Easy To Do Solar Science Fair Projects
Introduction
Solar science fair projects are a great option for students that are working with a tight budget. These projects can usually be completed using the free energy offered by the sun and a few inexpensive items that can be either found at home or at school. Below you will find five ideas for easy to do solar science fair projects.
Sundial, Basic and Advanced
Solar energy science fair kits can be used to produce a number of solar energy science fair projects. However, a good place to start before attempting more advanced projects is a basic sundial project. This project will have students produce a sundial that is able to track the movement of the sun. This information will be useful when developing solar panel and solar energy station science fair projects.
You can make your sundial science fair project more advanced by integrating a solar panel or solar energy collection device to the design of the sundial.
Solar Energy Collector Projects
The next step in solar science fair projects is the solar energy collector. For this type of science fair project you will be collecting and focusing the energy of the sun to do some type of work. For example, you can build a solar energy pizza cooker or a solar energy water heater. For this project you will need reflective material, like aluminum foil, cardboard or plywood, black paint and adhesives.
Solar Panel Science Fair Projects
Once you have mastered the basics of solar energy collection you will be ready to move on to more advanced science fair project ideas and concepts. This group of projects will involve solar panels. These panels can be used to simply collect solar energy to heat water, or they can be used to generate electricity via a solar battery connection.
When developing these types of projects you need to be able to apply the technology to solving a problem. For example, you may want to determine if solar panels can be used to heat the water that your home uses. You can also determine if solar panels can produce enough electricity to operate a simple appliance or even an entire household.
Solar Energy Station Projects
As your solar energy proficiency expands you can try completing more and more advanced projects. For this group of science fair projects you will be designing and building a solar energy station. This will require you to begin by conducting background research. This research will focus on the challenges of using solar energy and the current solutions to these problems.
Next you will need to determine how powerful your power station will be. For example, you can make a small solar power station which is only capable of powering a television monitor, or you can really push the envelope and design a solar power station that is capable of powering one or more houses. You can further expand this project by actually using it to power your home. However, if you are apprehensive about using your power station, you can simply measure its potential using an Amp or Voltmeter.
If you really want to impress the judges then you will need to take on a very complicated problem. Such as finding the most efficient way to power a community or government agency using nothing more than solar energy. This challenge will require that you identify ways to collect, magnify and store solar energy. As you can see, these challenges are tough, so you will really need to use your imagination in order to find practical solutions.