10/9/08 Astronomy 102 Erin O’Conner The Power of the Sun The power of the sun is an informational video that explains the history of how we came to know so much about the sun and light. It also explains the development of solar power and how we are using it today. The video starts out with an amazing statistic “We get enough power from an hour of sunlight to supplement our energy needs for an entire year.” Facts like that makes one wonder how would it bepossible to harness all that power? Well the current answer rest with the solar panel but before we get into that letssee how we came to know so much about light. One of the earliest observations was discovered by Christopher Hoigan who proved that light travels in waves. After observing rocks falling into water and observing the ripple effect. Albert Einstein also made huge contributions to our knowledge of light. His noble prize winning work on photoelectric work proved that light is not only made up of waves but particles as well. Within the most high teclaboratory in the world is where we first learned how to harness the power of light during the 1950’s. From there the bell solar battery was the first product to use solar power but it proved to be tocostly. Just as solar power was about to be swept under the rug and forgot about the pentagon came along and dumped tons of money into developing solar power. They found an incredible way to conduct solar power through silicon which is extremely abundant. Theirgoal was to create a power supply for the first satellites. If it were not for the space race who knows if solar power would have been completely disregarded. Without these satellites life as we know it would not be possible. Almost every cell phone call passes through equipment powered one hundred percent by solar. It is a little ironic that the oil companies would be one of the first to bring the solar panel back to the earth as a source of power for oil rigs out in the ocean where there is no power...