Thames and Kosmos Physics Physics Solar Workshop
- Build 12 models, including a solar-powered tractor, truck, treaded vehicle, car, elevator, drawbridge, fan, airplane, mobile crane and construction crane
- Learn about harnessing and using solar power
- Learn about motors and simple machines
- Best seller
- Parents’ Choice Silver Honor
Product Description
In one way or another, almost every form of energy we use originates as energy from the sun. Solar energy directly powers photovoltaic cells and thermal collectors. Indirectly, we get power from plants grown by the sun, oceans heated by the sun, and Earth’s weather systems sustained by the sun. Even the energy stored in fossil fuels originated as energy from the sun, captured by plants and animals millions of years ago. Physics Solar Workshop explores the topic of… More >>
Thames and Kosmos Physics Physics Solar Workshop
I bought this toy for my son’s 10th birthday. He spent couple of hours creating the crane as instructed in the manual. The crane will not run in the sun or with a 100 Watt bulb. He tried to run it with one AA battery instead of the solar cell as written in the manual. It still will not run. If you just run the motor with the solar cell without any load on the motor, the motor runs with a 100 Watt bulb or in the sun. But as soon as you put any load on it, it stops running. I think 1.5 V motor just does not have any power to take any load. My son is extremely frustrated.
This is a very well designed product otherwise, with nice gears and other parts. The projects you can do with it like making cranes and vehicles are quite educational and fun to build. If they had provided a stronger motor and solar cell, this product would have been excellent and I would have given it a five star rating. But it is very frustrating when a product doesn’t do what it is advertised to do.
Rating: 1 / 5
we tried several items and the contraptions work flawlessly in sunlight. i need to find a good portable indoor source that can do the same so we can have some fun indoors.
i found this an extremely educational toy for my daughter and we both had a ball reading the instructions together and figuring out what to do.
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Update 3/14/10: After trying out a few more projects i feel they missed out on one main component that would enhance this kit. They should have included a polarity switch that allows the motor to spin in either direction (without having to manually swap the wires, as is required now). There are many projects that have limited motion in one direction (such as elevator, crane) and it would be nice to reverse the motor direction through a switch.
But still this is an awesome kit that sparks imagination.
Rating: 5 / 5
Our grandson enjoys doing the experiments and building things. It is great experience for him to expand his skills and knowledge.
Rating: 4 / 5