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Introduction

Is the power output of a solar cell proportional to the sine angle between the incident light and the face of the power cell? The experiment that will be conducted is to see whether or not that there is any connection between the sine angle of light and the power output of a solar cell. Hypothesis The hypothesis for my experiment is that the power output of a solar cell is directly proportional to the sine of the angle between the incident light and the face of the solar cell. The sine of the angle of incidence and the face of the solar cells direction ? to the power out put OR Sin ? ? Pout where ? equals angle of incidence Prediction I predict that the results, when plotted on a graph, will show a strong positive correlation between the total power output of the solar cell that is proportional to the sine of the angle at which the light is shone at the solar cell. ...read more.

Middle

I will record my results in table similar to the following. Light Angle (�) Sine of light Angle (�) Voltage (mV) Average Voltage (mV) Current (mA) Average Current (mA) Resistance (?) Power Output (w) 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Hazard Assessment Temperature is a hazard in this experiment. The lamp will become very hot during the experiment so I must make sure I do not come in close contact with the bulb as it could burn skin. Also the wires in the experiment may have an increase in temperature and become hot as well. Results Light angle Sine of Light angle Voltage Average Voltage Current Average Current Resistance Power output (�) (�) (mV) (mV) (mA) (mA) (?) (w) 90 1.000 159.000 160.233 1.073 1.072 50.000 170.607 1.000 163.000 1.068 50.000 174.084 1.000 158.700 1.075 50.000 170.603 85 0.990 160.300 161.033 1.072 1.072 50.000 171.842 0.990 160.900 1.070 50.000 172.163 0.990 161.900 1.073 50.000 173.719 80 0.980 161.100 161.333 1.075 1.075 50.000 173.183 0.980 161.500 1.075 50.000 173.613 0.980 161.400 1.076 ...read more.

Conclusion

0 0.000 41.400 41.433 0.274 0.274 50.000 11.344 0.000 41.400 0.274 50.000 11.344 0.000 41.500 0.274 50.000 11.371 I plotted a graph for this experiment one showing the sine angle of the light against power output. This graph backed my hypothesis of a strong positive correlation between the sine angle of light and it being directly proportional to the power output of a solar cell. Due to the points on my graph being so close together I could not place any error bars on the graph as they would not be seen although there probably is a small error in the readings of the experiment. My graph shows a cluster of results towards the top right of the graph suggesting at these angles the power output changed very little as it was close to its maximum If I were to conduct the experiment again I would use a dark room for the experiments to take place in. Also I would use new equipment to minimise errors. Ben Parsons Physics Coursework Y Block 1 ...read more.

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