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43
SolarBots
ENERGY FROM THE SUN
The terms “solar energy” and “solar power” refer to the ener
gy of the solar radiation
that we are able to harness and use. The sun is a star that
is 150 million kilometers from
Earth. Despite this immense distance, solar energy has an enormous impact on our
lives: Life is not possible without the sun!
You can feel how strong solar energy is on any sunny day
. Just lay out for a bit in the sun
in the middle of summer. But be careful — you need to pr
otect yourself adequately
against sunburn. The sun emits so much energy because it is a gigantic nucl
ear reactor.
It is so hot on the inside that the atoms, the building bl
ocks of all matter, fuse together.
Even on the sun’s surface, it is still around 5,500 degrees Celsius. The nucl
ear fusion
produces nearly inexhaustible amounts of energy. This is r
adiated out into space. And
some of it strikes Earth’s surface as electromagnetic r
adiation, as light.
Solar radiation
342 W/m²
Absorbed by the
atmosphere
67 W/m²
Reflected from the
atmosphere
77 W/m²
Reflected off the
ground
30 W/m²
Absorbed by Earth’s
surface
168 W/m²
W/m² = Was per square meter
AMAZING ENERGY RESERVES
The solar energy striking Earth’s atmospher
e each year
is an unimaginable 1,500,000,000,000,000,000 kil
owatt
hours. This corresponds to about 10,000 times the
energy consumption of all of humanity (as of 2010).
By comparison: A three-person household in a singl
e-
family home consumes 4,000 kilowatt hours of power
each year on average, which is but a tiny fr
action of the
incident solar energy.
However, a large portion of the solar ener
gy is lost in
the atmosphere, since it is “swallowed up” ther
e or
reflected back. The rest of it is enough, though, t
o give
us sunlight that we can use to generate electricity
.
Incident Solar Energy:
the radiant
solar energy that hits Earth's
surface and is referred to as
“global radiation” on a surface.
Kilowatt Hours:
a measure of
electrical energy equivalent to a
power consumption of 1,000 watts
for 1 hour.
Summary of Contents for SolarBots
Page 16: ...ARMIE 14 B29 B30 180 D4 C11 C6 D3 B1 2 3 ...
Page 20: ...BRONTO 18 C21 C21 x2 C19 D15 Correct Incorrect x2 D15 D15 C24 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 5 7 6 ...
Page 21: ...19 Assembly Instructions x2 D15 D15 B24 B18 B21 180 1 1 2 2 2 2 8 9 ...
Page 24: ...AXEL 22 C12 B7 D6 D3 D8 C7 D8 C9 C23 B8 Solar Gearbox 1 1 3 4 5 ...
Page 25: ...23 Assembly Instructions C16 A1 x2 A18 A18 A18 x8 x2 B9 C2 D6 D13 180 1 1 6 7 9 8 ...
Page 32: ...DIZZY 30 D8 D8 B8 Solar Gearbox C16 A1 D13 2 3 5 4 ...
Page 33: ...31 Assembly Instructions x4 B9 C2 A18 D6x2 A18 A18 A6 1 1 180 6 7 8 ...
Page 41: ...39 Assembly Instructions B6x2 D11 1 2 D2 D2 D15 Correct Incorrect C25 C25 1 1 1 1 3 4 6 5 7 ...
Page 42: ...MAJOR 40 D2 Correct Incorrect D15 C26 x4 D15 Correct Incorrect Correct Incorrect 8 10 11 9 ...
