Can solar panels work on artificial light or do they need sunlight?
Question:
Answer:
Sure, they'll work with any light. A solar calculator works in a well lit room. This isn't exactly an efficient way to run things, though, since it takes far more energy to generate the lights than you can recover. Sort of like growing marijuana indoors. But yes, if you have a bunch of stolen solar calculators that you need to use, but are afraid to take outside, you can have a little computation farm in your basement where you keep them working under bright light.
need sunlight
Any photon source will cause them to have some activity. The energy of the photons and their number will determine the amount of energy produced.
Depends on the spectrum of light the solar panels are sensitive too.Some artificial light may only be at a narrow range of wavelengths so will not work very well.
Kind of defeats the object though doesn't it? unless you desperately want to run something at night and you cannot use ordinary power.
Using artificial light to power solar panels kind of defeats the object don't you think?
I'll lend you my solar powered torch!!
PS:
Can you sell sand to the Saudis?
Buh! Can anyone else see a slight problem with this question?
Solar panels generate electricity by absorbing the energy contained inside photons hitting the panel's surface. The photons collide with electrons causing them to start moving. Solar panels send these electrons in concentrated current. This steam of electrons is in fact the electrical current produced by the solar panel.
Different solar panels are sensitive to photons with different wavelengths. For most solar panels, this'll be the wavelengths of the sunlight reaching the earth's surface. These are parts from the visible spectrum of light and a parts of the infrared spectrum.
So, can a Solar Panel work on an artificial source of light? Yes, they can, but they'll not run very well. The electricity output depends on the amount energy contained in the photons and the amount of photons hitting the surface of the solar panel. If you compare the electicity generated by absorbing the light of a standard-use lightbulb to the amount of electicity generated by absorbling the light of the sun, you'll notice sunlight does work better.
They definitely need sunlight if you are going to power your home.
Artificial lighting will be OK just for small experiments.
They will work up to a point, but you will never get as much energy out as you put in.
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