Helpmyphysics

Solar cells are photovoltaic semiconductors. They are made of a p-type and n-type semiconductors sandwiched together. When light falls on the narrow depletion junction an electron hole pair is produced. These electron hole pairs drift away and create a small potential difference.
The more light shining on the pn junction the more electron hole pairs are produced which in turn creates a larger potential difference.
The only problem is that these cells are rigid. Check out this video below and news report to find out how they are being made flexible.
Pass that solar jumper please!

• Video
• Report

After discovering that our Sun is at its dimmest in over a century I was enthused by this piece of news on how to chart the Sun`s journey over the sky during six months, using a home made pin hole camera.
The picture above shows the shallow arc of the Sun`s passing during winter while the tallest arc is that of the Sun passing during the summer months.
It is a fabulous experiment which could be set up in any school yard and there is so much that could be gained from such a project.
The instructions and original article are in the links below. Happy Sun charting!

1. News article
2. Instructions

Astronomers have discovered that our nearest star, the Sun, is at its dimmest for a century.
Interesting fact for Standard Grade Physics: Light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach our planet.

BBC News report.
More on sunspots

Hi physics lovers! I`ve not forgotten about my cracking standard grade class.
Folks here are the answers to your Easter Revision booklet. I hbope you have been working hard because it will pay off in a few weeks time.
Best wishes
Mr Mallon
Click here for your answers.

Before the Easter break my S1 classes got together and made a series of videos about what they learned studying the Acid & Alkali topic.
Hope you enjoy the fun they had!
Happy Easter.

Here is the latest Higher Physics video where we calculate the weight of a person on an elevator.
Hope you enjoy it.

Answer to the thinking question:
If the lift accelerates downwards at 10 m/s2 then it is in freefall.
This means that R = mg + ma
R = (80×10) + (80 x -10)
R = 0 N weightless!

In our class we are beginning to study biotechnology. To start off our topic we all witnessed the amount of energy stored in a few spatulas of custard powder.
To release the stored energy I lit a candle and placed it into the can. I blew through a small pipe which led into the can. This caused the custard powder to rise into a fine powder. The lit candle then provided the initial energy to release the stored energy.
Check out the video and look at that flash of light.

Hi science lovers! Here is a wee song to help you think about food chains.
Hope you enjoy it!

Write down in your notebook the answers to these questions.

1. What is the percentage of energy that is passed up the food chain?
2. What is at the bottom of a food chain?

Hi Physics lovers here is a movie showing how to calculate the work done in moving an electric charge in an electric field.
Hope this helps.

Hi First Year! Here are the pictures to download for your science notebook.
The bubbles of oxygen look marvellous. We know the bubbles are oxygen because when we collected them into a testube and put a glowing splint into the test tube the splint relit. This was told us that the gas bubbles were oxygen indeed.