How We Turn Solar Energy Into Electricity
Solar panels are becoming cheaper and more efficient. So how exactly do they work? Read More: Cheap solar cells made from shrimp shells ...
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I have a very distinct memory of tv telling me, "every hour the sun beams enough solar energy to power our planet for a year." Solar power, however, has yet to deliver on this promise from my children's television. Why is it so hard???? The sun shines on us every day, it comes down here we gather it up and we use it for energy -- boom boom boom, done! But it's slightly more complicated than that, as you know. In 1873, electrical engineer Willoughby Smith discovered the element selenium was photoconductive -- when exposed to sunlight the metallic form of selenium becomes a semiconductor! Three years later, other scientists discovered selenium could be used to create electricity from sunlight -- dubbed the photoelectric effect. When sunlight hits a metal like selenium the electromagnetic radiat...
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I have a very distinct memory of tv telling me, "every hour the sun beams enough solar energy to power our planet for a year." Solar power, however, has yet to deliver on this promise from my children's television. Why is it so hard???? The sun shines on us every day, it comes down here we gather it up and we use it for energy -- boom boom boom, done! But it's slightly more complicated than that, as you know. In 1873, electrical engineer Willoughby Smith discovered the element selenium was photoconductive -- when exposed to sunlight the metallic form of selenium becomes a semiconductor! Three years later, other scientists discovered selenium could be used to create electricity from sunlight -- dubbed the photoelectric effect. When sunlight hits a metal like selenium the electromagnetic radiat...
