Category Archives: Group Experiment

Experiment Conclusion

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Below is a copy of our Handout and Powerpoint:

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The first school we had the opportunity of conducting our experiments with was the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science. We arrived a few minutes early so we decided to hang out in the main office. 15 minutes later we were indirectly “kicked out” of the office when the secretary told us we had to quite down in order for her to complete payroll assignments. I agreed, to take the group to Mr. Muller’s classroom. We arrived at the engineering lab classroom and proceeded in getting our entire equipment ready and mentally ready for presenting in front of high school students. As time passed, more students started arriving and in no time the room was packed with approximately 30 students. My group presented first since our PowerPoint was already loaded on the computer. The presentation went amazingly great! Students were very engaged and respectful during our presentation. I was also surprised with the critical questions they were able to construct when they were asked if they had any questions. When we did the experiment, we took 3 groups since we had 3 solar panels to conduct the experiment with. 2 of the groups got reasonable data, which was similar to our own data points. Unfortunately, in the last group one of the students thought it would be smart to place a resistor we provided to them in the water. As a result of having a faulty resistor, their data was scattered and nothing could be concluded. We gave them another resistor to conduct the experiment with and then they noticed more reasonable data. At the end, we did a quick experiment with the theatre light with different color filters on the solar panel. To conclude, it was very enjoyable experience and ended up more fun then what we anticipated.

 

On the second day, we went to Charleston High School. Although, my group was not presenting I decided to come and help Bobby who was going to present. Due to the close proximity of the school, some of us decided to walk the 2-mile trip. When we arrived, we were baffled by the lack of students in the classroom. When we walked inside the classroom, there were only about 4 students. Bobby presented first, and then shortly after Dr. Shatz decided it would be more beneficial if we just set up small experiment stations and allowed the 4 students to walk around and learn close up what each experiment was proving. The few students their were, walked around asked questions on the experiments and even college related questions and we more than happy to answer them. Overall, this day was slightly slow due to the lack of students. If we would have had a full classroom the experience at this specific school could have been better.

 

On the last day of presentations, we presented in front of the students of Boston Community Leader Academy (BCLA). We presented in the library, which forced all of us to talk very loudly inside the library. I think we probably had the biggest group of students at this high school with about 35-40 students listening to our presentations. Before we began presenting our experiments, we all decided to answer college related questions first. Amazingly, the students had many interesting questions about college. Some of them were concerned that they didn’t know what they wanted to study but we reassured all the students that will eventually find subjects that they find great interest in. In addition, most (if not all) students were freshman, so they have a few years ahead of them to decide what their studies will focus on. We presented our PowerPoint and answered questions at the same time to get the most out of our time. Some of the students struggled with some of the material since some of them have not been exposed to physics yet since they were freshmen. At the end, we had a few minutes left so we decided that it would be better to set up the experiments and just demo them to the students. We set two experiments one solar panel was clear and another one was covered with dirt. We placed both NXTs next to each other and told students to observe the difference in voltage between both solar panels. To conclude, I think this group had the best energy out of all the schools. There were many instances that we would all laugh because some of the things that they would say and ask were hilarious. Overall, this school was very fun to present to and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

The experience of presenting our experiments to high students was extremely valuable. We had an opportunity to enhance our public speaking skills and also gave us the chance to create an experiment from scratch, which is quite a challenge.

Experiment Outline

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After we have received all necessary materials for the experiment we can truly begin collecting useful data. The physical set up of the experiment is the same as the solar cell experiment, which we did in class. We will have an NXT microcontroller with the same code as the solar cell Labview code. We will have a voltage probe connected to one of the ports in the NXT microcontroller and the other end is connected to the wires of the solar panels. We will collect the voltage output during a 10 second period (this duration time might be changed). We will perform 3 different trials throughout the experiment, each trial representing a different obstruction. The 1st trial is considered a reference point because we will measure the voltage output when the solar panel is clean. The 2nd trial we will pour water on the solar panels (they are encapsulated) to simulate rain and then take a voltage reading. In the 3rd trial we will take some dirt and smudge it over the solar panel gently to mimic dust build up and once again take a voltage reading. It is important to remember that the light source is held constant during all trials and will be the same distance throughout the experiment. In between each trial, we will clean the solar panel since each student group will only be given 1 solar panel for the whole experiment.

 

Once we complete the trials, we will open up the data on a excel spreadsheet and create a bar graph of the averages of the voltages of each trial. What we should observe is the voltage decreasing in between the 2nd and 3rd trial. There shouldn’t be a very big voltage difference in between the 1st and 2nd trial. Now that we have a visual of the data we want to calculate about how many voltage is being lost in between the 1st and 3rd trial. In our solar panels the difference is going to be quite small, but in commercial/residential solar panels this difference is evident. After were done dealing with the data, we will ask students 2 questions to make them think more critically:

 

  1. The most typical size for solar panels used for residential installations is 65 inches by 39 inches, while the common size for commercial applications is 77 inches by 39 inches. The solar panels we have provided are approximately 2.4 inches by 3.6 inches.

 

Estimate the voltage lost in a residential and commercial solar panel.

 

  1. The majority of solar panels in commercial installations are maintained by individuals who physically clean each solar panel (similar to window cleaners). This method is expensive and tedious for the workers.

 

What are alternative approaches to cleaning solar panels that are less expensive and more effective? (Hint: Think Autonomous Systems)

            We are looking for your ideas so let your imagination run wild!

Brainstorm Session

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During our brainstorming session, my group had a lot of different ideas bouncing around of what exactly we wanted our experiment to be on. We thought it would be more helpful to think of an experiment that was simple to do but very effective at making a connection with the energy crisis we are currently experiencing. Initially we wanted to do an experiment that was completely dependent on the Lego Mindstorm Kit. We searched around online and found a few experiments, but they didn’t really have that much emphasis on sustainability and energy. A fun experiment is obviously more enjoyable to the students but if no useful data can be extracted than what was the purpose? We needed an experiment that we could get data out and make students analyze and interpret this data. After asking ourselves these essential questions, we ended up rejecting the Lego Mindstorm Kit ideas because they weren’t fitting our model of what a good experiment should be.

 

We decided to change gears and think of an experiment we have performed in class but alter it to make a different experiment but still keep the fundamental ideas the same. We decided on taking the solar energy experiment and making the obstruction in between the solar panel and the light source materials that are more accurate to those in our environment. We quickly brainstormed what type of things get on solar panels and we ended up with water (from rain) and dirt/dust (which accumulates over time). One of the most brought up obstructions during our group discussions was bird poop, which is very true but implementing it in the experiment was not going to happen for obvious reasons. We all agreed upon this experiment, in which we would measure the voltage output of solar panels with different obstructions. I will further discuss the experiment in my next blog.