What’s all the hype about “Alternative Energy”? Are there really better ways of making the same energy for less? Absolutely! One of the biggest challenges we have right now is how to extract the energy that’s already around us. For example, the amount of energy in a gallon of water could power all of the USA for a year, if we only knew how to harness it safely.
There are many different forms of energy floating around you right now: solar batteries capture the heat and light energy from the sun and store it for later use; geothermal energy uses the difference in temperature to do work; the energy from rushing winds and rivers can be used to turn a motor; and the energy inside light waves themselves can be tapped into so you can hear radio signals using a battery-free radio.
We’re going to cover all this and more, including how to get energy from the water molecule to power a vehicle AND how to build robots that use only solar power (and never need a battery recharge!) Are you ready? Then let’s start with this video:
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Sure – you can get batteries if you need DC (like lantern batteries or car chargers), or find someone who can let you borrow a generator for AC (these are big, loud machines that burn gasoline), or find someone with an inverter (someone who needs power and doesn’t have access to it in the field, like a construction person or a ranger. How much power are you needing?
Thank you for your time in answering my question however I still have a problem, I need a lamp to generate electricity but the science fair that I am going to is indoors and there is no outlets. do you have any other ideas or things that I could buy to store the electricity for over an hour?
Thank you.
XV, age 11
Wow – that sounds fantastic! I am looking forward to hearing more about your project as you progress along. So, the answer to your question about storing energy – the answer is both yes and no.
The bad news is that it usually requires a complicated circuit to include a storage method for energy.
The good news is that all the BEAM robots use this concept (Unit 12), and I highly recommend taking a look at those and see if you can modify the engine circuit to use with your house. It’s a very simple circuit that uses capacitors to store energy until they fill up (hit a threshold), and then dump out the circuit. You can change this threshold limit by changing the voltage regulator.
Try these:
https://www.sciencelearningspace2.com/2010/05/beam-robots/
https://www.sciencelearningspace2.com/2010/05/beam-robot-solar-roller/
https://www.sciencelearningspace2.com/2010/05/trimet/
Hi Aurora,
I am building a project for a science fair. It is going to be miniature scale model house where everything is run by solar power. I am using a lamp for my light source to make my solar panels power 2 LEDs and a solar motor. I would like to know if there is a way to store the energy generated by the solar cell so I could keep my LEDs lit even when there is no light source on the the solar cell. I have an outdoor solar powered garden light that I have taken apart and can use. It has a rechargeable battery, solar panel, LED, CdS cell and a small circuit board.
Thank you for your time!
XV, age 11
Do you mean “on” as in collecting sunlight? That’s the way it’s wired – it sits around until it gathers enough energy to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen gases, and then I’ll flip a switch to reverse this process and the cell will combine the two gases to make water and energy to spin the wheel. But since this video was shot indoors under fluorescent lights, it would take FOREVER to get enough energy from the lamps to make this fuel cell car work. Sunlight is much better.
why is your car on the table on?