Solar Cell Lab

Solar Cell Lab

A) Overview

Today, my friend, Yoshi, and I had another lab based on a solar cell.

B) Equipment

-One solar cell

-One voltage probe

-One NXT adaptor (with light sensor)

-One light source

– Three colored film filters (Red, blue, purple)

C) Procedure

1. Yoshi is responsible for performing experiments to try to gain an understanding of the relationship between light intensity and the voltage output of the solar cell, as well as the relationship between the wavelength of light and the voltage output of the solar cell.

(Be aware: We use red, blue, and purple colored film filters during the experiments.)

2. As for me, I put all the data we got throughout the whole experiments in the Excel file.

D) Results

-We got different results or averages when testing with no lights, red filter, blue filter, and purple filter.

E) Analyzing results, picture sharing

The wavelength and frequency of light are closely related.

(When the frequency is higher, the wavelength is shorter.  Because all light waves move through a vacuum at the same speed, the number of wave crests passing by a given point in one second depends on the wavelength. That number, also known as the frequency, will be larger for a short-wavelength wave than for a long-wavelength wave.)

Lower wavelength -> higher photon energy -> higher intensity

Red light: 650 nm Orange light: 590 nm Yellow light: 570 nm Green light: 510 nm Blue light: 475 nm Indigo light: 445 nm Violet light: 400 nm

F) Sources

http://hubblesite.org/reference_desk/faq/answer.php.id=72&cat=light

The equation that relates wavelength and frequency for electromagnetic waves is: λν=c where λ is the wavelength, ν is the frequency and c is the speed of light.