Solar engine

[relly]

For my science project I chose the idea to design a solar engine. I am having problems finding a specific question for this project idea. I came up with Does the size and color of a solar car affect how fast or how far it can travel? Is this good? Is this along the lines of a solar engine. Please help if you have any other suggestions, please help me.

Thanks

[deleted-2574]

Hi relly,

Below is based on research I was able to do on the net on solar cars. Bottom line, sorry to say this, I couldn't find a project. Maybe other people will have an idea.

Re size and color: these would require building multiple (in the case of size) and at least one (in the case of color). Building even one solar car, however, is difficult. Did you have one in mind?

If you provide "solar car" to answers.com, you'll get back as background a long article (based on the wikipedia entry for "solar car," note: some of the material in the article may be too advanced.)

There are also links for kits and a full project.

Kits:
Among the links are two solar car kits priced at $22 and $40:

http://www.klutz.com/catalog/product/31 ... gn=General

http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3081059

In my opinion, I'm not sure that building a kit is a good project, and the kits are expensive.

Full project:

This link is more for background, as it is very expensive and required a team of people. The a video of construction a full-sized solar vehicle is at:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/04 ... _video.php
(A warning: the speaker on the video talks very slowly. So you'll need to do everything you can to stay awake! I managed to watch about half of the 15 minute video before I decided to do something else.)

[relly]

Thank you for your response. My mom has been helping me and she also could not find anything. Do you have suggestions on science projects ideas that I can do regarding solar power? I need to submit my idea.

[scibudadmin]

There are a number of Project Ideas on the Science Buddies website that involve solar power and the study of its effect on various elements.
Check out these projects:
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p012.shtml
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p036.shtml
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p013.shtml

You are certainly welcome to use any of the Project Ideas mentioned above but you might also want to develop your own Project Idea based on the concepts being discussed. For help creating your question check out https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tion.shtml

Good luck on your project!

Regards,
Melissa G.
Science Buddies Staff