Solar Cells or
Photovoltaic Energy
We can
also modification the sunlight straight to energy using solar cells.
Solar
cells are also titled photovoltaic cells - or PV cells for clipped - and can be
found on some teensy
appliances, like
calculators, and even on spacecraft. They were first developed in the 1950s for
use on U.S. space satellites. They are made of silicon, a special type of
melted sand.
When sunlight strikes the solar cell, electrons (red
circles) are knocked loose. Solar cells into arraysThey move toward the treated
front surface (dark blue color). An electron imbalance is created between the
front and back. When the two surfaces are joined by a connector, like a wire, a
current of electricity occurs between the negative and positive sides.
Solar Thermal Electricity
Solar
life can also be misused to micturate energy.
Few
solar knowledge plants, equivalent the one in the show to the proper in
Calif.'s Mohave Calif., use a highly recurved mirror called a story exchequer
to pore the light on a pipage squirting felled a important
point above the curve
of the mirror. The mirror focuses the sunlight to strike the pipe, and it gets
so hot that it can boil water into steam. That steam can then be used to turn a
turbine to make electricity.
In California's Mojave desert, there are huge rows of solar
mirrors arranged in what's called "solar thermal power plants" that
use this idea to make electricity for more than 350,000 homes. The problem with
solar energy is that it works only when the sun is shining. So, on cloudy days
and at night, the power plants can't create energy. Some solar plants, are a
"hybrid" technology. During the daytime they use the sun. At night and
on cloudy days they burn natural gas to boil the water so they can continue to
make electricity.
Solar Hot Water
In the 1890s solar irrigate heaters were
state victimized all over the Consolidated States. They proven to be a big
betterment over club and coal-burning stoves.
Artificial gas made from coal was available too to heat
water, but it cost 10 times the price we pay for natural gas today. And
electricity was even more expensive if you even had any in your town!
Many homes used solar water heaters. In 1897, 30 percent of
the homes in Pasadena, just east of Los Angeles, were equipped with solar water
heaters. As
mechanical improvements were made, solar systems were used
in Arizona, Florida and many other sunny parts of the United States. The
picture shown here is a
solar water
heater installed on the front roof of a house in Pomona Valley, California, in
1911 (the panels are circled above the four windows).