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Item AP063002: Make observations and use those observations as evidence for explaining that the energy can be transferred by light and electric current. Identify a model of a solar car system that describes how energy is transferred from the sun to a solar car’s motor via light and electric current.

A class is studying how light from the sun can be used to power machines. They construct a toy car with a solar panel on the top of it.

Watch the video to see what happened to the car when light was allowed to shine on the car and when light was not allowed to shine on the car.


1. Write your observations in the table below. You should describe what happens when light shines on the car and when light was blocked and does not shine on the car.

Observations when light from the sun shines on the car
Observations when light from the sun does not shine on the car

2. The teacher asks the students to make sense of their observations by thinking about how energy is moved from place to place. What evidence is there from the video that energy was transferred from the sun to the car? Why does this evidence support the idea that energy was transferred from the sun to the car?


 

Next, the class takes a closer look at the car's parts. They see that the car has a solar panel and wires that connect the solar panel to an electric motor. The electric motor is attached to the back wheels.

Image of a toy car with a solar panel (DesignBoom)

The students attach a device that measures electric current to the wires. (Electric current is measured in milliamps.) They measure how much current flows in the wires when light was allowed to shine on the solar panel and when light was not allowed to shine on the solar panel. Below is a table summarizing their measurements.

  Light from the sun shines on the solar panel Light from the sun does not shine on the solar panel
Current in the wires 10 milliamps 0 milliamps

3. Again, the teacher asks the students to make sense of these observations by thinking about how energy is moved from place to place. What evidence is there from the table that energy was transferred from the sun to the car? Why does this evidence support the idea that energy was transferred from the sun to the car?


4. Which of the following models best represents how energy was transferred between the sun, solar panel, and electric motor when light was allowed to shine on the car?

Arrows in the models show the direction of energy transfer and the labels on the arrows show how energy moved between the electric motor, solar panel, and sun.

A.
B.
C.
D.

 
Percent of Points Earned
Chart showing distrubtion of responses for Item AP063002
Points Earned
  Avg. Earned Possible Percent
Q11.71285%
Q21.03334%
Q30.61320%
Q40.72172%
 
Overall Task Difficulty
  Total Points Earned Total Points Possible Total Percent
 4.07945%

n = 392

Note: The total percent is a weighted average based on the total number of points earned divided by the total number of points possible.