Conquer Club

Well, I'm doing a sci. fair and I need some help:

Originally, Iwas going to do something on ersosion, but my MOm didn't get the things quick enough.

Now, I'm doing something on renewable energy.


My question is: Does anybody a good sci. fair project, or know where to buy solar panels cheap (apart from ripping them out of calculators, which I'm doing now).

admittedly i dont remember much of the science fair days, but i would think it would be pretty cool if you could power something like a clock or some kind of contraption using solar panels and explain how they work.

ripping them out of calculators doesn't sound like the most practical idea.

nagerous wrote:ripping them out of calculators doesn't sound like the most practical idea.

out of old calculators or calculators that arent yours and it still seems like it has some legs.

All I know is the judges at our school used to love corrosion-based projects. The first year I did an experiment with crystals, best written project I've probably had and they gave it third place (a corrosion lab won it all). Next year I did one on corrosion, hastily put together, overall a horrible job, and I still tied for first place.

got tonkaed wrote:

nagerous wrote:ripping them out of calculators doesn't sound like the most practical idea.

out of old calculators or calculators that arent yours and it still seems like it has some legs.

Well sure if you find the local dump for calculators then there is potential, but bar that where are you going to find a pouch of excess calculators unless you are damaging school property.

well you have the "look guys, i took 20 solar panels out of calculators and now I can almost light up one LED light!!!!1!!11!".....

Those panels are pretty much useless. they dont give enough power for anything.
I suggest trying wind power. You can take an old motor from almost anything, put a fan on it, run it to a meter to measure the power, put it in the wind, and you get power.

nagerous wrote:

got tonkaed wrote:

nagerous wrote:ripping them out of calculators doesn't sound like the most practical idea.

out of old calculators or calculators that arent yours and it still seems like it has some legs.

Well sure if you find the local dump for calculators then there is potential, but bar that where are you going to find a pouch of excess calculators unless you are damaging school property.

id be willing to bet in some places they would probably give you really old ones that they were going to get rid of. More of a timing thing than anything, but i bet you could get them.

well right now, I'm seeing whether wind, water, or solar power produces the most electricity, I doubt solar power will win.

Well I could tell you how to make a small nuclear reactor. But you would need lots of supplies.

srry, no radioactive stuff...rules
srry, no stuff over $100....Mom

I mean electric reactor.

You just you the principles of magnetic induction.

ooohhhhhhhhhhhh.....

huh? (srry, I have about about 9-10 grade knowledge on electricity)

So? Im in grade 8.

Who doesnt love the volcano?

Well anyway its the principle that any conductant that passes through an electromagnetic field creates voltage. The amount of voltage is based on the velocity. In short you have to wave a conducting wire beside a magnet really fast and you get power. Don't start doing a project right after you read this, learn a little more about it.

Hey fireedud,
Last year, I mentored a group of middle school kids who did their science fair project on microhydroelectricity. Microhydroelectric generators make electricity generation in third world countries or for individual homeowners possible. It's a pretty interesting topic, and you can easily make your own mini-hydroelectric generator. Here's a link to an easy plan:

http://www.re-energy.ca/t-i_waterbuild-1.shtml

You can follow this plan directly or you can figure out your own ways to scale it up. I helped my group build this with very simple materials. You can get magnetic wire and ceramic magnets at Radio Shack. I think I spent a total of about 50 bucks and they built two different versions. Might work for ya.

Even at grade 9-10, you can look up Faraday's principle of electromagnetic induction. Should tell you all you need to know. As long as you know what a magnet is and what an electron is, you can understand electromagnetic induction. William18 is right, you should understand the concept, not just follow the instructions on that website I gave you.

I knew what it was, I just never heard it named as the principles of magnetic induction. (BTW, I"m in 8th grade too)

The group I mentored that worked on this project were in 8th grade. They won their science fair. If you look up Faraday's principle and can understand it, you'll see exactly how the generator works and will be able to build a bigger one if you want to.

I know all about Faraday's principle, I think I don't have to step it up ( I may even have to step it down).


Just to let to you know, I finally got the solar panel out of the first calculator, I fell aclompished.

In 3rd grade I made a maglev, pretty easy if you have the stuff.

maglev... I don't see how that can be turned into an expirament....

fireedud wrote:maglev... I don't see how that can be turned into an expirament....

Depends on what grade you're in, I got an A on that.