Solar Energy Discussion, Information, Product & News
Describe the three factors that affect how much solar energy is received by various places on Earth.
Best Educated Answer recieves 10pts.
Filed under: Solar Energy Talk
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Latitude and season both affect the energy absorbed for similar reasons:
In both cases it has to do with the angle of incidence of sunlight.
At the equator (within the Tropics) the sun gets very high in the sky at noon – and so the sunlight as it hits the ground is most concentrated.
At high latitude, the sun doesn’t get high, the a beam of sunlight comes in at an oblique angle and the sunlight is spread out over a larger area and is thus more dilute.
Try using a laser pointer and shine the spot directly onto the floor, then try holding the pointer at an angle so the spot gets smeared out. The same amount of energy per sec is emitted by the laser pointer in both cases, but when the spot is smeared out the same energy is spread over a larger area, so it wouldn’t get as heated
This effect also accounts for seasons because the tilt f the earth affects the angle of incidence.
There is also the albedo – which is effective color.
If the ground is reflective (say ice or snow) more light is reflected, so less is absorbed. If the ground is dark rock (say fairly recent lava flows), not so much light is reflected so more is absorbed.
Cloud cover will also affect was is received, because the clouds reflect some light before it hits the ground.
Latitude
Cloud cover
Air pollution
The amount of solar activity that is taking place on the sun (solar flares)
The behavior/strenght of the magnetosphere
The distance of the earth to the sun (aphelion-farthest from the sun versus perihelion-closest to the sun)
go to
http://www.geocities.com/dieret/re/Solar/solar.html
u will find all the answers.
(1) latitude(2) cloud cover(3) presence of snow and ice covering.
The angle of incidence of the sun’s rays over the earth’s surface increases from the equator towards poles and hence the same amount of solar radiation falls on a larger area in the same direction thereby decreasing the intensity.
In general clouds are good reflectors of solar radiation,only a small amount being absorbed.Therefore when the sky is cloudy,major part of the incoming solar radiation is prevented from reaching the surface due to reflection.The small amount which is absorbed by the clouds is used to raise the temperatuere of the cloud only.
Snow is a good reflector of heat and a good radiator of long wave radiations.Consequently,low temperatures are expeienced in the places where there are snow or ice covering as in the case of poles.Moreover the incident solar radiationis used only to melt the ice and not rising the temperature.
Presence of water surface also affects the incident solar rdiation as they reflect some of the incident solar radiation.
Latitude, for the reasons given.
Transparency of the atmosphere (cloudiness, altitude, pollution)
Local geography (at the bottom of a deep valley or in a forest doesn’t get much)
Given these factors, the place getting the most solar energy is probably a high desert mountaintop in Ecuador.