Bailey Rapp

Falmouth High School

2012-2013

Research Plan

A. Problem Being Addressed: I have found that air pollution is increasing and many people are frustrated about the gas prices. My project on Solar Energy will solve that problem. I have been interested in doing a science fair project on solar energy to solve something. During the past week I learned that the gas prices have increased immensely in California up to $5.00(says http://www.californiagasprices.com/)! I also figured out the amount of air pollution emitted by cars, found from (www.cleanerandgreener.org/resources/air-pollution.html) says “Based on an average annual passenger car mileage of 12,500 miles and an average annual light truck mileage of 14,000 miles, your car emits the following pollutants: 108 pounds of hydrocarbons, 854 pounds of carbon monoxide, 55.8 pounds of oxides on nitrogen, 16,034 pounds of carbon dioxide, 813 gallons of gasoline evaporates.” Based on the knowledge I have collected, there needs to be an improvement. B. Engineering Goals: My Goals for this project is to create a better gas mileage for your car. Then get it out to a dealership, more specifically California, because of gas prices and there is a lot of sun for my solar energy product. Finally decrease the amount of air pollution to make the world cleaner. C. Procedures: Research (Steps 1, 2, 4) Math (Steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 6) Build it (Steps 7, 8, 9,10)

1. Figure out how much power it would require to run the cars electricity. 2. Figure out the minimum of batteries we can have to store the energy from the solar panel. 3. Figure out how much area we can devote for the solar panel on the roof of the car. 4. Figure out what kind of