ELI5: Sonce solar panels collect light and convert it to usable energy, are there other types of radiation we can collect and convert into energy in a similar manner?
ELI5: Sonce solar panels collect light and convert it to usable energy, are there other types of radiation we can collect and convert into energy in a similar manner?
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Yeah. The easiest option is usually to make heat from it and then use that heat for electricity, but there’s stuff similar to photovoltaics that work for beta radiation or alpha. Or even using other radiation to produce light for PV.
Yeah, we do it all the time. The entire spectrum of electromagnetic rediation is essentially just energy being transferred in the form of that radiation. So can you be a bit more specific in what you mean?
Alfa and beta radiation could be harvested as well. And are a pretty important part of nuclear energy.
I assume you mean apart from man-made sources on the ground?
High-energy radiation from galactic sources is intense in space, but most doesn’t reach the ground at all (atmosphere).
What we do with solar is about all that is useful.
There are other types of radiation conversion technologies like rectifying antennas (radio waves) but space sources produce almost nothing of note. Not for power generation. And for powerful radiation like X-rays on a space station, I don’t think we know how to turn that into power.
There really is none that would be done in a similar manner because there isn’t another radiation source as large as the sun to collect from.
The suns radiation peaks in the visible spectrum (which is one of the reasons our eyes evolved to see it) so we make solar cells that absorb the peak of radiation from the sun.