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Plants usually convert light into chemical energy with a photosynthetic efficiency of 3–6%. [39] [40] Absorbed light that is unconverted is dissipated primarily as heat, with a small fraction (1–2%) reemitted as chlorophyll fluorescence at longer (redder) wavelengths.
The electron in the higher energy level is unstable and will quickly return to its normal lower energy level. To do this, it must release the absorbed energy. This can happen in various ways. The extra energy can be converted into molecular motion and lost as heat, or re-emitted by the electron as light (fluorescence).
Sunlight is a key factor in photosynthesis, the process used by plants and other autotrophic organisms to convert light energy, normally from the Sun, into chemical energy that can be used to synthesize carbohydrates and fuel the organisms' activities. Daylighting is the natural lighting of interior spaces by admitting sunlight.
In the process of photosynthesis, the phosphorylation of ADP to form ATP using the energy of sunlight is called photophosphorylation. Cyclic photophosphorylation occurs in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, driven by the main primary source of energy available to living organisms, which is sunlight.
Using longer wavelengths means less light energy is needed for the same number of photons and therefore for the same amount of photosynthesis. For actual sunlight, where only 45% of the light is in the photosynthetically active wavelength range, the theoretical maximum efficiency of solar energy conversion is approximately 11%.
This energy can be used for water heating, space heating, space cooling and process heat generation. Many steam generation systems have adapted to using sunlight as a primary source for heating feed water, a development that has greatly increased the overall efficiency of boilers and many other types of waste heat recovery systems.
A record-setting heat blast that swept across the Midwest this week has been made worse by the region's vast fields of cornstalks. Through a natural process commonly called "corn sweat," water ...
The core produces almost all of the Sun's heat via fusion; the rest of the star is heated by the outward transfer of heat from the core. The energy produced by fusion in the core, except a small part carried out by neutrinos, must travel through many successive layers to the solar photosphere before it escapes into space as sunlight, or else as ...