So you know how the bigger the surface area exposed to the heat radiation means the quicker it'll heat up.Is this what happens with solar panels, they have a large surface area exposing to the sun, so they can get more heat?
- Radiation from the sun is mostly Ultra- Violet. - There are 2 types of solar panels, Solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic cells. - Put simply, photovoltaic cells take the UV rays and produce electricity. - Solar thermal collectors (which is probabl
Solar panels do heat up. But that's because the radiant energy from the Sun that lies within the infrared (IR) band of energy causes the material in the panels to heat up. And that's the same for any body that has the Sun shine on it. Your face, for example, will heat up while you get a nice tan on the beach. That's due to the heat producing IR radiant energy. Now if those solar panels are supposed to heat buildings etc., that heat produced in the panels when the IR strikes them will be transferred, usually by some fluid, to floors of the rooms to be heated. And as the amount of heat generated by the Sun is proportional to the area of the solar panels, bigger areas of panel will generate more heat than smaller areas. Photoelectric solar panels are another kind. Here the interest is in the visible band of radiant energy from the Sun. Heat, from IR, is still there, but it is not the product sought by PE solar panels. The visible light photons knock off loosely bound electrons from the photoelectric material (typically silicon based) and those electrons are siphoned off as current. That's where the electrical power comes from for buildings using PE solar panels to provide their own electricity.
