The most recent lab we conducted revolved around solar energy and voltage produced. The higher the light intensity (energy of the light) the more photons generated and therefore greater voltage. This is why we only put solar panels in places of the world where the light intensity is greatest (ex. the desert).
We conduced the experiment using a flashlight as our “light” and a small solar panel that measured voltage produced hooked up to the lego NXT. When light was shined onto the solar panel the computer recorded the voltage produced.
If done correctly, the voltage should have been greatest when the distance was at 0 because the intensity of the flashlight was greatest. Theoretically, the further away the flashlight the lower the intensity and therefore the lower the voltage. My group however was not able to obtain both sufficient data nor accurate data when using what we did obtain (link below). My group was only able to collect 8 data points at a time (the lego mindstorm program should have run for 30 sec consecutively) and the data points resemble more of a scatter plot.
We also worked using various UV filters that should have affected the light intensity and consequently the voltage as well.
When reviewing this data it is important to understand the connection between the colors of the spectrum and energy.
Out of all the colors of visible light that we are able to see, each color has a certain frequency or wavelength and therefore a different energy. Violet and blue are the shortest wavelengths and therefore produce the most energy. The less frequency wavelengths such as red or orange produce a lower level of energy. White light is the combination of all colors of the spectrum while black is the absence of all color.
When placing UV filters over the flashlight (our experiment used blue, green, orange and white) it will accordingly affect the solar panel depending on which color is reflected while the rest are absorbed.
For our experiment, blue and green produced the higher voltage while orange came in third and white last.