Introduction:
The purpose of today’s lab was to explore and demonstrate energy intensity. By using a solar cell, a simple flashlight, a ruler and a few colored filters we were able to understand solar energy and the factors that affect intensity. With the help of the Labview VI and Microsoft Excel, once we had conducted the experiment we were able to understand the relationship between light intensity and the voltage output of the solar cell.

Procedure:
Once the solar cell was properly connected we were to shine the flashlight on it at four different distances. We first observed the intensity with the light directly up against the solar cell. We repeated this step shining the light 8, 15, and then 30 cm away from the solar cell. Utilizing Microsoft Excel once again to translate the data from the voltage output into readable numbers we plotted the data on a graph that compared voltage and distance. In order to better understand voltage output we performed the experiment with different colored filters to see the affect they would have on intensity. The results were similarly entered into Excel and depicted as a bar graph.

Conclusion:
From this experiment we learned the workings of solar energy and the variables that have an affect on intensity and voltage output. We measured factors including light intensity and color filtering and finally graphed the results to compare each factor’s influence on intensity on the solar cell.

I found this experiment helpful in understanding the way solar energy is generated and transferred.  By using a solar cell similar to the ones used on solar panels I was able to experience and manipulate the biggest factors of solar power. The experiment was clear concise and provided a scaled-down example of a hugely complicated energy system.