The solar cell collects the Sun’s energy.

The area of the solar cell matters

You can test this out using a lamp in the

laboratory

So how can we investigate only part of the cell area without damaging it?

Let’s use a mask to cover some of the solar cell area

The Sun shines down at an angle, does this affect the energy the

solar buggy can store?

You can test this out using a lamp in the

laboratory

The Sun is so far away that

the angle doesn’t matter

OK, but we need to think about how to measure angles

Clouds block out light from the Sun. Will the buggy work on cloudy

days?

You can test this out using a lamp in the

laboratory

We can’t make clouds in our

school lab

OK, but we need to think about how to simulate clouds between our lamp

and solar cell

Does the energy the buggy stores

depend on the colour of the light?

You can test this out using a lamp in the

laboratory

We don’t have lamps of

different colours in our lab

OK, but we need to think about how to

change the colour of the light striking the

solar cell

Does the type of lamp used to light the buggy affect how it works?

You can test this out using

different lamps in the laboratory

Old style light bulbs get a lot

hotter than energy saving

ones

Maybe not all of the energy from the bulb

is visible light

The solar cell collects the Sun’s energy.

The brightness of the Sun matters

You can test this out using a lamp in the

laboratory

So how can we investigate how the brightness of light affects the solar cell?

The light gets dimmer as you

move away from a lamp

The solar cell collects the Sun’s energy.

How long it is in light matters

You can test this out using a lamp in the

laboratory

So how can we investigate how

the time the buggy is in light affects the solar

buggy?

We will have to make sure the

investigation is fair