Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,
I'm a junior in high school and don't have much experience with science projects. A couple of my friends and I decided to do the helio tracker project on this website for a class, but we are a bit confused. We understand how to build the mirrors to reflect the light onto the containers full of fluid and how to use the solar panels. What we don't know is how to harness the pressure inside the containers to make the panel rotate 180 vertical degrees.
I have two main questions:
1) What's a way to harness the pressure into movement of the panel?
2) Which fluid will evaporate and make the most pressure? Is water suitable?

Here's the link for the project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary

Thanks for any insight you can offer!

Rob

Hi,

This looks like a fun and challenging project.

Some key words for searches:

Mechanical Piston -> makes pressure into motion
Hydraulic multiplication of force -> increases the amount of force per unit pressure change
coefficient of thermal expansion -> how much a given object expands for a given temperature change.

Understanding how nature does it is also important. Research how and why sun flowers know how to follow the sun.

Good luck!