Can you bust this energy myth?

Question

Is it possible to create solar energy by using a magnefied glass,the sun, and a conductor (copper). Simply take the copper wire and place a magnefied glass over the copper wire. The sun would then heat up the copper through the magnefied glass and produce energy. I personally dont believe in this myth but who knows, right. Tell me what you think.

Answer 1

clearly it does not produce electricity.

if you've focused a magnifying glass on your hand, clearly you know it gets hot.

and copper would heat the same way.

note, it's not producing energy.

it's concentrating the energy that the sun produced.

although copper is a good heat conductor, a copper wire will not conduct heat any distance.

Answer 2

you cant produce solar energy....... how can you......

the magnifying glass actually coverges all energy it 'recieves' from the sun into a small area..... ... The sun sends off its radiations which the magnifying glass converges.

Answer 3

There is something called a 'thermocouple' which could generate small amounts of electricity in the way you describe. It is based on the Seebeck effect. A thermocouple circuit occurs when two junctions are formed when copper wires are joined to a piece of iron wire. One copper/iron junction is then kept cold, and the other junction is kept about 270K hotter. A current then flows in the circuit. The website below shows how the single thermocouple circuit can be scaled up to produce useful quantities of power directly from solar heat.

Answer 4

true

Answer 5

Possible..heat energy....

Answer 6

Nitro Gen

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient”

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. on our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn't happened yet). Water is caught and storaged from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted). Because of this we have no bills, no debt and no mortgage.

as to your "myth" let me try to convey some "light" (hahah) on it.

copper is a great conductor of electricity and a magnefied glass is a great condenser (the plastic sheeting on your big screen tv works well also).

Here’s a DIY step by step process to build a small solar panel that really works, using the sun, coper and a magnefied glass, taken from a guide I offer at www agua-luna com it’s complete but if you’d like the more specific process or the pics and images go to www agua-luna com. Its pretty simple but if you have any problems feel free to contact me directly I can walk you threw the process.

Materials you will need

magnefied glass

A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot.

Two alligator clip leads.

A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 and 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a small surplus meter with a needle.

An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small one-burner electric hotplate for about $25. The little 700 watt burners probably won't work -- mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot.

A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut the top. I used a 2 liter spring water bottle. A large mouth glass jar will also work.

Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt.

Tap water.

Sand paper or a wire brush on an electric drill.

Sheet metal shears for cutting the copper sheet.

The first step is to cut a piece of the copper sheeting that is about the size of the burner on the stove. Wash your hands so they don't have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get any oil or grease off of it. Use the sandpaper or wire brush to thoroughly clean the copper sheeting, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed.

Next, place the cleaned and dried copper sheet on the burner and turn the burner to its highest setting.

As the copper starts to heat up, you will see beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, and reds will cover the copper.

As the copper gets hotter, the colors are replaced with a black coating of cupric oxide. This is not the oxide we want, but it will flake off later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath.

The last bits of color disappear as the burner starts to glow red.

When the burner is glowing red-hot, the sheet of copper will be coated with a black cupric oxide coat. Let it cook for a half an hour, so the black coating will be thick. This is important, since a thick coating will flake off nicely, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper.

After the half hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If you cool it too quickly, the black oxide will stay stuck to the copper.

As the copper cools, it shrinks. The black cupric oxide also shrinks. But they shrink at different rates, which makes the black cupric oxide flake off.

The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means a little more cleaning effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch.

When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will be gone. A light scrubbing with your hands under running water will remove most of the small bits. Resist the temptation to remove all of the black spots by hard scrubbing or by flexing the soft copper. This might damage the delicate red cuprous oxide layer we need to make to solar cell work.

Cut another sheet of copper about the same size as the first one. Bend both pieces gently, so they will fit into the plastic bottle or jar without touching one another. The cuprous oxide coating that was facing up on the burner is usually the best side to face outwards in the jar, because it has the smoothest, cleanest surface.

Attach the two alligator clip leads, one to the new copper plate, and one to the cuprous oxide coated plate. Connect the lead from the clean copper plate to the positive terminal of the meter. Connect the lead from the cuprous oxide plate to the negative terminal of the meter.

Now mix a couple tablespoons of salt into some hot tap water. Stir the saltwater until all the salt is dissolved. Then carefully pour the saltwater into the jar, being careful not to get the clip leads wet. The saltwater should not completely cover the plates -- you should leave about an inch of plate above the water, so you can move the solar cell around without getting the clip leads wet.

now place in the sun with the magnefied on top.

The solar cell is a battery, even in the dark, and will usually show a few microamps of current.

That’s it it’s that simple. If you’d a more detailed process and some pics (ouldn’t put them here) it’s available along with some other DIY alternative energy projects at http://www.agua-luna.com/guides.html

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at http://www.agua-luna.com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Retired Boeing Engineer now living 100% Off-the-Grid with my family, using Alternative Energy & loving every minute.

for more info visit agua-luna com or email me at [e-mail]

http://www.agua-luna.com

Stop Global Warming, Receive a FREE Solar Panels Now!!!

Answer 7

Well, from a pure physics standpoint, it's valid.  You could, for instance, then put one end of the copper wire in a basin of water--heat conducted along the copper wire would then heat the water.  It would be a very inefficient method though--there aare far better methods of heating water directly with solar energy.

Now if you are talking about producing an electric current--NO.  That is a myth.  An electric current can be produced in a copper wire by wrapping it in coils around an iron bar (or other magnet) and then rotating the magnet. That--in essence--is an electric generator. But you don't produce an electric current in wirle--or anything else--simply by heating it up.

Answer 8

it is not possible to create energy. energy cannot be created or destroyed. it can only be transformed from one form to another. there you have it. i busted this energy myth.

Answer 9

Energy can't be created or destroyed; it can only be transformed.

Answer 10

Yes..

But only in the form of heat energy.  I think that you might be thinking of electricity.  Then you would need a Photo Voltaic solar cell which is able to convert sunlight directly to DC voltage.

Answer 11

Well a piece of copper wire could be heated in that way, or a foil-lined box with the sunlight directed into it can be used for cooking.

Answer 12

Actually its not a myth, and I'm a solar energy agnostic.

You focused the energy of sunlight on a piece of metal which conducts heat.  So put even more pieces of heat conducting metal under the same glass and let them heat up.  And instead of letting them conduct that heat over a long distance, and losing that heat to the air, wrap them in  a clear enclosure filled with water, and pump that water into the house to the shower.

Congratulations, you now have a solar water heater.

By the way, you could probably cook stick of spaghetti with that magnifying glass, if you had the patience to stand there.  A whole pan full would require a big magnifying glass you won't want to pay for.

Answer 13

Yes it is true the sun creates a lot of natural energy... don't you feel warmth from the sun? well energy is heat so there you have it... TRUE!