Physics

Heating water in a solar collector

Principle

A small beaker with water is placed in a model solar collector. Observe how well the water in the beaker can be heated up.

Task

How can one heat up water with a solar collector?

Thermal insulation of houses and thermal imaging

Principle

In this experiment a heated up room or house are to be simulated. The solar collector from the Pupil Kit is used for this purpose. Three walls are made up of Styropor, the front plastic plate is the window. The black beaker with hot water serves as " ...

Thermal radiation and greenhouse effect

Principle

This experiment explains the principle of the greenhouse effect. At a surface temperature of about 5600°C, the sun mainly irradiates heat radiation in an area of 500 nm in the direction of the Earth direction. The terrestrial atmosphere allows the rad ...

Electrical energy from wind energy

Principle

Experiment using a model to generate electrical energy with the help of a windmill.

A lamp is connected to the wind generator to act as a load and the brightness of the lamp is observed for various different wind speeds.

Influence of wind speed

Principle

In this experiment a wind wheel is set up at various distances from the blower.  The wind that reaches the wind wheel has different speeds.

Task

What influence does the wind speed have on the voltage produced ...

Influence of wind direction

Principle

The blower (fan) produces wind of constant strength and the wind wheel is located in a fixed distance from the blower. The wind direction is changed by turning the wind wheel. Examine how the voltage generated by the wind wheel behaves in response to ...

Wind energy under load

Principle

The wind wheel is operated by means of a blower and a connected "consumer" (for example a light bulb or a LED) is light up. Observe the wind wheel with and without consumer.

Task

Observe the wind wheel when it opera ...

Influence of number of rotor blades

Principle

From their environment, students usually know of wind turbines that have 3 blades. There are also models with only 2 blades or with completely different structures. In contrast, water wheels have more blades ("Blätter"), and they are suitable for driv ...

Storage of electrical energy from wind energy with the aid of a rechargeable battery

Principle

Accumulators exist at different states of charge. Before you begin with the experiment, make sure that the accumulator's charge is low enough so that the glow lamp does not glow at the beginning of the experiment. If it glows, the accu can be discharg ...

Storage of the electric energy won from wind energy in a capacitor

Principle

A capacitor is a passive electric component with the ability to store electrical charge and so the corresponding energy.

Task

How can wind energy be stored without using a rechargeable battery?

Try to stor ...

Current-voltage characteristic of the wind wheel

Principle

This experiment can also be carried keeping the distance constant but changing the number of rotor vanes. In the following example, the performance dependence on the voltage is examined using all 6 rotor vanes but different distances (5 cm and 10 cm) ...

Generation of hydrogen and oxygen using a PEM electrolyser

Principle

The PEM electrolyser consists of a thin, proton-conducting polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM), the two sides of which are each coated with a catalysing material. These coatings form the anode and the cathode. The theoretical decomposition voltage of w ...

Generation of electric energy using a PEM fuel cell

Principle

All fuel cells fundamentally consist of two electrodes (cathode and anode) and an electrolyte which separates the two electrodes from each other. The mode of operation corresponds to a reversed electrolysis. Fuel cells are classified according to the ...

Solar-hydrogen system

Principle

Whereas coal, natural gas and crude oil sources will be exhausted in the not too distant future, the sun is expected to continue to exist in the form known to us for about 5 billion years. Solar energy can be utilised, but is not always available whe ...

Wind-hydrogen system

Principle

Similarly to solar energy, wind energy is a regenerative form of energy. It differs in that it has been used by man for centuries, for example, in windmills, in which it is converted to mechanical energy. In recent times, wind power plants have been b ...