3. One area of specialization here in the Department of Physics&Astronomy; at th

Question

3. One area of specialization here in the Department of Physics&Astronomy; at the calculation and discussion of how much solar power can be collected by solar cells on Earth a. Imagine a giant sphere surrounding the sun with a radius of 1496 x 1011 meters (the sun-earth distance). What is the surface area of this sphere in square meters b. Because this imaginary giant sphere surrounds the sun, the sun's entire luminosity of 3.8x10 Watts must pass through t. Calculate the power massing through each square meter of this imaginary sphere in watts per square meter. Explain winy i L1% 1 1 11IllKT Kg wills Elk: ILL UKI! Ill 111 IDEDYwer lpe sal?na III kr E la call lx.xllex: 6xl by a solar collector in Earth's orbit.

Explanation / Answer

a)

Surface aera of sphere = 4 * pi * (r)^2

=> 4 * 3.14 * (1.496 * 10^(11))^2

=> 2.811 * 10^(23) m^2

b)

Power through each square meter in watts per square meter = Total Power/surface area

=> 3.8 * 10^(26) Watts/2.811 * 10^(23) m^2

=> 1.3511 * 10^3 Watt/m^2 = 1351.11 Watts/m^2

The standard solar panel has an input rate of around 1000 W/m^2 with an efficiency of +/- 15 % depending upon the location. Hence this number represents the maximum power per square meter that can be collected by solar collector in Earth's orbit

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