Tag - solar energy

Solar Energy Myths and Truths

We had a fun and informative discussion on solar energy and renewable energy sources during our Twitter party on Tuesday night. Thank you to everyone who joined in. We look forward to tweeting with you in the future. Follow us @spanglerscience to join the conversation.

During the Twitter party, we promised a post with more in-depth answers to our questions.

We talked a lot about Photovoltaics. Photovoltaics are simply defined as the method of turning the sun’s power into solar energy.

Solar energy puts the sun’s energy to work in the form of electricity, heating and lighting. A strong effort is being put into solar energy because it is reliable and has few environmental impacts. Solar energy is also an abundant and renewable resource.

Q1: Myth or Truth: Solar electricity cannot serve any significant fraction of U.S. or world electricity needs.
Q1 ANSWER: Photovoltaic technology can meet electricity demand but the system is not set up to do so yet.

PV technology can meet electricity demand on any scale. The solar energy resource in a 100-mile-square area of Nevada could supply the United States with all its electricity (about
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Come Party with Steve Spangler Science and UVSkinz

Come party with Steve Spangler Science and UV Skinz Tuesday, July 27^th from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. PST and learn about the myths and truths of renewable solar energy.

You will also have a chance to win some fabulous prizes during the party.

We will be using hastag #spangler and also have a special tweetgrid set up for the party.

During the party we will be asking you the myths and truths about sun energy and it’s uses as a renewable energy source. Your answer might just win you a prize!

You Could Win –

• An item of your choice from the UV Skinz website
• Steve Spangler Solar Science Kit that includes Solar Bag and the brand new  6 in 1  Solar Robot Kit.

Join Susan Wells, Social Media Strategist for SteveSpanglerScience.com and Blogger Kalisha Frazier from UVSkinz.com as your hosts. Please RSVP by leaving us a comment below with your twitter handle to be eligible to win giveaway prizes. You also need to follow @uvskinz and @spanglerscience.

Don’t forget to RSVP and join us on Tuesday, July 27th from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
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Where does all of the energy go?

I get lots of emails and questions as science fair projects near their deadline. Here’s a great question:

>Dear Steve, I am the mother of a 4th grader who has a science project due (just around the corner). She wants to know, “When an electrical appliance is unplug, what happens to the energy in the cord?” How can I help her to find her answer? She has been searching for two weeks and has not found an answer. I’ve tried to encourage her to pick another project and then to maybe continue working on this one (after the project is done) for next year. But she seems to think their is something to this one. Can you point me in the right direction????

Dear Lilly – Your daughter came up with an interesting question that only a kid would think about. The simple answer is that there is no “store” electricity in the cord once it’s unplugged. If an appliance has a “capacitor” in the circuit, there might be some residual electricity in the circuit but probably nothing that would easy for a young scientist to test. There really is no safe way for a child to test this other than to
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