The solar energy lab was supposed to show the relationship between light intensity and the voltage output of the solar cell, along with the relationship between the light’s wavelength and voltage output of the solar cell. However, that was not the case for my lab partner and I. After we performed the experiment for the first time, a lot of out numbers looked similar to one another, even after we changed the colored film filters. Most of our data seemed to be almost identical to our other data…it did not matter if we had on a red filter or a blue filter, it was still the same.

After our first run of the experiment, we had to re-do the entire process. This was slightly aggravating because we could not figure out why all of the data looked similar. On the second run of the experiment, our numbers did not seem to really get any better. They changed slightly from the first run-through, but overall they still look roughly the same. I do not know if we had a faulty voltage probe or NXT light sensor, but we were having difficulties with the experiment for both tests.

Anyways, we began the test by measuring the light sensor with no light on it at all. After we did this once, we could begin to measure the light sensor with the flashlight on it. We would change the distance between the light sensor and the flashlight, and increase the distance by a few inches for each trial. As I said before, our results barely changed between the trials, no matter how much of a distance we had between the light source and what we used to measure the light. Afterwards, we used a colored filter to measure the wavelength of light. Our film filters were red, black, blue, and orange. The averages measured out to be about the same as each color, but black did happen to have the lowest average.