Invisible wrote:
> Solar cells work by using strange chemistry rather than directly turning 
> light into electricity. (Presumably that's why they're so inefficient.)

	From a basic perspective, the photon is absorbed by an electron and 
excites it to the conduction band. Pretty direct...

> I have no clue why LEDs work. But apparently they do. ;-)

	You set the conditions for an electron to drop down the band gap and 
lose energy - that lost energy is the photon that is emitted.

> Electricity can be used to excite atoms in such a way that they release 
> photons. So can heat energy, chemical energy, and all kinds of other 
> energy. It's hardly unique to electricity. Basically if you get atoms 
> excited enough, they glow.

	One of the reasons people produce photons this way is probably because 
it's a lot more practical and cheaper than doing it the way you want...


-- 
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person 
who doesn't get it.


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