Oil Prices Today
Posts tagged Solar Electricity
Solar Panels Generate Electricity
Oct 12th
Electricity is produced from different sources. But regardless of what source it is produced from, the principle behind electricity production is always the same. Electricity is generated because of the flow of electrons from oppositely charged plates. So all sources from which electricity is produced tries to induce oppositely charged plates so as to produce electricity. No let us take a detailed look at how solar panels generate electricity.
Various websites and blogs on the internet also have information regarding how solar panels generate electricity and in this article, I aim to explain the whole process in detail. The material that is used to prepare solar panels is the same element that sparked a revolution in the form of the computer industry, i.e., silicon. The various forms in which silicon is used include amorphous, mono crystalline and poly crystalline silicon. However, silicon in its purest form is ideal for use in solar panels.
To get you to properly understand why silicon is the best element to be used, here are some details. Every element has orbitals viz. “s”,”p”,”d” and “f”. These orbitals together make shells. Every element has something called valence electrons which are basically the number of electrons in the last shell. These valence electrons determine the chemical properties of the element in question.
Silicon has 4 valence electrons. Also, every element’s ambition is to try and fill up its last shell with electrons. The maximum number of electrons that can be contained in silicon’s last shell are 8 electrons. So Silicon needs 4 more electrons to be satisfied. Silicon does that by bonding with another silicon atom. The 2 silicon atoms share the outermost 4 valence electrons in order to have 8 electrons.
In the case of solar panels, two different plates are used. One of the plates is made up of a combination of silicon and phosphorus. Phosphorus has 5 valence electrons and hence the combination of the two elements leaves one excess electron lying around. The other plate is made up of a combination of silicon and boron. Boron is next to silicon in the periodic table and has 3 valence electrons. The combination of the 2 elements leaves a “lack of an electron”. Thus the former plate is negatively charged and the latter plate is positively charged.
This is the basic principle behind why “solar panels generate electricity“. Let’s take a look at how the photon particles from the sun actually help in making the above process possible. The photons from the sun have energy in them and fall on the solar panels. When this happens, the extra electron in silicon phosphorus gets excited and moves away from the combination and towards the other oppositely charged plate. This plate attracts the free because of the “lack of electrons” and thus as more photons hit the plate, the more electricity is generated. In specific chemical terms, this is how photovoltaic plates or solar panels generate electricity.
A combination of cells such as the one described above results in solar power plants that are capable of generating larger amounts of electricity. Although single solar cells are not of much use since they do not generate a lot of electricity, they are can be used for smaller applications such as in a solar powered watch or in solar powered calculators. Solar panels capable of generating larger amounts of electricity are typically used to provide energy and power to satellites and for other purposes such as setting up huge power plants in deserts so that the energy needs of tens of thousands of people can be satisfied.
Efficiency in these solar panels generating electricity are something that many scientists and researchers are working on as this could lead to people using the tax-free and clean renewable energy that the sun generates in almost all places in the world to reduce their own energy bills or cut costs.
I hope that this article helped you in learning how solar panels generate electricity. Visit my blog below to learn how to create your own do it yourself solar panels and solar heaters.
Solar Photovoltaics – The Future
Sep 28th
Solar photovoltaics involve conversion of solar power into electricity. This is attained using photovoltaic cells that are made up of material which produce electrons as the sunlight falls on it. After that the electrons are stored so as to generate electricity for human usage. Generally, the material used in photovoltaic cells is silicon.
Nowadays, one can easily find solar photovoltaic systems in market. In fact, almost every country wants to promote the use of solar devices in order to take off the burden from petroleum and gas. The reasons are simple:
Fossil fuels are available in limited reserves. No matter how hard we try, we can not manufacture petroleum or pace up its production as it takes thousands of years to be what it is. Rightly called as black gold, petroleum is the backbone of every nation and economy. Yet, with the ever-increasing demands for energy fuels, we needed to come up with alternative fuels and hence, scientists started working to look for other means of energy.
One thing no one can deny is that sun is a huge source of energy. This energy, if captured, can solve our energy crisis forever. Solar systems are therefore, have been invented so that present generation can incorporate them well into their lifestyle. This will motivate everyone to put efforts and share in order to save our planet. The reason is greenhouse effect leading to global warming, instability in nature, ozone layer depletion etc. Solar photovoltaic does not emit any kind of poisonous or greenhouse gases into the air and also leaves no residue that may be non-degradable.
Solar photovoltaics are not so expensive and they also save a lot of your money that you may otherwise be spending on heating, electricity etc. Solar energy can be used to derive electricity for domestic usage, for heating purposes and for many other things that one may only imagine. With the price of every energy source increasing like anything, we really need to change our means for deriving the energy, so that even if by any chance we run out of the conventional fuels, we still will have the world running.
Lastly, the best part of solar photovoltaics is that it can never run out of fuel as sun is bound to be in existence for millions of years. Hence, we would be harnessing renewable source for taking care of our needs. In fact, we can store solar energy in many forms as well as use it in many forms even when the sun is not visible. This is the advantage of using solar photovoltaics and that is why, everyone should switch to these systems in order to live clean, green as well as healthy.
There are absolutely no side-effects of solar energy and furthermore, you can rest assured that it will also not pose any dangers of fire or other such hazards while in operation. So, all in all it is a great energy source with no disastrous aftermaths or negative effects upon environment or planet.