Solar Energy

What is Solar Energy?

It is the power of the sun rays that reach the Earth

Its renewable and clean It has been in use for about a decade It is harnessed by solar panels Also called electromagnetic radiation

Where do you find it? It comes from the sun It can be found all over the world It is produced every second

How does the sun generate Solar Energy? Its produced in a spectrum or range of different

lengths called wavelengths The waves are made of the combined electrical

and magnetic energy The speed of the light is 299,792,458 miles per

second Energy is produced by the nuclear fusion of

hydrogen into helium in its core The energy comes from the core of the sun Only a little bit of the sun’s energy reaches earth

What is Solar Energy used for?

Creates electricity Dries clothing Lights homes Heats buildings Can power small airplanes and cars Powers lighthouses

What equipment generates Solar Energy?

Solar panels Solar cells Heliostats Solar furnaces Can be stored in large batteries

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Solar Panels Made of groups of solar cells that function as semi-

conductors Made of silicon, phosphorus, and boron Expensive and hard to produce Silicon cells are encased inside non-reflective glass

panels One plate of cells is made silicon and phosphorus,

and the other is made of silicon and boron The two plates are connected by conductive wires Metal plates are placed on the top and bottom of

each cell to channel energy

What is Silicon? The atom has four electrons Its an element It always looks for a way to fill its outer shell When it combines with another silicon atom

the shell becomes full and produces neither negative or positive charges AKA pure crystallite silicon

Atomic number fourteen Used to make solar panels

How do solar panels work?

When sunlight strikes the solar panels a certain amount is absorbed by the solar cell

The energy or heat gained from the sunlight or photons excites atoms and knocks loose the extra electron from the phosphorus atom

The extra electron from the silicon and phosphorus combo transfers to the free space in the silicon and boron combo creating an electrical charge

The charge is channeled by metal contacts into an inverter

The invertor changes the electrical current into basic voltage and AC electrical power

Advantages Renewable resource Free Clean Silent Low maintenance Improving Easy to install

Disadvantages Equipment is expensive Weather can affect it Doesn't’t generate at night Pollution can affect solar cells Location Space issues A substantial amount of pollution is made

when solar panels are manufactured

Fun Facts If the sun were to disappear we would still

have 8 minutes of energy Albert Einstein was awarded a Nobel

Peace prize in 1921 for experiments with solar power and photovoltaic

In the U.S. there are more than 10,000 homes that are run off of completely solar power

In 1990 an airplane successfully used solar energy to cross the United states

Fun Facts cont. The temperature of the core of the sun is

27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit Scientists have discovered the Sun will

exhaust its hydrogen energy in about 5 billion years

The largest solar energy plant takes place in Canada

Less than 5% of stars in the milky way are brighter or more massive than the Sun

The End!

Hope you learned something new about solar

energy!

Bibliography Richards, Julie. Solar Power. First. South Yarra, Australia:

MACMILLAN EDUCATION AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, 2003. Gibson, Diane. Solar Power. North Mankato, Minnesota: Smart

Apple Media, 2002. Sherman, Josepha. Solar Power. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone

Press, 2004. Parker, Steve. Solar Power. Gareth Stevens, 2004. Unknown, . "Solar Furnace Facts." . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar 2012.

http://www.ehow.co.uk/ Coffey, Jerry. "How does the sun produce energy." . N.p., n.d. Web.

6 Mar 2012. <http://www.universetoday.com/75803/how-does-the-sun- produce-energy/>.

Want to know it, . "How do solar panels work." . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar 2012. <http://wanttoknowit.com/how-do-solar-panels-work/>.