Answer the following questions in Notes on your handheld computer:
In Trial I you charged the capacitor with the Genecon, then ran the Genecon with the capacitor. Do you think you obtained as much mechanical energy out of the capacitor as you put in it? How could you find out? If you didn't, where did the energy go?
Capacitors, with their ability to store electrical energy and release it very fast, have many uses. A familiar one is the flash on a camera. A very small amount of energy is released so fast that it makes a bright, but brief, light. This is just what a camera needs! But when you want a slow, steady supply of energy, as with the air cart motor, a capacitor is not the best source of energy. A battery is much better. What's another situation that uses batteries? What's another situation that might use capacitors?
The Fresnel lens concentrates light from a larger area to a smaller area, by bending the light that comes through it. This is called refraction. The Fresnel lens increased the amount of sunlight reaching the heat cell compared to being in the Sun without the lens. How much was it increased? Could you calculate it?
List some devices that use lenses to focus light?
How do you think sunlight is converted into heat? Do you think it matters if the heat cell is black instead of plain aluminum? conversion. What is an example of heat being converted into light?
