Using Light to Power Solar Cells

Question:

What is the best type of light for powering a solar cell?

Materials:

Solar cell kits (typically sold on Amazon)

Regular flash lights

A few different UVB flash lights

Polarizers

Colored transparencies

Multimeters

Instructions:

  1. Set up the solar cell.  With these kits, there are a bunch of different configurations and little toys to power (a fan, radio, and light), let the students experiment with these.
  2. Test the regular flash light and UVB flash lights- are the fan, radio, and light bulb all powered by each light source?
  3. Experiment with the polarizers and transparencies between the light source and the solar panel
  4. Let the students discuss the results.  What light source worked best?
  5. Hook the solar cell up to the multimeter for a quantitative test of each light source