how is solar energy generated?
95488
The term solar refers to a star - like our sun.  Nuclear fission reactions take place in the interior of most stars and this generates the solar energy.  That enery has characteristics that we can see (visible radiation) as well as those we can't see (heat, UV radiation).
670720
electric can come from solar energy gas is made of oil and if people use gas powered cars earth might run out of oil and solar power can keep on going
653017
I would start with the sun. It is the source of all the energy we get. It made the plant grow that the dinosaurs ate that we get fossil fuel from. It causes the weather that we can get wind energy or tidal energy, or we can get solar power directly. Yup.. start with the sun and trace every kind of energy you can think of back to it.
397245
um solar panels? i dont know how they work though so i dunno.
602571
The sun is not the source of ALL the energy - just almost all of it.  \n\nLight is a form of energy, most of our light is from the sun but we do recieve a tiny fraction of light from the other stars in the sky - that is why we can see them.\n\nBut the sun does supply almost all the energy.\nThe sun radiates light and other forms of energy which hits the earth and some is absorbed (some is also reflected).  Much of the absorbed light becomes heat - this is why it is hotter in the sunshine than the shade.\nSunlight also allows plants to obtain energy by a process called photosynthasis which happens in leaves and green stalks (like on a cactus).  It is this energy from sunlight which allows plants to grow.  All living things use this energy from plants via the food chain.\nFuels (like coal and oil) come from the remains of plants and animals and thus the energy was originally from the sun.\n\nThere are sources of energy which don't come from the sun such as geothermal power (this is heat from the centre of the earth which is created by pressure) and there are even organisms which live deep in the ocean which do not need any sunlight to survive (they are chemotrophic bacteria which survive around active volcanic vents in the sea floor).  \nBut to all intents and purposes a good 99% of all the energy comes from the sun.\n\nI hope this helps you with your homework!
711472
Solar energy is used for two types of devices: thermal, and photovoltaic.  For your water heater, you are talking thermal.  Put tubing into a black box with a clear cover, put the box in sunlight, and you have a solar water heater -- details vary, but they don't matter much.  Photovoltaic use silicon cells (usually called solar cells, or solar panels) to generate electricity.  Solar-cell powered garden lights, where the light is a light-emitting diode, are becoming popular and inexpensive.  The solar cells charge a nickel-cadmium battery during the day, and the battery powers the lamp at night.
32092
A Solar cell is a device that converts the solar enery into electrical energy. They are also called Photovoltaic Cells. They are used in Solar Calculators, Street Lights, Some Traffic Lights, and Many more.
616186
The potential energy, stored by the water due to its height, converts to kinetic energy as it falls. This turns the turbines which in turn create electrical energy.\n\nThis conversion requires the use of a generator (the rotation of the coils of wire that cuts through the magnetic fields of some magnets results in electricity forming; refer to Fleming.)
707389
It uses the sun's rays for energy. If not it uses a tank like a car. Only, it uses a tank for combusting the fuel. A tank that is filled with oxygen.
349291
Most forms of electricity generation involve heating water (burning fossil fuel, solar power, etc) to form steam that turns a turbine.  The excess heat releases a large amount of wasted energy, energy not used to produce electricity.  Hydroelectric power, on the other hand, uses only moving (cool) water to push the turbine, so no heat energy is wasted and no fuel is consumed.  The main problem with hydroelectric power is that rivers end up dammed to collect enough water to move the turbines; dams alter the natural hydrology of their environment by flooding low lying areas, slowing waterflow, and impeeding animal migration.
381276
All of this are plus gas,petrol and nuclear energy. Water, wind and sun are called renewable energy resources.
515649
http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/solar.htm\n\nThis is a favorite source of future energy for many people, comforted by the thought that it is unlimited. But, quite the contrary is true. The Sun will exist for a long time, but at any given place on the Earth's surface the amount of sunlight received is limited--only so much is received. And at night, or with overcast skies, or in high latitudes where winter days are short and for months there may be no daylight at all, the sunlight received is very limited at times. Direct conversion of sunlight to electricity by solar cells is a promising field, but the amount of electricity that can be generated by that method is not great compared with demand. The conversion efficiency is low, about 12 percent with present technology.\n\nSolar energy in quantity requires huge installations. It has been estimated that an area of 60 square miles in relatively clear central Oregon would have to be covered with solar cells in order to meet the present electric needs of that State. About 10% of the cells have to be replaced each year. But the big problem is how to store significant amounts of electricity when the Sun is not available to produce it. That problem remains unsolved. The statement that "solar energy will not make next century's electricity" is probably right. And the end product is electricity--a very limited replacement for oil.
586906
God doesn't exist.  The Sun creates energy through nuclear fusion.  \n\nNuclear power is the only thing left to power the Sun for as long as it has been shining. There are two types possible: fusion and fission. They both transform the nucleus of an atom into another type of nucleus. Fission produces energy by breaking up massive nuclei like uranium into less massive nuclei like helium and lead. Fusion produces energy by fusing together light nuclei like hydrogen to make more massive muclei like helium. Atomic power plants and the Atom Bomb use fission to get the energy. Stars (like the Sun) and Hydrogen bombs use fusion.
612469
Solar electric panels are made up of something called silicon, the same thing that makes up sand. There is more silicon on the planet than almost anything else. Even though you can find silicon almost everywhere, making a solar panel is difficult and expensive. The silicon has to be heated to super high temperatures in a big factory, and then formed into very thin wafers. \n\nWhen sunlight hits a solar panel, it makes electrons in the silicon move around. (Electrons are teeny tiny specks--they?re way too small for us to see, even under a microscope.) The electrons flow through wires that were built into the solar panel. And presto! We have electricity! We can do whatever we want with this electricity, run a calculator, a CD player, or, if we have big enough solar panels, a satellite! [Solar panels are also called photovoltaic panels. "Photo" means light and "voltaic" means electricity.]
470132
Solar energy ( using solar panels or something ) is the ultimate alternate energy source, because the energy in living things comes from the sun.  The energy in petroleum, which comes from dead plants, comes from the sun.  And the energy from hydroelectric dams comes from the sun, because the sun evaporates the water so it can rain down on the mountains and fill up the reservoir behind the dam.  Why not just go directly to the source--the sun.\n\nAs for simulating day and night, you must do this!  The human body schedules itself to sleep about every 24 or 25 hours.  Going against this schedule or against the schedule of light and dark periods can cause difficulty sleeping, difficulty staying awake, and possibly psychological problems.\n\nI don't really know what kind of colony you are referring to, so I can't really answer the other questions.  Is it a computer simulation, like Sim City, or a science-fiction colony on the planet Mars, or just a wilderness survival plan?
1116094
The Sun is the only "substance" that can produce solar power!\n\nDid you perhaps mean what chemical substances can harness solar power?  Most solar cells are made from semi-conducting materials like Silicon and Germanium.  \n\nHere's some info:
283028
Photosynthesis generally takes light, CO2 & water and makes sugars.  These sugars are chemically converted in to food, propane, methanol, ethanol, coal, oil, wood and all the other fossil fuels and orgnic compounds on the earth, through natural, geologic, and/or manmade processes.  At every step of each process, energy is lost.  To gain usable energy, other than in biologic processes, requires burning something, and using the expansion of heated gases to create physical force (motion), or then using physical force to drive a generator to create electrical current.    \n\nWe do not currently have an effecient method of making electicity using incoming Solar radiation.  Current solar cells convert a small percentage of one section of the electromagnetic spectrum into electric current.\n\nHope this helps.