Get Your Red-Hot Solar Panels!

You will need to explain in your one-sheet how quickly the panels will repay their purchase price, based on local electricity costs that you must determine. You should find a way to illustrate this point.

Subject: Science; Mathematics
Topics:
- Physics (Energy and Power)
- Real Numbers
- Statistics
- Linear Equations
Grades: 6 - 9
Knowledge and Skills:
- Understands the energy unit "kilowatt-hour"
- Understands the concept "power"
- Understands the concept "energy"
- Can use positive and negative numbers to represent a situation in which an initial investment is recouped over a period of time.
- Can plan and execute a survey with responses to a set of questions from a set of individuals, and summarize the results using appropriate statistical measures and graphical representations.
- Can use linear equation to model a situation in which an initial investment is recouped at a constant rate.

Download Activity: Get Your Red-Hot Solar Panels! (PDF)

Science & Technology Movie:

Solar Power: PhotovoltaicsSolar Power: Photovoltaics

There are a number of methods of generating electricity from solar power. In this movie, engineers Beth Richards and Miguel Contreras demonstrate the most widely used method today, and break down the math and science behind this renewable energy source.
Running time 4:45 minutes.

Watch the Movie