Use your observation chart and your graph to answer the questions below on paper. Be prepared to present your answers to the class.
First discuss your observations with your partners. Then, write a paragraph about any changes you notice in voltage readings during your recording period? (Include details about trends or patterns in the data, the range of the voltage data, the highest and lowest readings, and the mean (average) voltage reading.)
After a discussion in your group, write a paragraph comparing your data on cloud cover with your data on voltage over the period of your observations. Make sure to consider how your voltage readings changed when the cloud cover changed.
Do you think that cloud cover affects the amount of electricity that a solar cell produces? What evidence do you have to support your ideas?
Look at your temperature data. Do you notice any changes in temperature when there were also changes in voltage? Do you think changes in temperature and voltage are related? Why do you think so?
Do you think solar cells would be a good source of electrical energy? Why do you think so?
Now that you have repeated the investigation a second time, compare your data with that of your classmates. Have you discovered or noticed anything new? Reread your answers to questions 1-6. Revise your answers based on your new observations and the discussion you have had in class.
