As we are bracing for higher energy costs, and look into solar energy in an attempt to reduce our electric bill, we might ask ourselves how do photovoltaic panels work? After all we may very well have to install some soon in the hope to reduce our utility bills.
Photovoltaic panels are all about sand. No, not sand as we know it on the beach, but sand nonetheless. Sand transformed into a semi-conductor (it is a component, silicon, that has properties somewhere between metal, and an isolator.) That is why it is called a semi-conductor. It is capable to serve as a conduit for electric current and to store information.
Silicon is obtained from the sand and sliced into micro thin slices and spread all over the panel.
The sun rays hit the cells, light photons excite the electron that rotates around a nucleus, the electron then passes to the next nucleus and produces a current in doing so. The properties of the semi-conductor keep it from returning to the previous nucleus.
Okay it’s a little obscure to understand, so if someone asks do like I do, just look like you understood it all!
Photovoltaic energy is the result of direct transformation from sunlight into electric energy, by means of cells usually made of silicon. To get enough power, these cells are connected to each other and constitute a solar module or solar panel.
A video is always better than a long discourse, I therefore invite you to view the video.
Solar panels will be a technology that we talk about a lot in the next few years as our country leaders will encourage to save energy as new solutions are being sought
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