How Solar Panels Work
The cause of global warming is the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In order to decrease the amount of greenhouse gases and control global warming, a search has begun to find alternative sources of electricity, instead of coal, oil and to a certain extent nuclear power plants which emit pollutants causing this catastrophe in the atmosphere.
The Sun, our nearest and most powerful source of renewable energy could help us produce electricity by tapping its energy. But how could it be done? Well, with the invention of photovoltaic cells, a lot of which comprise a solar panel, makes this dream of tapping the sun’s energy a reality. However, the three main drawbacks to the installation, use, and maintenance of these solar panels are - the amount of funding needed to set up a solar plant, rain, and snow. Some of the cost is offset by the savings from other energy sources, but not entirely until some of the costs of solar come down.
Ever wondered how solar panels work? It’s complicated, but all one needs is a bit of basic chemistry to understand the various chemical reactions that take place to form the electrical current. Let’s find out how this thing works
The main component of a solar panel is sand or silicon, the element Si on the periodic table. In its natural form, silicon has four electrons but has room for eight of them. When two silicon atoms combine, a strong bond is created but electricity is not produced since the atoms share each others capacity for eight electrons. To create the electrical current, a positive and negative charge is needed.
Here, you need some knowledge of chemistry! You add a negative charge to be introduced to the silicon atoms. Usually it is phosphorus, which has five electrons. Once combined with silicon, it lends a negative charge, that is, there is an extra electron that the silicon atom doesn’t need, which floats around. A positive charge is created using boron, which has three electrons. When these positive and negative charges react, electricity flows!
The most important part of the chemical reaction is when the photons from the rays of the sun hit the silicon-phosphorus atoms, knocking off the extra electron. That electron is attracted by the positive boron-silicon atoms to compensate for the structure of the boron which has only three electrons. As the process repeats, electricity is produced.
In order for this process to work and a lot of electricity to be produced, you must have a large number of solar panels, which means you will have to spend a good deal of money. Make sure that you have installed back up power storage where you can store the electricity produced by the solar panels or else you are wasting the energy that you produced.
Whether you followed the chemistry lesson or not, the takeaway is that solar is a cleaner source of energy than the traditional methods and using it may save our environment for the benefit of future generations.
