Does Angle of Incident Affect Solar Cell Efficiency?
Fossil fuels are used to produce most of our energy needs. They fuel our cars, heat our homes and provide electricity for our everyday needs. Unfortunately, there is a limited supply of fossil fuels and it is being depleted day by day. One promising alternative technology is the production of electricity using solar cells. Solar cells convert the suns’ energy into electrical energy. This project was designed to learn what angle of incident light striking solar cells will produce the most electricity. The expected results are that solar cells facing the light source (sun) directly at a 90° angle would be the most efficient and produce the most electricity. After performing the experiment with two different light sources, the results indicate that solar cells are most efficient when sunlight is applied at a 90° angle.
