [Kid gloating to his friend who is gloating]

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Good.

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But before we get to the construction part, let's get that whole "education" thing out

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of the way...

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Why are we building a water wheel today? [Guy looking confused]

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Aside from it being fun, of course.

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Because a water wheel is basically a miniature example of how hydropower works. [Pictures of big water wheels]

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Hydropower uses fast-moving water to spin large wheels or turbines.

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The energy generated here is then converted into electricity. [Each component of the water wheel is highlighted]

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It's a sustainable form of energy, and a popular one at that. [Phone at the bottom of of a sink]

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So let's hop to it!

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First things first, the ingredients to our water wheel recipe:

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One water and one wheel.

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…Okay fine it's a little more complicated than that. [The glass of water is chucked onto a ship wheel]

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For each water wheel, we'll need...

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4 Styrofoam plates, a pencil, a plastic straw, ten small plastic cups, a roll of masking

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tape, some string, and radioactive plutonium! [Guy in a biohazard suit with a barrel appears]

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Wait no, not that.

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Put that away.

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Where did you even…never mind.

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Alrighty, presumably, you have all those materials ready to go….

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Step one, take two of your plates and tape them back to back... [The plates being taped together]

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Like so.

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Next, we've got to find the very center of this plate wheel of ours by balancing it on

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the eraser end of a pencil, look at that! [Plate being balanced on the pencil]

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Once you can balance it, then bingo!

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You've found the center!

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And it's there that you'll want to punch a hole through the plates with a pencil tip.

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Now go back and do the exact same thing with the other two plates. [Pictures of the steps being repeated]

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Aaaand….tahdah!

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You've got two whole plate wheels.

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Once you're done basking in the beauty of your creation, set those two wheels aside [French guy looking smug]

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for a moment.

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Now, grab that roll of masking tape and roll out about two feet of tape onto the table,

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sticky side up.

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Otherwise it's going to be a huge pain to get it off the table.

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Also be sure not to tear it off the rest of the roll, just in case you need a little more later. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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Then take nine of your plastic cups and stick them down on the tape, one after another,

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just like you see here.

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If you have one cup left over, good, we'll need that later.

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Once you've stuck all nine cups onto the tape, tear that tape off of the roll. [Row of cups attached to the tape]

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Now comes the tricky part…

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Take your strip of cups and wrap it around one of your wheels, so that all nine cups

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all face the same direction and are evenly spread out around the whole wheel. [Picture of the wheel]

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If you decide to move some cups around, now's a great chance to do it.

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Once you're happy with the placement, grab your roll and don't be afraid to go a bit

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overboard securing everything to your wheel. [Guys face and body covered in tape]

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Use a piece of tape to really stick down each cup, like so.

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You don't want anything falling off later on.

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Now that you've got your cup plate, tape your cupless plate to it, like so.

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Aw, how nice.

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It was getting a little lonely over there all by itself.

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If it looks a bit weird and imbalanced because one side of the wheel doesn't have cups, don't [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

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worry – it's supposed to look like that.

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Take that piece of string of yours and tape one end to the empty plate, and then wind

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it round and round the empty plate like you would a yo-yo.

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Once that's done, there's only one step left before we get to use this puppy – and that's [Water wheel hung on a piece of string]

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to stick your straw through the hole in the center of your plates.

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This right here is your axle.

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And bam!

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Wheel complete! [Confetti falling]

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Now it's time for you to set up your waterwheels.

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You'll want to thread some string through the center straw and then tie each end of

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the string to something nearby.

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This way, your water wheel will be suspended in the air and ready for action.

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From here, you'll place that final plastic cup right beneath it, and then tape the other [Last cup attached to the string]

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end of your string to it.

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Once you've done that, all that's left to do is get your waterwheel spinning.

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You can use a big tub of water, a funnel, or a hose, but whatever you do, pay attention! [Someone spraying their wheel with a hose]

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Yup.

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Science is pretty awesome.

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And, for a little extra fun, why not try and hose down your teacher? [Kid spraying a hose at his teacher]

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…Just kidding.

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…Kind of. [Teacher dripping wet]

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