Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,
I am concerned about the potential of my research project, even though I've already concluded my experiment.

My idea was to have an ultraviolet and infrared light filter placed over an amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cell, which does not use ultraviolet and infrared light anyway. Since it absorbs them as heat, which can lead to overheating in the materials and decreased efficiency, my idea was that the light filter would make the solar cell relatively cooler, and thus more efficient.

I had two amorphous silicon solar panels, labeled A and B, where A was the solar panel with the filter. I conducted 12 trials, collected my data, performed a T Test, and I found that the results to be significant.

Would you consider this project to be able to be of the caliber of a winning project for research competitions such as DVSF (maybe even thoughts on ISEF)?

And also do you have any suggestions or curiosities that I could use to further develop this topic for a future research experiment?


Thanks so much.

It's hard to know in advance of a fair what projects will be finalists. The best ones are those which are well designed, well executed and well presented. Your best chance will come from your knowing the topic cold -be sure you can answer any questions from the judges with clarity and expertise AND show off a clear and easy-to-read notebook.

In your research you undoubtedly found other research that explored something similar. When you write up your experiment, explain how your idea was different than what others have done and how your results are different than those studies.

In reading your question I wondered if the absorbed heat from the IR could be used to heat water for capturing additional solar energy. Several solutions use water filters to absorb the IR but I don't see anything definitive about the heat from that water being captured. Even with the massive amount of data searchable with Google it's really hard to find everything.

Howard

Hi allai,

I don't have personal experience with "advanced" competitions like ISEF and hadn't heard of DVSF (but upon googling it - is that the Delaware Valley Science Fair?), but can offer a few pieces of advice:

1. We have an entire section of our site devoted to advanced science competitions. If you haven't checked that out already, you should take a look: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml

2. Your profile says you're in 9th grade. Try to look up past 9th grade winner's projects for DVSF and ISEF (which I imagine you can find with a google search). That will let you compare the quality and level of detail of those projects with your own.

3. Since you have already completed the experiment, do as much as you can to prepare for your interview with the judges at the science fair. I have judged 9th/10th grade categories in a fair that is one level below the DVSF and the winning students (the ones who then move on to DVSF) always nail their interviews. A good interview, where you seem confident discussing the topic and can answer questions on the spot*, will really impress the judges. If you have a really cool project but can't explain it well in person, that will hurt your score. From your initial post, it sounds like you have a pretty solid grasp on the science, which is great. Try to practice talking to people about your project and get them to ask you questions, so you get used to explaining it. That way, talking about the project will just feel "natural" and your interview will go smoothly.

4. Be prepared to answer questions about the potential or future of the project, like "How could these results be used at a real solar power plant?" or "What would you do differently or what would you add if you could do the experiment again?". You've already started thinking about that in your original post, which is great. Judges like seeing students who can think about the potential impacts and real-world use of their project, rather than just parroting back the results of their experiment.

Good luck!

* And a note about answering questions - if you don't know the answer, it is much better to admit "I don't know," and explain how you would go about getting that information, than to try to make up an answer. For example, maybe a judge would ask you a question about a different type of solar cell (other than a-Si) that you can't answer, and your response could be "I'm not sure, but I could find that out by looking at the data sheet for [type of solar cell] from the manufacturer."