Solar Energy | Conservation/Sustainability

Welcome to another post on my blog. For science today, we are learning about Solar Energy. First, we had brainstormed about Solar Energy and what it is, here's what we've got,

1. TV
2. Lights
3. R.C Cars
4. Outdoor Speakers
5. Scooters
6. Windmill
7. Robots
8. Solar Panels
9. Solar Oven
10. Hot Water
11. Satellites
12. Cars
13. Phones
14. Bikes
15. Small toys
16. NASA Rover

Solar Energy

Aim: To find out which colour attracts the suns heat.

Hypothesis: 

I think that white will attract the most because solar panels have white around the edges.

Materials:

1. 1 Heat Lamp
2. 2 Styrofoam Cups
3. 1 Plastic Cup
4. 2 Tin Foil
5. 1 Thermometer
6. 1 White Paper
7. Water
8. 2 Black Plastic

Steps:

1. Get 2 styrofoam cups, 1 plastic cup, 2 tinfoils, 1 white paper, 1 heat lamp, 2 black plastics, 
2. Put the cups in order. (left, styrofoam cup, centre, plastic cup with black plastic, right, styrofoam cup with tinfoil through.
3.  Plug the heat lamp.
4.  Put some water in the cups.
5.  Every 15 minutes, check the temperature with a thermometer. 
6. Record the findings.

Findings:

Time	Cup 1 White	Cup 2 Black	Cup 3 Tinfoil
0	16	16	16
15	17	17	17
30	17	22	18
45	18	22	18

Here are two photos of the experiment.

Here is how our experiment looks like, we have a styrofoam cup on the left, plastic cup with black plastic over and another styrofoam cup with tinfoil over and under. Under the styrofoam cup, there was white paper underneath. Under the plastic cup with black plastic was black plastic underneath.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I found out that black attracts more heat to the sun. It heated faster than the other cups. In 45 minutes, the cup increased the temperature from 18 degrees to 22 degrees. Here are some Q&A that I learnt today.

Why is black on the solar panels? Solar panels are black because it attracts the sun and solar panels need the sun to get the energy. They have some dark blue in the panels for other reasons.

What I have also learnt today is that in hot countries, like African countries, they paint their houses white or light colours to not attract the sun. 

What I have noticed is that the heat lamp got hot really quickly in a short amount of time.

Activity:

In pairs rate the livability of coal vs solar energy.

Comparing Coal energy with Solar energy ( Rate; 1 = poor to 10 = great)

Factor	Solar	Coal
Livability	10	1
Sustainability	10	1
Accessibility	10	1
Cost	10	1
Your choice...	10	1

Solar Sharing ( from 2040)