{"id":72,"date":"2018-02-06T20:32:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T20:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/?page_id=72"},"modified":"2018-02-06T20:32:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T20:32:18","slug":"how-do-solar-panels-work","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do Solar Panels Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"Last updated: February 6, 2018 at 20:32 pm\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How do solar panels work? - Richard Komp\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xKxrkht7CpY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This awesome YouTube Video does a great job explaining how solar panels work. Here is the transcript:<\/p>\n<p>The earth intercepts a lot of solar power: 173 thousand terawatts: that&#8217;s 10,000 times more power than the planet&#8217;s population uses. So, is it possible that one day the world could be completely reliant on solar energy. To answer that question, we first need to examine how solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy.<\/p>\n<p>Solar panels are made up of smaller units called solar cells. The most common solar cells are made from silicon: a semi conductor that is the second most abundant element on earth. In a solar cell, crystal and silicon is sandwiched between conductive layers.<\/p>\n<p>Each silicon atom is connected to its neighbors by 4 strong bonds, which keep the electrons in place so no current can flow.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the key, a silicon solar cell uses two different layers of silicon. An N type silicon has extra electrons. A P type silicon has extra spaces for electrons called holes. Where the two types of silicon meet, electrons can wander across the P\/N junction, leaving a positive charge on one side, and creating negative charge on the other.<\/p>\n<p>You can think of light as the flow of tiny particles called photons shooting out from the sun. When one of these photons strikes the silicon cell with enough energy. It can knock an electron from its bond, leaving a hole.<\/p>\n<p>The negatively charged electron in location of the positively charged hole are now free to move around. But because of the electric field at the P\/N junction, they&#8217;ll only go one way. The electron is drawn to the N side while the hole is drawn to the P side.<\/p>\n<p>The mobile electrons are collected by thin metal fingers at the top of the cell. From there, they flow through an external circuit, doing electrical work like powering a light bulb before returning through the conductive aluminum sheet at the back<\/p>\n<p>Each silicon cell only puts out half a volt, but you can string them together in modules to get more power. 12 photovoltaic cells are enough to charge a cell phone, while it takes many modules to power an entire house.<\/p>\n<p>Electrons are the only moving parts in a solar cell. And they all go back where they came from. There&#8217;s nothing to get worn out or used up, so solar cells can last for decades.<\/p>\n<p>So what&#8217;s stopping us from being completely reliant on solar power? There are political factors in play. Not to mention businesses that lobby to maintain the status quo. But for now, let&#8217;s focus on the physical and logistical challenges.<\/p>\n<p>And the most obvious of those is that solar energy is unevenly distributed across the planet.<\/p>\n<p>Some areas are sunnier than others. It is also inconsistent: less solar energy is available on cloudy days, or at night. So a total reliance would require efficient ways to get electricity from sunny spots to cloudy ones and effective storage of energy.<\/p>\n<p>The efficiency of the cell itself is a challenge too. If sunlight is reflected instead of absorbed. Or if dislodged electrons fall back into a hole before going through the circuit, that photon&#8217;s energy is lost.<\/p>\n<p>The most efficient solar cell yet still only converts 46% of the available sunlight into energy. And most commercial systems are currently 15 &#8211; 20 % efficient.<\/p>\n<p>In spite of these limitations, it actually would be possible to power the entire world with today&#8217;s solar technology. We need the funding to build the infrastructure, and a good deal of space. Estimates range from tens to hundreds of thousands of square miles, which seems like a lot. But the Sahara desert alone is over 3 million square miles in area.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, solar cells are getting better, cheaper, and are competing with electricity from the grid. And innovations like floating solar farms may change the landscape entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Thought experiments aside, there&#8217;s the fact that over a billion people don&#8217;t have access to a reliable electric grid, especially in developing countries, many of which are sunny.\u00a0So in places like that, solar energy is already much cheaper and safer than available alternatives like kerosene. For say, Finland or Seattle, though, effective solar energy may still be a little way off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This awesome YouTube Video does a great job explaining how solar panels work. Here is the transcript: The earth intercepts a lot of solar power: 173 thousand terawatts: that&#8217;s 10,000 <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5,8,6,9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-alternative-energy","category-energy","category-silicon","category-solar-panels","category-solar-power","category-sunlight"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Do Solar Panels Work? - Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Do Solar Panels Work? - Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This awesome YouTube Video does a great job explaining how solar panels work. Here is the transcript: The earth intercepts a lot of solar power: 173 thousand terawatts: that&#8217;s 10,000 Continue Reading &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/how-do-solar-panels-work\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/how-do-solar-panels-work\\\/\",\"name\":\"How Do Solar Panels Work? - Science\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-06T20:32:18+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/how-do-solar-panels-work\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/how-do-solar-panels-work\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/how-do-solar-panels-work\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Do Solar Panels Work?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/\",\"name\":\"Science\",\"description\":\"By Patrick Carpen: The Greatest Writer On Earth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/science\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Do Solar Panels Work? - Science","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Do Solar Panels Work? - Science","og_description":"This awesome YouTube Video does a great job explaining how solar panels work. Here is the transcript: The earth intercepts a lot of solar power: 173 thousand terawatts: that&#8217;s 10,000 Continue Reading &rarr;","og_url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/","og_site_name":"Science","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/","url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/","name":"How Do Solar Panels Work? - Science","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-02-06T20:32:18+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/how-do-solar-panels-work\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Do Solar Panels Work?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/#website","url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/","name":"Science","description":"By Patrick Carpen: The Greatest Writer On Earth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PeknkL-1a","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43,"url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/the-solar-system-an-introduction\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":0},"title":"The Solar System: An Introduction","author":"Patrick Carpen","date":"November 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Space has no end. It stretches on and on to infinity. The human mind cannot comprehend infinity, but you can try to imagine. Imagine flying in a spaceship to outer space at the speed of light. You will never reach an end. This is how the \"universe\" is: totally \"unlimited\".\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89,"url":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/science\/the-first-twenty-elements-of-the-period-table\/","url_meta":{"origin":72,"position":1},"title":"The First Twenty Elements of the Period Table","author":"Patrick Carpen","date":"February 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Students of Chemistry, at the beginner level, are required to memorize at least the first twenty elements of the periodic table of elements. Understanding what each element does, is good for, or is used for, helps to memorize them more effectively. 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