Solar cell setup

Lab stand, clamp Experiment1: If you increase the brightness of light shining on a solar cell, will it fill a capacitor faster, slower, or at the same rate? (Brightness increases as the number of photons per time coming from the source). Multimeter Solar panel Here are the things you need Light Capacitor

Connect the solar panel to the capacitor Negative side indicated by stripe Connect the solar panel to the capacitor Red wire goes to the positive side Wires from solar panel. Black wire goes to the negative side

Set up the multimeter as shown Connect alligator clips to other end of cable Set up the multimeter as shown Set to V (DC volts) Banana cables (hanging on wall) connect as shown

Connect the meter to the capacitor Black to negative Make sure + and – sides do not touch each other Red to positive

Read voltage from here. For every volt, electrons have been stored in the capacitor! Voltage across capacitor

In the experiments that follow, do not charge the capacitor to more than 3 V. Otherwise, we may burn up bulbs/LEDs.

Experiment2: After capacitor is charged to 3 V: If you disconnect it from the solar cell, then connect a Christmas tree light bulb across the capacitor, which do think will happen: a) the bulb will start dim, then get brighter; b) the bulb will start bright then get dimmer; c) the bulb will stay bright forever; d) the bulb will not light.

Experiment3: After capacitor is charged to 3 V: If you disconnect it from the solar cell, then connect a LED across the capacitor, what do you expect to be different from the previous experiment? Wire on flat side goes to negative