Block+A+Group+6

Alex Gross and Allison Maier

1. Question: How does combining PV cells in parallel affect the electrical output of the PV panel?

2. Hypothesis: If PV cells are combined, then the electrical output will increase.

3. Materials:
 * Light (75 watt bulb)
 * Five PV cells
 * Multimeter
 * 10 alligator clips
 * Meter Stick
 * Light Stand

4. Procedure: Step 1:alligator clips to the ends of the PV cell Step 2:attach the lightbulb to the lightstand at a height of 30 cm Step 3:shine the light Step 4:record the number displayed on the multimeter Step 5:add one more PV cell with alligator clips and repeat the steps until you have a total of five PV cells

5. Data Table

__Number of Cells | How Many Volts__ 1 5.42 2 5.43 3 5.13 4 5.3 5 5.13

6. Graph:

7. Conclusion:

The number of PV cells when arranged in a parallel circuit do not affect the electrical output. Our hypothesis was wrong, we thought that the more PV cells we had the larger the electrical output. If this was put in a house, we would not suggest using a parallel circuit.

8. Problems with lab:

Things we could do differently next time would be to have a more steady light source that doesn't move around. The alligator clips also didn't stay in the same position the whole time. The reason we had difficulty with these things was because of human error, we should have secured the materials more properly.