try this diy experiment

DIY FUN: TESTING THE POWER OF THE SUN

CONDUCT A COOL EXPERIMENT WITH THESE SIMPLE TOOLS AND STEPS!

By: Zakiyah Ebrahim

By now, we know that clean sources of energy have an incredibly lower environmental impact than conventional energy technologies.

Solar energy comes from the sun and can be captured with various technologies (primarily solar panels), explains EnergySage.

If you’re keen to try your hand at a DIY experiment that tests the power of the sun, you can build a simple solar updraft tower (also called a solar chimney) – this is a fun experiment we found on Almostunschoolers.blogspot.com.

“Updraft'' refers to the kind of wind where the air moves up. In this experiment, the updraft tower will take sunlight (or the sun’s heat) and use that to expand air and ultimately spin a paper pinwheel.

Best of all? You can try this right in the comfort of your home. All you need to do is wait for a sunny day to conduct this experiment.

Almostunschoolers.blogspot.com

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Three clean tin cans (top and bottoms removed) • Tape • A piece of wire, such as a paper clip • Drawing pins • Two big, thick books • A sheet of paper

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of paper into a square (around 15cm on each side). 2. Stack up the cans and tape them together really well. 3. Bend the wire or paper clip into an arch shape. 4. Tape the wire to the top of the tower of cans. 5. Attach the drawing pin to the top of the wire arch with tape. 6. To fold the pinwheel, grab your square paper and cut it diagonally from the corners. 7. Stick the pinwheel onto the pointy end of the drawing pin. 8. Now that your tower is ready, you’ll have to place it on top of the two books – ensure there is a gap at the bottom to allow air to flow in from underneath. 9. Place the tower, along with the books, near the window where it will receive direct sunlight. 10. After some time, you’ll notice the heat from the sun will warm the air inside the cans, creating a “convective updraft”, and will spin the pinwheel!

How does this happen? When the sun shines on the cans, they get hot. This leads to some of the heat travelling through the metal to the inside of the cans. This means there’s hot air inside the tower, and hot air rises. This is because hot air is less dense, and therefore lighter than cold air, explains How Things Fly. There are actually places in the world with warm climates, where giant solar updraft towers are used to generate electricity, indicating just how useful and powerful sunlight can be as a source of energy. The largest Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project in the world is situated in Dubai, and measures 262.44 metres high!