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OCR Page 1 of 116Research for Industry
A News Bulletin from
STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
VOL. VII, No. 4
MARCH 1955
Science and Industry-
Zaren
Zarem
LOOK TO THE
SUN
The SUN earth with
sunburn victims know) to visible blue,
more en-
red, and then into infrared we feel but
ergy than man uses. The roof of
cannot see.
an average house in the United
So much for appearance. More mi-
nutely, sunlight consists of discrete
States intercepts about 500 times
bundles of energy that make the 93-
more energy than the electricity used by
million-mile trip and penetrate the earth's
a typical American home.
atmosphere, striking the molecules com-
This energy is free for the taking; but
prising the rocks, earth, water, or plants
the taking is extremely difficult.
of the earth's surface. Utilization of so-
Although ancient man used the heat
lar energy involves putting to work the
of the sun to dry ponds of sea water to
various ways individual molecules can
obtain salt, to open temple doors, and to
react when struck by solar "bullets."
make statues turn, little real progress in
application has been made since. This,
Mirror Effect
despite today's advanced technology.
Needs for energy in all forms are in-
The simplest change that can occur to
creasing at such an unprecedented rate
a molecule struck by a photon is nothing.
that the harnessing of solar energy can
This is the mirror effect. Much of the
no longer be dismissed as a difficult prob-
sun's rays is immediately reflected by the
lem. The luxuries and necessities that
earth's surface to the sky to be lost for-
make up present living standards are ex-
ever. Mirrors are not themselves solar
tremely costly in terms of fossil-fuel.
energy devices but can be used with
And, although estimates of lifetimes of
mechanisms that make use of the ex-
fuel supplies-coal, oil, gas, and the
tremely important second molecular ef-
atom-vary, differences of amounts re-
fect-the conversion of the photons of
maining are in decades, not hundreds or
solar radiation to heat. A molecule can
thousands of years.
be set in motion by the "bullets." The
The sunlight we see-and the ultra-
molecule holds the energy briefly and
violet and infrared part we cannot see-
then gives it up. But-and this is the
are electromagnetic radiation, just as are
key to the phenomenon-the energy is
radio and television waves. The rainbow
given off in smaller bundles of infrared
gives a clue to the nature of sunlight-
photons, or heat.
that it consists of many colors ranging
These two actions are the basis of the
from a small portion of ultraviolet (as
simplest solar energy device-the mir-
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