Solar panels, also known as photovoltaic (PV) panels, are devices designed to convert sunlight directly into electricity through the photovoltaic effect. They are composed of numerous solar cells made of semiconductor materials, typically silicon, which can generate electricity when exposed to sunlight.

1. Photovoltaic Technology
and Solar Cells
Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical information by investigating how solar cells capture
light and convert it to electricity.

2. Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how solar
cells capture light and convert it to
electricity.
What do you think which kind of car is this? And how
it’s working?
Question

3. Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how solar
cells capture light and convert it to
electricity.
How do solar-powered waves help model cars use solar
energy?
Focus Question

4. What is a solar panel?
 It is also known as Photovoltaic cell (PV cell)
 A device that converts light energy (solar energy)
directly to electricity.
 The term solar cell is designated to capture energy
from sunlight, whereas PV cell is referred to an
unspecified light source.
 It is like a battery because it supplies DC power, It
is not like a battery because the voltage supplied
by the cell changes with changes in the resistance
of the load.
 Solar Cells are Made from a single crystalline
silicon wafer.
Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how solar
cells capture light and convert it to
electricity.

5. Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.

6. Success Criteria: HS-PS4-5
Communicate the cause-and-effect
relationships in devices that use the
photoelectric effect to produce
electric current.
Photovoltaic effect and solar Cell
The photovoltaic effect occurs
when light from the Sun, which
is made up of packets of energy
called photons, falls upon a
solar panel and generates an
electric current.

7. Success Criteria: HS-PS4-5
Communicate the cause-and-effect
relationships in devices that use the
photoelectric effect to produce
electric current.
Photoelectric effect and Photovoltaic Effect
What is the difference between
photovoltaic and photoelectric
effect?
The main difference between photoelectric
effect and photovoltaic effect is that in
photoelectric effect, the electrons are
emitted to open space whereas in
photovoltaic effect, the electrons enter a
different material

8. Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.
Application of solar panel

9. Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.
 How do solar cells harness light energy to produce
electricity?
 Can you explain the process by which photons from
sunlight are converted into electrical energy within a solar
cell?
 How do factors like temperature, intensity of light, and
angle of incidence affect the performance of solar cells?
Guiding Question

10. Collaborate and solve
Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.

11. Peer Feedback
Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.

12. How the solar panel working?
• Solar cells transfer energy from the
photons in sunlight to the electrons in the
solar cell. The more photons of sunlight
absorbed by the solar cell, the greater the
electric current. That’s why the short-
circuit current depends so strongly on the
orientation of the solar cell.
• The maximum voltage, on the other
hand, is fixed by the material the solar
cell is made of.
• Solar cells also have an internal
resistance, which reduces the voltage
available at the terminals when current
flows.
Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.

13. How the solar panel working?
 The solar cell has energy losses, so does not
covert 100% of the solar power to electricity.
 Some of the light is reflected from the surface
of the solar cell, and some of the light is
blocked by the metal lines on top of the solar
cell that conduct electricity through the cell.
 To make a solar cell more efficient, the
manufacturers reduce reflected light and
minimize cell shading by keeping the area of
metal conductors small.
 Energy is also lost if the energy of the photon
is higher than what the solar cell can accept.
Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.

14. Individual Work-Exit ticket
Success Criteria:
HS-PS4-5
Communicate and obtain technical
information by investigating how
solar cells capture light and convert it
to electricity.
Check the name of your channel on TEAMS and solve the
assigned questions in the assignment category.