A 7th Grader Built a Solar Tracker for Under $25. No Motor, No Electricity. Just Water, a Seesaw, and Gravity.

Jason Chang from Worcester is a 7th grader who noticed that solar panels sit fixed while the sun moves and wondered if he could fix that cheaply. His answer was a gravity-fed water system that slowly shifts weight to tilt the panel toward the sun throughout the day. Total cost: under $25 in recycled parts. Claimed efficiency gain: 20% over a static mount. It just won him a national STEM championship and a trip to Washington, D.C. to present. There is something genuinely good about a $25 idea that could be useful in places where a $500 motor is not an option.