Averaged over a year in the central United States, radiation from the Sun transfers about 200 W to each square meter of Earth's surface. If a house is 10 m long by 10 m wide, how much solar energy falls on the house each second.

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Physics

Roach

30 March, 09:34

Averaged over a year in the central United States, radiation from the Sun transfers about 200 W to each square meter of Earth's surface. If a house is 10 m long by 10 m wide, how much solar energy falls on the house each second.

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Sundance · Answer 1

The area of the roof of the house is (10m) x (10m) = 100 m².

If each m² collects energy at the rate of 200 W, then the whole roof gets hit with (100 m²) x (200 W/m²) = 20,000 W.

1 watt means 1 Joule per second.

So the roof is getting broiled by 20,000 Joules of energy each second.

This is a LOT of power! It's more than any house ever uses, even when everything inside is turned on and running. And it's FREE! THAT's why developing efficient use of solar energy is such a big deal.