Evaluation
Our innovation consistently outperformed the standard paddle wheel while retaining the ease of construction of a paddle wheel. The paddle wheel had an average peak voltage of 2.88 mv, while our improved bucketed wheel had an average peak voltage of 3.79 mv (see figures a and b). This water wheel could be used in a number of situations. Built on a larger scale, it could be uses for a run-of-river generator which may be useful in under-developed areas. One problem though, was the malleability of the aluminum metal used to construct the buckets. This bent easily and would lead to a variety of problems overtime. Perhaps an improvement would be to use a sturdier metal that would not require reshaping every trial. All in all, our innovation was successful as it consistently outperformed the standard paddle wheel and fulfilled our goal of improving the bucketed water wheel so that it would generate more electricity.