renewable energies

In simple terms, how would you describe what goes on in a solar cell in solar energy?

I have a science project and I have to expalin to the judge what happends during the process of solar energy. Can you please summurize it in simple, easy to remember terms?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Solar Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “In simple terms, how would you describe what goes on in a solar cell in solar energy?”

1. sddingman on April 16th, 2008 at 9:02 am

   Basically what goes on in a solar cell is the conversion of light energy (photons) to electrical current (the flow of electrons).

   In physics this is called the photoelectric effect.

   A solar cell will absorb light energy (the photons, which could be visible light, UV light or IR light generally), and this light energy will energize electrons in the atoms of the cell.

   These electrons will cause a charge separation (positive and negative) in the material (a voltage) which will have a mechanism for trapping the electrons to maintain the voltage.

   Current will then flow if you connect the separate charged ends of the cell with a conductive material.

   I am not sure how to make it simpler…

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