The theme of today is the solar vehicle, which is a good application for transferring solar energy into electrical energy. Each student worked individually to build a solar vehicle model, and then they powered their solar car directly by light bulbs. The process converting light into electricity works in the following way: solar-powered photovoltaic (PV) panels convert the sun’s rays into electricity by exciting electrons in silicon cells using the photons of light from the sun. Photons has quantum mechanics property, which means it may be partly described in terms not only of particles but also of waves, i.e. wave–particle duality. Thus, the straightforward feeling is the PV panels transfer the heat energy into electricity. Due to all these complex theories, we focused on the energy transformation STEM concept rather than the “photons” theory that is far more beyond the students understanding.
It was the last class of Phase III, the student learned significant scientific and engineering concepts with a lot of fun. Let’s meet in the Phase IV class, hopefully soon.
