Congratulations to Anna from Nord Anglia International School Dublin, who received a Highly Commended Award in the Age 13 category. In her entry, The Physics of Solar Energy, Anna explored how solar energy can help address the challenges posed by traditional energy sources. Through her animated video, she explained the photovoltaic effect and highlighted the potential of solar power as a clean, accessible and reliable energy source for the future. Take a look at her entry and cover letter:
Hello! I am Anna H. from NAIS Dublin, and I am 13. My project is an animated video created on FlipAnim, called The Physics of Solar Energy.
The video addresses the problems that traditional energy sources (like oil) pose, and how solar energy can help solve them. I talk about the process of how physics is involved in converting sunlight into electricity in solar panels, called the photovoltaic effect.
The reason I made this project is because I am fascinated by how solar energy works, and I wanted to research the process. It’s also related to physics, which I’m very interested in, as, due to its complexity, there’s so much to explore!
Solar energy has a lot of potential to provide a reliable future energy source for our homes because it’s clean, will not run out in our lifetimes, and is very accessible through solar panels. As we can see, my project is deeply related to how physics can prepare our homes for the future, and I want to educate people about solar energy and encourage more households to use it.
I hope you enjoy my video and learn a lot more about the physics of solar energy!