In sunny countries, some houses have a solar heater on the roof. It warms up water for
Question:
In sunny countries, some houses have a solar heater on the roof. It warms up water for the house. The diagram below shows a typical arrangement.
a. Why is the panel in the solar heater black?
b. Why is there an insulating layer behind the panel?
c. How does the water in the tank get heated?
d. On average, each square metre of the solar panel above receives 1000 joules of energy from the Sun every second. Use this figure to calculate the power input. (in kW) of the panel if its surface area is 2 m2.
e. The solar heater in the diagram has an efficiency of 60% (it wastes 40% of the solar energy it receives). What area of panel would be needed to deliver heat at the same rate, on average, as a 3 kW electric immersion heater?
f. i. What are the advantages of using a solar heater instead of an immersion heater?
ii. What are the disadvantages?
Step by Step Answer:
a Why is the panel in the solar heater black The solar heater panel is black because no other color absorbs more light and heat than black does This is because black has the ability to absorb light fr...View the full answer
