Renewable Energy: Solar Energy
Throughout history the suns heat has been used as a form of energy – in the beginning it was used to cook food. Then we learnt to collect the sun’s energy and use it - in the form of heat or ‘solar thermal’ energy.
Solar Energy Facts
- A Swiss scientist called Horace de Saussure invented the world’s first solar collector, or ‘hot box’ in 1767.
- In 5 billion years the Sun will run out of fuel and turn into a Red Giant.
- The famous astronomer Sir John Herschel used ‘hot boxes’ to cook his food when on an expedition to South Africa in the 1830s.
- We can produce laser light a million times brighter than sunshine.
- A lightning bolt is hotter than the surface of the Sun.
- It takes 8 minutes 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun's surface to the Earth.
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