It was a cool morning on Tuesday, March 6 when Pete Kontaxes, physics teacher at Laramie High School, took his Physics 1 class to see the wind turbine at LCCC.  “We’re learning about electricity, Noam’s Law, magnetism and motors, which are all incorporated in a turbine,” told Kontaxes.  Instructor Mike Schmidt gave the class a tour of the turbine and all its mechanics.

            The 16-year-old turbine recently came into the hands of LCCC a few years ago.  “It was pretty old when they got it, considering an average turbine lasts for about twenty years.  But it was repaired and refurbished so it makes it worth it.”  Not only does to the wind turbine cleanly produce electricity, but it also serves as a handy teaching tool. 

            LCCC now has a two-year wind turbine technician program to get full use out of their resources. Quite often classes from LCCC go out to their turbine and take a look at how the machine works and perform routine maintenance.

            Kontaxes is hoping to take his Physics 2 class to visit the turbine on Wednesday, March 8.  The whole basis of the wind turbine is physics, so naturally Kontaxes hopes that the class will be able to take valuable information away from their trip.  

            “I even learned new stuff!  I didn’t know that there is a 20 feet deep concrete, mushroom-shaped base under the ground.  It makes sense though with all that torque from the wind,” said Kontaxes.