Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Solar Energy


The sun, as sung by They Might Be Giants, is a mass of incandescent gas, a giant nuclear furnace.  Are they accurate in their description?  We have been talking about alternative energy systems and one, very well known system, is the photovoltaic cell (aka solar panels) which captures sunlight and transfers that energy into electricity.  There are many innovations emerging to improve upon this technology.

BlogWork
Go to the site and either watch the video (the link is called  "Video: Solar Power") or read the article (be sure and expand the document to read the whole thing).

Write down five facts from either the video or the article, then respond to the question, "Do you think that the sun will solve our energy problems?"

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

facts:
1. solar panels are helpful because you can sell some of the power that is made from the sun to the electric company.
2. also it is so much better for the environment because the electric company isn't polluting as much.
3. another thing is by using solar electricity it cuts down some of the pollution that your home is makes. 4. also it will avoid all of the gases that are coming from the electric company.
5. it also will keep us even safer then we are now and let people live longer.

question answer:
I bryce think the sun will solve our energy problem because it has enough power to power probably the whole country. also it will help like i said the earth so it helps us be green.

Anonymous said...

1. Ethanol from corn can be used as fuel

2. Alternative energy has been researched at high speeds ever since the energy crisis of 1970

3. Solar energy prevents houses from creating smoke that pollutes the atmosphere

4. Scientists are coming up with ways to make solar cells more efficient

5. Wind energy is used by electric companies if you pay extra

Anonymous said...

1.) farmers have been making their own fuel with the left over corn stalks. called ethanol

2.)this sort of energy is clean and has no fossil fuels it may be more money but it would pay off in the long run

3.) people on the foot of the rocky mt.. have a research center to find alternative energy sources

4.)people have been looking for different energy since the energy crises of the 1970's

5.)are making more efficient solar cell's for home owners.


the sun could probably power most of the country. it is a resource that will never run out. and if we find a more efficient way to harness it we would be closer to more soar power. if we tried really hard it would power most but not all i bet. but there are also more alternative ways for energy which people are experimenting.

Anonymous said...

After farming corn there is a large amount of material on the ground that can be made into ethanal.
Making renewable energy resources since the 1970s.
A home owner who has one of the largest amounts of residential solar panels in the US is sells electricity back to power companies.
To make a difference this must be done on large scale levels.
Cellulose can be taken from the stalks and made into ethanal.

I do not feel that the sun will solve our energy problem. I think the position we are in right now will not be solved by one particular thing. I think it will take a lot of renewable recourses to solve this but i do think the sun will be one of the most helpful things. As they said in the video this must be done on a large scale basis to make a difference, so we all need to help not just leave it up to someone else.

Anonymous said...

1. solar panels are like computer chip material
2. U shaped mirrors focus on an oiled pipe in the middle
3. Solar energy doesn't work at night unless there is a battery installed
4. surged about 20% of energy a year for the past 15 years
5. every hour the sun beams onto earth can have more than a year supply of energy.

No i don't think the solar panels will solve the problem but it will help immensely in the whole picture of the earth. but the whole world would have to use solar to make a gigantic, humungous difference.

Anonymous said...

The most powerful source of energy is the sun

More energy falls as sunlight in a single day

difficult to turn sun into energy

Sacramento nations leader for solar power

buying in bulk saves money

buy solar panels in bulk cheaper price

New way to sell energy back to the utility

Kramer struction power facility covers over 1,800 acres

creates more energy from solar power then all states combined

Has a back up generater

No I believe that we will need much more than just the sun. The sun is not enough, atleast our methods wont work well enough.

Anonymous said...

-photovaltic cells are made of a meaterial found in computer chips.
-solar energy is pollution and noise free.
-cloudy days & nights make solar energy un-useful.
-solar energy is ver expensive to install and requires alot of land.
-japan,germany,u.s, the top markets for photovaltic cells

-i think that solar energy will not solve our energy problems. what happens when its nightime or cloudy. what would we do?? what about those who cant afford to insatll it.there are alot of thigs too consider.
&chelsea.

Anonymous said...

can swim up to 8 hrs.
cost 30,000 dollars
can swim like a real fish
checks pollution in water
1.5 meters long

i don't think it will solve our energy problems. I don't think it will because what if we find new and better ways to get energy.Also there might be three days with a lot of clouds and not a lot of sun out.

Anonymous said...

largest residential solar plant is
-make so much energy that they can sell it back to the gas company

Fossil fuels are only used because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than altetrnative fuels

Farmers can use their extra crops to create corn ethanol, other wise known as bio-disel from the sugars in corn

in 1999 sweeden started placing wind turbine generators in villages

single biggest change in our economy is the change of energy in the USA.

The US uses more energy and produces more waste per person than any other industrial country
___________________________________

The sun will solve our energy problem overall as the sun creates wind, solar heat, and solar power. This means that all 3 of these sources of energy can be used to power the earth and can be contributed to the sun. That would mean that the problems with each one of the power sources would be covered by the other. Also 1 hour of solar power absorbtion with either solar satelites or solar panels on earth is enough to power the whole US ( meaning that night and cloudy days would not cause alot of problems).
___________________________________
I think I may have watched 2 videos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

really sorry this is so late! when this was assigned i had no internet at home and no ELP and lunch time was focused on yearbook. my internet came back up about 5 days ago which i spent mostly in bed seeing as i came down with some sort of virus the day after the night we got internet. *sigh* oh well here it is now if it still counts for anything and a little extra.

Video Facts:

1. The researchers in that area say that for renewable energy to really make a diference it has to be on a large scale.

2. There was an energy crises in the 1970's.

3. High gas prices for vehicles cause more intrest and research towards alternative energy sources.

4. The material the farmers often leave on the ground after harvesting corn looks like straw and researchers are asking farmers to collect it so they can then run it through conversion technology to make liquid fuels.

5. Since the crisis in fact 2, some farmers are diverting part of their green harvest to make ethanol.

6. You can turn cellulos that are made of sugars into ethanol just like how they turn the corn grain.

7. It is a struggle in America that renewable energy technology is viable

8. Wind turbines were pioneered in the U.S, but are used in Europe.

Unknown said...

this is mostly the extra part. it's about the song by "They May Be Giants".

"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas,
A gigantic nuclear furnace,
Where hydrogen is built into helium,
At a temperature of millions of degrees."

The lyrics are a true statement based on solid science known about the sun.

1. The sun is a mass of incandescent gas because
as we all know the sun is basically a mass, or a body of coherent matter, of gas and incandescent means that something is releasing visible light because it is being heated.

2. The sun is a gigantic nuclear furnace because the nuclear fusion in the core of the sun creates the energy, or heat which makes it a nuclear furnace. The gigantic part is debatable seeing as although the sun is a giant to us, in the universe there are other stars of the same size or even larger.

My sources are basically all from dictionary.com under the browsing of words like sun, incandescent, and mass.

Dan Cunitz said...

Cassie -

Is the sun a gas?

Anonymous said...

In one hour the sun beams down enough energy to satisfy an entire year

solar energy is the technology used to harness the suns energy and make it usable

Many people are familiar with so-called photovoltaic cells, or solar panels, found on things like spacecraft, rooftops, and handheld calculators.
As the electrons flow through the cell they generate energy
solar thermal power plants have many differnt techniques to concentrate the sun's energy as a heat source

I do not believe the sun will solve our energy problem. it may have potential to but i dot think our government realized that yet.

DIGGY DOG D

redrum said...

1.Corn Can Be Used To Make A Liquid Fuel Called Ethanol
2. Solar Energy Can Only Work During The Day Without A Battery
3. The Sun Sends Enough Of Its Energy To Earth Every Hour To Power The Planet For An Entire Year
4. Farmers don't have to directly use their crop to make Ethanol, they can just use the remains left on the ground.
5. Solar energy creates 0 smoke, so it doesn't harm the atmosphere

I don't think the sun can completely solve our energy crisis anytime soon, but it can make a gigantic difference. We cannot stop at just one harmless energy, we have to find enough to feed our addiction. Someday we may work in perfect harmony with the sun and figure out how to harness its energy easily and cheaply, but not anytime soon

Unknown said...

yes the sun is basically a ball of plasma and gases such as hydrogen and helium.

Anonymous said...

1. Every hour, more than enough energy for the entire world for 1 year hits the Earth. All of this energy is from Sol (the sun)
2. Today, we get less than a tenth of a percent of global energy needs from Sol.
3. Solar panels are photovoltaic cells.
4. It produces no pollution and usually no noise
5. Possible to implement on a large scale.

I do not think that solar energy alone can solve the energy problem, as it will simply cost too much.

MX3 said...

1:is that the lab we saw has been working on different renwable energy since the 1970s
2:that same lab is working on new more afordible and better solar cells
3:in Europe wind energy is used more and with better efficiency
4:home oweners cell electricity back too the power compines
5:converting plants are now converting the havest leavings (stalks abd stuble) into ethanol.
i think that the sun is part of the solution but it is not the hole ancer, the hole world has to group together and use many different alternitive energy sources to survive.

Some person said...

Every hour, we get more energy from the sun that we need in a year

Photovoltaic cells get hit by sun beams causing the electrons to move around and create electricity

There is a lot of ways to get energy from the sun's rays

Solar energy can get distracted by cloudy sky's and also at night time

Along with Japan and Germany, the US are big users of solar energy

-Mike