Homemade Solar Panel Project

What Have We Done in this Project?

We have seen a tutorial of how we can make a homemade solar panel, obtained a copper clad board as a base for our solar panel, gotten wires to transport energy, used black Sharpie to draw current lines on our copper clad board to absorb more light, and collected a phone charger that we will powering with the solar panel.

What do we Still Need to do?

We need to obtain some Ferric Chloride solution, etch our copper clad board, solve the issue about the confusing colours that our wires are, find crystal silicone paste, and cover our solar panel with the paste to improve how efficient the light to electricity conversion is when our solar panel is finished.

 

Film: Plastic Oceans

Message: Single-use plastics are extremely harmful to the environment despite tons of it being disposed of in the oceans, and humanity must find a solution to this issue.

Summary: The first half of the film records a blue whale who’s life is heavily influenced by plastic waste, and this covers the significance of the harm single-use plastics and microplastics do to the ocean. The second half explains some potential solutions/eco-friendly alternatives that could work better than what we have now.

Biases: Despite the message being positive, the film hardly covers the plastic pollution done by Western countries and focuses more on less developed countries. This could imply that the filmmakers are trying to say that these less developed countries are the ones to blame.

Reflection: Plastic is like a double-edged sword, being extremely cheap and reliable to use while being extremely harmful to the ecosystems they are placed in. So much of the world uses plastic that we cannot live without it, but also soon cannot live with it either. I find this interesting, as a solution to the pollution problem would have to be much more complex than simply eliminating it from our lives.

Casein Plastic and Plastic Workshop Pictures:

Our fully dried Casein Plastic figure on the right with the mold on the left.

Data we collected from the Plastic Workshop Lab involving counting microplastics in a water sample.

 

March Mammal Madness 2025 Poster

Roots and Relics Bracket Winners

I believe the mudskipper will beat the coelacanth as the mudskipper can burrow under the water and avoid confrontation with its opponent entirely, meaning the coelacanth leaves the fight and gives mudskipper the victory.