Tag: solar

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why won’t the car move!!!

Hello class, welcome to another day of LEGO challenge.  Today, we introduce how to use those renewable energy in real life.  We connect a solar panel to a motor which we put on a car.  Then we shine the light on the panel to transform solar energy into kinetic energy.  As a result, the car should move, but sadly it does not happen in our class.  Lucas’s car were moving but after a few tests, it completely stops, no movement at all.  We try to see which side cause the problem, is it the panel break or the motor is down.  It turned out neither.  It was probably the light.  After the heartbreaking news, we go back to do some calculations which these formulas: s=d/t, d=st, t=d/s.   

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PBP Phase 3 Week 2: Solar vehicle

Today we built the solar car, however due to technical difficulties we couldn’t get it to work. The students still loved it as they got to experiment with different setups and go crazy building their own vehicles. The topic for next week is the Powered Winch, the kids were all good cleaning up this week so no problems there. 

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ECA Phase 3 Topic 2: solar car

Today we made the solar car and learn a little bit about light and it’s dual nature as a particle and a wave. The students reacted favourably with most getting their models done on time, some seemed a bit bored by the slightly advanced physics we covered in the lesson.

Please make sure the kids complete their homework of shining a laser into a 5 dollar (or higher) bill.

The topic for next week is a pulley device that works as a winch.

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Communication ECA Phase III Class 4: Solar Vehicle 20180328

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 have 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.

The troubleshooting process was conducted as same as the last semester. The students got some feeling how to do a troubleshooting when the solar car wasn’t moving. A broken solar panel or gears and tires with too much friction can make the bulb light not strong enough to power the car.

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Communication ECA Phase III Class 8: Solar Vehicle 20180228

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.

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