I mean, how does solar power create electricity and heating? This is for a grade, so I’d appreciate it if you were positive. Please record the websitre or book you used. THANKS!
The sun is a big nuclear reactor, it basically fuses hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. This fusion releases a lot of energy in the form of radiation.
When radiation reaches earth, it can be used for many pruposes. Heating is easy, because the solar radiation carries a lot of heat, it can be used to heat water without much technology. But if you want to transform solar radiation into electricity, you need more advanced technology, such as photovoltaic cells, which basically use semiconductors to generate electricity out of sunlight.
In theory, you can generate over 1,000 watts per square meter of sunlight (under ideal weather conditions, and near the equator), which is a lot of energy. But photovoltaic technology is a bit expensive, so it hasn’t been adopted by a lot of people. There are some solar thermal power plants, that provide electricity for a lot of people by using a heat engine to transform heat into mechanical work, and then transform mechanical work into electricity.
The sun is a big nuclear reactor, it basically fuses hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. This fusion releases a lot of energy in the form of radiation.
When radiation reaches earth, it can be used for many pruposes. Heating is easy, because the solar radiation carries a lot of heat, it can be used to heat water without much technology. But if you want to transform solar radiation into electricity, you need more advanced technology, such as photovoltaic cells, which basically use semiconductors to generate electricity out of sunlight.
In theory, you can generate over 1,000 watts per square meter of sunlight (under ideal weather conditions, and near the equator), which is a lot of energy. But photovoltaic technology is a bit expensive, so it hasn’t been adopted by a lot of people. There are some solar thermal power plants, that provide electricity for a lot of people by using a heat engine to transform heat into mechanical work, and then transform mechanical work into electricity.
References :
You can find good info in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy