Solar Kids - Solar from a Smart Kid's Point of View

Today I will be starting with 'Solar panels only work in bright sun'. That would be terribly inefficient if that were genuinely the case.  Think about it: would solar panels even be a good idea if they didn't work for a lot of the time? Why would anyone choose that as their business, even in mostly sunny California? It would not be a very good line of business!

At a solar fair in Altadena, we brought a demo solar panel (a diminutive solar panel made specifically for demonstrations) hooked up to a fan. Standing under a white easy up we could demonstrate how solar panels can work in different lights. When I moved the solar panel to the bright sun, the fan picked up speed, whirling rapidly, making everyone feel cool (as opposed to melting in the summer heat). Then I placed the solar panel underneath the easy up. The color of the easy up mimicked a cloudy day. Guess what happened?