solar panels directly faces sun so they can receive more energy than when it is at horizontal. But in cloudy weather, the solar panels receieve more energy when it is at horizotal. why is it so?
2007-02-14 01:00:19 · 4 answers · asked by ?ټ֠? size= 1 in Environment
well..i think when it's pointing directly at the sun it absorbs the sunlight cause it's right there...and when it's a cloudy day and it's horizontal the sun rays still come throught he clouds even though you cant see the sun, so if you have it horizontally, they sun rays will hit it no matter what even if you dont know where the sun is...hope that kind of helps..
2007-02-14 01:06:07 · answer #1 · answered by angelbabytrc07 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A solar panel is of course energized by a stream of photons. On a cloudless sunny day, the strongest stream comes directly from the sun. On a cloudy day a thick cloud may block most of the direct rays and the mass of clouds will diffuse the light causing photons to travel in all directions at once. Also breaks in the cloud may allow beams of photons to strike the ground and reflect. If the landscape is brighter than the path blocking the direct sunbeams, a horizontal position may collect more photons from reflections off the undersides of the clouds. Follow the photons.
2007-02-14 09:21:40 · answer #2 · answered by Kes 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When it isn't cloudy the light from the sun is more of line of sight. When it is cloudy the clouds refract the light, and thus the panels need to be facing upwards towards the clouds to get the refracted light. Light going through a prism is a good example of this.
2007-02-14 09:17:33 · answer #3 · answered by celticwarrior7758 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a solar panal generates the most power when directed at where the light comes from.
coulds scatter the light around the atmosphere. so the majority of the light bounces between clouds, so comes from straight up instead of the direction of the sun as it would on a sunny day.
2007-02-14 09:16:05 · answer #4 · answered by mrzwink 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋