Efficiency Of Photosynthesis Vs Solar Panels Niel Degrasse
The chemical energy stored is the difference between that contained in gaseous oxygen and organic compound products and the energy of water carbon dioxide and other reactants the amount of energy stored can only be estimated because many products are.
Efficiency of photosynthesis vs solar panels niel degrasse. Plants have to power a living thing whereas solar cells only have to send electricity down a wire. Where c 6 h 12 o 6 is glucose which is subsequently transformed into other sugars cellulose lignin and so forth. According to the wikipedia page on photosynthetic efficiency typical plants have a radiant energy to chemical energy conversion efficiency between 0 1 and 2. The desire to use solar energy to provide humans with more environmentally friendly electricity has inspired scientists to find the most efficient way to cultivate energy directly from the sun.
The photosynthetic efficiency is the fraction of light energy converted into chemical energy during photosynthesis in plants and algae. Photosynthesis can be described by the simplified chemical reaction 6 h 2 o 6 co 2 energy c 6 h 12 o 6 6 o 2. One notable advantage is that its efficiency climbs rapidly if you expose the leaf to pure co2. Therefore these effects can be described in terms of diffusive.
Even with the robust sales solar panels aren t terribly efficient converting only about 10 15 percent of the sun s rays into useable and storable energy. The energy efficiency of photosynthesis is the ratio of the energy stored to the energy of light absorbed. Other forms of artificial photosynthesis focus on the potential surrounding hydrogen as a fuel. Energy efficiency of photosynthesis.
Factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis must either change the co 2 diffusive resistances or the co 2 concentration gradient along the diffusion pathways. Which are better to capture solar energy. This is a big difference because if photosynthesis makes a mistake it makes toxic byproducts that kill the. The co 2 is supplied by the atmosphere and enters the leaf by diffusion.
Most commercially available solar panels have more than 10 times this efficiency. A natural process that occurs during photosynthesis could lead to the design of more efficient artificial solar cells according to researchers at georgia state university. Determining the relative efficiency of photosynthesis and photovoltaics is not a simple problem by david biello on may 12 2011. Photosynthesis is less efficient than solar panels.
The difference between photosynthesis and solar cells. Natural solar energy is used by plants in the process of. Researchers at harvard recently came up with an impressive version of a bionic leaf that can convert solar energy into hydrogen.