Hydroelectricity

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/hydroelectricity

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the environmental mitigation?Includes fish ladders, sediment management, and ecological impact assessments
2. What is hydroelectricity and how does it make electricity from water?It uses moving water to spin turbines, which then turn generators to produce clean electricity.
3. Why do dams need a big height of water, called the head?The higher the water, the more potential energy it has, which turns into more power when it flows down.

Head: The vertical distance between the water surface in the reservoir and the turbine, determining potential energy.
Dispatchable Power: Electricity generation that can be quickly increased or decreased to match demand.
Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity: A system using two reservoirs to store energy by pumping water uphill and releasing it to generate power.