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An electric circuit is simply a connection of electrical elements. A light bulb connected to a battery is a basic circuit. The battery delivers voltage to the system, and the light bulb introduces resistance.
When the Sun's rays are perpendicular to an absorbing surface, the irradiance incident on that surface has the highest possible power density. As the angle between the sun and the absorbing surface changes, the intensity of light on the surface is reduced. When the surface is parallel to the sun's rays (making the angle from perpendicular to the surface 90°) the intensity of light falls to zero because the light does not strike the surface.
Photovoltaic modules produce direct current (DC) electricity. This is convenient if the goal is to charge a battery for energy storage in an off-grid system, but our electrical grid and most of our day-to-day electrical devices operate on alternating current (AC) electricity. Therefore, in order to convert the DC electricity into AC electricity, a device called an inverter is installed as a part of the photovoltaic system.
The p-n junction is the place where two different types of semiconductor material - the n-type and the p-type - meet within a semiconductor substrate. It is the properties of this junction that create separation between the negative and positive layers of the photovoltaic cell, creating a voltage across the cell and separate negative and positive terminals.
Wiring electrical elements in parallel means that each will have its own distinct loop. Therefore, there are multiple paths through which current can flow.
The term photovoltaic (often shortened to "PV") is used to describe materials that are capable of converting electromagnetic energy - or light - into electrical energy.
The standard unit for measuring electrical power is the Watt, which is equal to 1 Joule/second. In the context of electricity, power is often used to describe either an electrical device or a generation system. In the first case, the power rating of a device gives its instantaneous electrical demand. For instance, in order to remain lit, a 10-Watt compact fluorescent light bulb would continuously require 10 Watts of electrical power.
A circuit that is wired completely in series is just a single loop, which means that there is only one path through which current can flow. The current across each element is therefore the same because it never gets split across two different paths. In this circuit diagram, two resistors are wired in series:
Solar energy is the radiant electromagnetic energy - or light - received from the Sun by the Earth. While the solar radiation received by the Earth's atmosphere is relatively constant, the amount of sunlight hitting the Earth's surface varies widely due to many factors including:
