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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 initial stages occur within picoseconds, with an efficiency of 100%. The seemingly impossible efficiency is due to the precise positioning of molecules within the reaction center. This is a solid-state process, not a typical chemical reaction. It occurs within an essentially crystalline environment created by the macromolecular structure of ...
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.
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.
The principle that biological macromolecules catalyze a thermodynamically unfavorable reaction if and only if a thermodynamically favorable reaction occurs simultaneously, underlies all known forms of life. The transfer of electrons from a donor molecule to an acceptor molecule can be spatially separated into a series of intermediate redox ...
Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to convert light into an electric current. [63]
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 ...
Photoexcitation is the first step in a photochemical process where the reactant is elevated to a state of higher energy, an excited state.The first law of photochemistry, known as the Grotthuss–Draper law (for chemists Theodor Grotthuss and John W. Draper), states that light must be absorbed by a chemical substance in order for a photochemical reaction to take place.