Fun with Trigonometry 

Did you know that there is a lot of math involved in making a solar panel? I didn’t until this unit in math. For this unit we learned about Trigonometry  which is a branch of math which studies relationships involving angles and side lengths of triangles. Trigonometry can seem very intimidating at first but once you get the hang of it it’s fairly easy. When we first started this unit we watched a Video on trigonometry and it was very confusing. There are so many steps and possible ways to find the angles and side lengths of triangles I thought I would never understand trigonometry.

The first thing we did after watching the video was go over the project brief. For the project everyone in the class had to make a solar panel for a specific place and season/time. At first this didn’t seem like it had a ton do with math but I quickly learned that a lot of math was needed to calculate all of the angles and side lengths. After learning a little about the project we started to fill in notes to learn about trigonometry. The first thing we learned about is SOH CAH TOA which is what you use to figure out which ratio you should use to calculate the angle/side length of a triangle. Here is a video that helps explain trig ratios. 

Throughout this unit we continued to fill out the notes and do other worksheets that helped us learn about trigonometry. Here are a couple of the questions we had to answer. 

After filling out enough of the notes that we knew trigonometry and doing enough worksheets that we were good at it, we did a lab using solar panels. In this lab we were giving a mini sos,r panel and had to make a Roanoke using a board and some blocks to calculate how much voltage the panel got at differnt angles. We also had to find the angle in which the so,ar panel got the most voltage possible. This was a really fun lab and it helped me understand the project way more clearly. Here are the notes I took on the lab.

After doing this lab I was ready to get started on my project. The first thing I did was reach where the sun wouldi be in each season and found the ideal angle for a solar panel in each season. I decided to make my solar panel that would get the most voltage in the summer. I already had the angle for this solar panel so I just had to decide how big I wanted to make it. I decided to make the side exposed to the sun 10cm long and then I used SOH CAH TOA to calculate the remaining side lengths and angle. After I had finished all of the equations I started to build my solar panel. I gathered up all of the cardboard I had and started to build. I also had to build the building my solar panel would be on so I built the top of an apartment building. Sadly I ran out of cardboard halfway through building so I had to use paper to finish the sides and it does not look as good as it would if I had cardboard, also the contsrtuction quality is kinda weak. Building the solar panel was a little tricky because the measurements had to be perfect. Once I was done everything I did a short write up including some details about the relationship between the sun and the solar panel and how to make it scalable, and I also made a small poster. Once I was done I was happy with my work and ready to hand it in. 

This unit in math was a little tricky at first but it didn’t take me long to understand it. I ended up really enjoying trigonometry and I am very exctied to start the next unit.