What are solar panels?

Posted by admin

February 7, 2012

Although the first solar cell was built in 1883, the modern day application of solar cells was not discovered until 1954 in Bell Labratories, where it was found that a Silicon based semiconductor was sensitive to light. They have since been used to power a multitude of purposes from fueling rockets, to fueling traffic lights.

A solar panel is basically just run on a chemical raction. The panels are basically just Silicon with some impurities, which when hit by light, excites the molecules, and the electrons shoot off, creating electricity through the silicon. You can build panels in all shapes and sizes, and right now the record for solar efficency is around %40. That is, we are only gaining %40 of the energy we could gain at any panel at any time.

Solar Cells

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