Does it really matter what angle the solar cell makes with the incoming sunlight? If so, does it matter much? When the sun moves across the sky, solar cells on a house receive different amounts of sunlight. You’re going to find out exactly how much this varies by building your own solar boat.
We’re going to use solar cells and the basic ideas from Unit 10 (Electricity & Robotics) to build a solar-powered race car. You’ll need to find these items below. Note – if you have trouble locating parts, check the shopping list for information on how to order it straight from us.
- Solar motor
- Solar cell
- Foam block (about 6” long)
- Alligator clip leads
- Propeller (you can rip one off an old small personal fan or old toy, or find them at hobby stores)
Here’s what you do:
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where do you get solar motors?
Yes – whatever you have to cut the foam. If yo use a razor, have an adult help you because it’s easy to get slip and get cut.
could you use a knife insted of a razor.
Moira Anne Swick 🙂
Thanks for the feedback. Usually the answer is no, but technically you can measure a voltage even on cloudy days. Since clouds don’t block all sunlight (otherwise it’d be pitch dark when it was cloudy, and it’s not), I will get that fixed and you can happily say for all realistic purposes, the answer is “no” since it doesn’t generate useful energy in real life.
Thank you so much Aurora! I really appreciate your help!! Please bear with me for one last question…in regards to question #4- “Do solar panels work in cloudy climates?”, the official answer that is listed when you download the “student worksheet and exercises” is actually yes…which totally surprised me and is why I tried explained to my children that they must work because they can store energy from sunny days…but honestly that was just my guess as I was trying to make sense of what I thought should be a “no.” The reading section also highlights the fact that the fastest growing markets for solar panels are up north so that also made me think my initial reaction of “no” was wrong. So, is the official answer “no”?? If it is, that certainly makes more sense to me! Perhaps the worksheet answers have a typo that needs to be fixed?? Again, I cannot thank you enough for your help and your wonderful science curriculum!
The questions you are asking about are these:
1.What kind of electricity comes from a battery and photovoltaic cell? (I should change this to ENERGY, so it’s a little more clear…)
c.Electrochemical (This is covered in units 3, 8, 10 and 12 where we do experiments making LEDs light up by inserting electrodes into different solutions. A battery uses a chemical reaction to create electricity by separating the molecules in the solution (which causes the parts of the molecule now separated to take on a positive or negative charge), which are then attracted to one of the electrodes in the solution. Here;s a couple of experiments you may want to check out:
Salty Battery Experiment
Electrolytes Experiment
2.Electricity is another name for the free flow of:
d.Electrons (this is covered in Unit 10, which is usually covered before you get to this experiment in unit 12).
3.True or false: Ions are attracted to the same charge.
a.True (this is covered in Units 3 and 8 on electrochemistry, as they are the positive and negative charges of a chemical. In solar cell, it’s the material that the cell is made out of that becomes ionized as the electrons (negative charge) are bumped out due to sunlight, making the material positively charged.)
4.Do solar panels work in cloudy climates?
b.No (They do technically work to generate a voltage, but the performance is not anything useful.) 🙂
Thank you so much for getting back to me! First of all, I meant to say this in my last post, my kids and I love your science curriculum!! 😀 Up until now, we have never had a problem answering and completing the worksheets as long as the kids listen to the video, do the reading section and read any information located on the individual experiment page. But, I do not know how to help them answer the 4 questions at the end of the solar car lesson. I looked through all of the additional material, but I did not see anything that clearly explained what kind of electricity comes from a battery and photovoltaic cell or whether or not ions are attracted to the same charge. The electricity question is kind of common sense I suppose and you could extrapolate the answer about whether or not solar cells work on cloudy days based on the fact that they are storing energy, but I was hoping for something that my kids could read and say “ah-ha!” There is the answer. Are the answers in the teleclass that you mentioned?? Which one is it and where can I find it?? My kids LOVED this experiment so I really want them to understand the answers to those four questions. Thank you for your help!
Thanks for writing so I can help. First of all, the unit has many different ways to learn the key concepts. There are 2 lessons in unit 12, each with their own objectives as listed on the main page, which are covered by the reading content, teleclass, and experiment section (which has additional info below the videos). there’s also the question box for when you have questions above and beyond what’s covered…
So is there a specific question about solar cells that came up?
Hi Aurora! My kids loved doing the solar boat experiment, but we are all feeling extremely frustrated with the minimal reading section and the questions. I looked at the additional link that you put above, but honestly I am having a very hard time finding any answers myself, let alone having my fourth graders try to find the information that they need. I really like Supercharged Science because I love the hands on approach, but I am frustrated with the lack of independence for my kids, especially in simply trying to understand these concepts and answer the multiple choice questions for this awesome experiment. Any advice on what they can read to fully understand what they have done and be able to answer the 4 main questions on their own??? Thank you in advance for your help! -Lauren
Sure thing! Do you remember how to? We offer propellers to folks that post a review of our program. You’ll want to contact us with info on where you posted it so we can verify it for you. Contact us directly at [email protected] for the details.
can i get a propeller