Article Sphere Logo

An Untapped Source Of Eternal Energy: What Is Solar Energy?

By Expert Author: Taylor Descar | Article Abstract
Word Count: 545 words | Views: 113 view(s)
The most exact definition of Solar Energy is plainly - "the energy from the sun". It is a term used to classify the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun and intercepted by the Earth. It is the world's most permanent and reliable source of energy and the most copious.

The uses of solar energy on earth include solar heating for buildings, solar heat for manufacturing or industry and electricity production. So what is solar energy? How does it affect us?

Solar energy is responsible for weather systems and ocean currents. It provides light, heat, and energy to all living things on Earth. It has many uses. It supplies electricity; it can be used to power cars.

Solar energy is also used as a power for satellites in space and in space shuttles. It could also power boats, generators during emergencies, toys, and even security systems.

The amount of solar energy that the earth receives is about 770 trillion kilowatts (kW), an amount 5,000 times bigger than the sum of all other energy, may it be terrestrial nuclear energy, geothermal energy or gravitational energy.

There are two types of solar energy. These are:

1. Thermal Energy
2. Electric Energy

What is the difference between the two types energy?

Thermal energy is kinetic energy. It is everywhere. It makes the earth hot and even heats up our homes. It helps us to dry our clothes. It is used as well to heat up water for household use or even pools. That is why thermal energy is called the heat energy because it is stored in the center of the earth as well.

Electric energy is widely known to us as the electricity. It is an essential part of nature and it is one of our most widely used forms of energy. This uses sunlight to power ordinary electrical equipment, such as household appliances, computers, and lighting.

Most applications of solar energy depend on systems including collectors, storage and controls. Storage is needed for a reason that solar energy is only available at daylight hours, but the demand for energy is needed both day and night. Controls are used to guarantee that the storage system works safely and efficiently.

The accessibility of solar energy is determined by three factors:

- The location is usually measured by latitude, longitude and altitude.
- The time.
- The weather.

Aside from knowing that solar energy is a free energy still, you have to realize that it also has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages are:

- Solar energy is almost limitless; it will be available for as long as there are still humans in the earth.
- It is abundant. You will not worry of running out of it.
- It could provide more power than all known fossil fuel reserves.
- Solar energy is available during the day when electricity usage is really important.
- It is the most inexhaustible, renewable source of energy known to man.
- Solar energy can be absorbed, reflected, transmitted, and insulated.
- It can be collected and stored in batteries.

The disadvantages are:

- It is not suitable in cloudy areas.
- It is not available at night time.
- And it may require large land areas.

As a reminder, solar energy levels are lesser the farther north the site. Considering geography, season is an important determinant of solar energy levels because the Sun's position and the weather vary greatly from summer to winter.
Taylor Descar

About the Author/Author Bio

If man can harness the power of the sun the opportunities are limitless. Solar energy has so much potential that we owe it to ourselves to explore this awesome source of power www.solarenergynews.info

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/An-Untapped-Source-Of-Eternal-Energy--What-Is-Solar-Energy-/16668

Article Submitted: 2006-03-20 | This Article has been viewed 113 times.

Rate Article

Related Videos

How to Make your House Solar
How To Make Yogurt and a Solar Oven
How to Choose Organic Clothing
Solar Powered Fashion
How to Install Solar Panels
 

More "Science" Related Articles

 
 

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "Science" article category.

People interested in the above article "An Untapped Source Of Eternal Energy: What Is Solar Energy?" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

 
You often hear the term brix and brix refractometer when testing samples for sugar content. Just what is a refractometer? A refractometer is an instrument that measures the refraction of light through a substance. The refractive index becomes higher in a substance of higher concentration. A refractometer has a wide variety of uses such as measuring sugar concentrations and liquid concentrations. Refractometers are sometimes called "Sugar concentration meters" or "Density meters" depending on the application.
Remember back to your school days when you first saw amoeba swimming around in pond water? You thrilled to seeing the microscopic organisms moving around, bumping into each other. Now you want to share that memory with your children or grandchildren as they grow. But you don't want to spend their college money on a new high-priced microscope, so what can you do? No problem - you can now find many microscopes that are either used or demo models at a much more reasonable price. But first you need to determine what type of a used microscope you want: compound or stereo/dissecting.
Various electronic kits are available, and the potential benefits go beyond the finished product. For a start, it's a hands-on opportunity to become familiar with some terminology. By high school, science classes often include an introduction to electronics concepts, including circuit diagrams, resistors, and diodes.
So you have a beautiful brand new science kit, such as a chemistry set, and you want to set up a truly scientific experiment, something really professional, something tightly organized and keenly observed. Sounds like a great idea so far! So where do you begin? The first step, perhaps the most important step, is a well-thought-out hypothesis. This article provides instructions for how to make a great hypothesis.
Kids electronic kits are a great way to learn how different energies, from solar to hydrogen, work together. These energies are used to develop new technologies and better ways of doing things. Using electronics kits to harness these forces is not only a great way to learn but can also be a lot of fun.
To get really good science fair projects from pre-packaged kits takes some creativity, but it can be done. Though many kids science kits are designed with specific experiments in mind and may even come with detailed instructions, it's probably best to approach the kit as a set of tools that will help you in your own unique research.
It is surprisingly easy and enjoyable for a student to create a science fair project that uses electricity. This article offers five ideas for great science fair projects using readily available electronic kits, such as Elenco Electronic Project Lab and Thames and Kosmos.
 
Article Directory Home All Categories Reference And Education Science
 

Can't find what you're looking for? Try Google Search!
 
Copyright © 2005 - by Larry Lim, Singapore - Article Search Engine Directory at ArticleSphere.com™
All Rights Reserved Worldwide. All Trademarks and Servicemarks are the property of the respective owners.

Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Belarusian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish German English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italiano Japanese Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Dutch Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish