What is Homemade Solar Energy?
Every day, the sun radiates (sends out) an enormous amount of energy—called solar energy. It radiates more energy in one second than the world has used since time began. This energy comes from within the sun itself.
Like most stars, the sun is a big gas ball made up mostly of hydrogen and helium gas. The sun makes energy in its inner core in a process called nuclear fusion. Only a small part of the solar energy that the sun radiates into space ever reaches the earth, but that is more than enough to supply all our energy needs. Every day enough solar energy reaches the earth to supply our nation's energy needs for a year!
It takes the sun's energy just a little over eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles to earth. Solar energy travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light. Today, people use solar energy to heat buildings and water and to generate electricity.
Solar Collectors
Heating with solar energy is not as easy as you might think. Capturing sunlight and putting it to work is difficult because the solar energy that reaches the earth is spread out over a large area. The sun does not deliver that much energy to any one place at any one time.
The amount of solar energy an area receives depends on the time of day, the season of the year, the cloudiness of the sky, and how close you are to the earth's equator.
A solar collector is one way to capture sunlight and change it into usable heat energy. A closed car on a sunny day is like a solar collector. As sunlight passes through the car's windows, it is absorbed by the seat covers, walls, and floor of the car. The absorbed light changes into heat. The car's windows let light in, but they don't let all the heat out. A closed car can get very hot!
Like most stars, the sun is a big gas ball made up mostly of hydrogen and helium gas. The sun makes energy in its inner core in a process called nuclear fusion. Only a small part of the solar energy that the sun radiates into space ever reaches the earth, but that is more than enough to supply all our energy needs. Every day enough solar energy reaches the earth to supply our nation's energy needs for a year!
It takes the sun's energy just a little over eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles to earth. Solar energy travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light. Today, people use solar energy to heat buildings and water and to generate electricity.
Solar Collectors
Heating with solar energy is not as easy as you might think. Capturing sunlight and putting it to work is difficult because the solar energy that reaches the earth is spread out over a large area. The sun does not deliver that much energy to any one place at any one time.
The amount of solar energy an area receives depends on the time of day, the season of the year, the cloudiness of the sky, and how close you are to the earth's equator.
A solar collector is one way to capture sunlight and change it into usable heat energy. A closed car on a sunny day is like a solar collector. As sunlight passes through the car's windows, it is absorbed by the seat covers, walls, and floor of the car. The absorbed light changes into heat. The car's windows let light in, but they don't let all the heat out. A closed car can get very hot!
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