Theory
The solar cell works in three steps:
- Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting materials, such as silicon.
- Electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose from their atoms, causing an electric potential difference. Current starts flowing through the material to cancel the potential and this electricity is captured. Due to the special composition of solar cells, the electrons are only allowed to move in a single direction.
- An array of solar cells converts solar energy into a usable amount of direct current (DC) electricity.
Read more about this topic: Solar Cell
Famous quotes containing the word theory:
“Wont this whole instinct matter bear revision?
Wont almost any theory bear revision?
To err is human, not to, animal.”
—Robert Frost (18741963)
“... liberal intellectuals ... tend to have a classical theory of politics, in which the state has a monopoly of power; hoping that those in positions of authority may prove to be enlightened men, wielding power justly, they are natural, if cautious, allies of the establishment.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“There could be no fairer destiny for any physical theory than that it should point the way to a more comprehensive theory in which it lives on as a limiting case.”
—Albert Einstein (18791955)
Related Subjects
Related Phrases
Related Words