1. Yuki Matsuda
Geo Science: Period 2
February 28, 2010
Sun’s Energy
Introduction:
What is energy?
Energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of work that can be performed by a
force, an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law. Firstly, potential
energy is a mechanical energy associated with position in a gravity field and kinetic energy is a
form of energy associated with motion of a body of matter. Basically, potential energy is energy
of position and kinetic energy is energy of motion. The Law of Conservation is energy in a
system may take on various form (ex. potential and kinetic) and energy a state that energy may
neither be created nor destroyed. That’s why the sum of all the energies in the system is a
constant. It is significant because when energy is changed from one form to another in an
isolated system, there is no change in the total amount of energy. When a transformation of
momentum occurs in an isolated system, the total amount of momentum is conserve. It is effect
that people with positive energy are determined to do their best and to see the best in the world
around them. Furthermore, people with positive energy do not focus on “should have” or
idealized, perfect expectations that are impossible to live up. Energy conservation is reduction in
the amount of energy consumed in a process or system, or by an organization or society, through
economy, elimination of waste and rational use. Energy impacts the environment by using any
carbon source when burned releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is gasoline, oil coal etc,
trap heat from the sun and hold it in the atmosphere.

2. Energy Flow
Energy from the sun affects wind because one of the main things the sun does is warm our planet,
including atmosphere. In addition, some parts of the Earth receive direct rays from the sun all
year so it is warm but other places receive indirect rays so the climate is colder. The heat energy
from sunlight cause to heat water and it makes evaporation. Water evaporation come together to
become a cloud and when it gets in the coal, it makes rain fall. Sunlight help plants trap energy
by photosynthesis. It occurs when green plants use the energy from sunlight to put together
foodstuffs from carbon dioxide and water. Plant conserves energy in the form of chemical energy
such as sugar, starch and all of their components when animals eat plant, they will take 10% of
energy. Human takes sugar or starch from plants into their bodies and digest it in to
monosaccharide such as glucose. Then, glucose will be transformed into our cell and used at
ATP cellular respiration.
The topic for this lab is “What is the quality, quantity and distribution of the sun’s energy?” and
the research question of this lab is “How does the weather condition affect the amount of solar
radiation?”. A hypothesis is when the weather is sunny, intensity will be high but when the
weather is cloudy, intensity will be low. The independent variable is weather condition and
temperatures, the dependent variable is the wavelength of the radiation and the control variable is
same location.
Materials:
 1 Emissions Spectrometer
 1 Computer
 1 Thermometer

3.  1Logger Pro
 2 Science note books
 2 USBs
Procedure:
1. First 5-10 minutes of class, write science note about what will you do today to move forward
with your energy project and learning.
2. After finish writing, gather all of the materials to ready to go near the pond.
3. Record temperatures and get the amount of radiation of sunny and cloudy day.
4. After experiment, go back to class and reflect on what you accomplished during class and
explain what you learned about energy.

4. Data Collection:
Table 1: Intensity and wavelength is test for each different day
Wavelength and Intensity
First day Second day Third day Fourth day
1st trial 513.6, 0.801 530.7, 0.433 494.4, 0.133 495.9, 0.624
2nd trial 504.9, 0.832 531.5, 0.477 493.7, 0.535 495.4, 0.499
3rd trial 507.1, 0.951 530.7, 0.576 494.4, 0.521 493.7, 0.728
Average 508.5, 0.861 531.0, 0.495 494.2, 0.396 495.0, 0.617
Caption: This table shows how the wavelength and intensity is different for each day because the
weather of first and second day is sunny and the weather of third and fourth day is cloudy. The
temperature of first day is 32oC, second day is 35oC, third day is 29oC and fourth day is 30oC.
Graph 1: Wavelength and Intensity of second day trial 1.
Caption: This graph is about second day trial 1. The weather is sunny and the wavelength is
530.7 and the intensity is 0.477.

5. Graph 2: Wavelength and Intensity of fourth day trial 3.
Caption: This graph is about fourth day trial 3. The weather is cloudy and the wavelength is
493.7 and the intensity is 0.728.
Graph 3: Wavelength of each day and each trial.
470
480
490
500
510
520
530
540
First day Second day Third day Fourth day
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3

6. Caption: This graph shows first, second, third and fourth day of wavelength and shows how each
day is different from other day.
Data Processing and Presentation:
At first, the table 1 shows the wavelength and intensity of each day and each trial. Basically, first
and second day’s average temperature are 33.5oC and third and fourth day’s average temperature
are 29.5oC. These data speculates first and second day’s weather are sunny and third and fourth
day’s weather are cloudy. Wavelength is exactly different from first and second day and third
and fourth day. First and second day’s average are 519.75 but third and fourth day’s average are
494.6. This data represents all objects emit radiation and the amount of radiation emitted at each
wavelength depends on the temperature of the object so when the weather is sunny, the
wavelength would be high because they have more sun and more energy. However, when the
weather is cloudy or rainy, they have a little sun so radiation would little that’s why the
wavelength would be low. Graph 3 illustrates how does each day is different from other day. It is
clearly to distinguish that first and second day are high and third and fourth day are low because
of the different weather.
Conclusion:
In this lab, the amount of solar radiation is collected at near the pond and the weather is sunny
and cloudy. Basically, the temperature is around 29oC to 35oC so the first and second day is very
hot because they have shiny sun and almost no wind however, third and fourth day is very cool
because no sun, no moisture and have wind. In addition, first and second day is high wavelength
and third and fourth day is low wavelength because the weather is always related to wavelength.
It means if temperature (weather) will change, the wavelength would be change. Lastly, the

7. hypothesis is not supported because intensity is not change whether the temperature is high or
low but also, wavelength is affect on weather.
Evaluation:
The main error for this experiment is to get different data. For example, third and fourth day is
cloudy so each data is almost same but first and second day is sunny but the data is different. It
happens because the amount of sun might be different.