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>> Solar panels.
>
> And when do you *ever* see those in everyday life? ;-)
That's just because you live somewhere that is either cloudy or raining the
whole time :-) Here they are pretty common, drive through any village and
you're bound to see at least a few buildings with them on the roof. Also
seen a few "solar farms" around, fields literally full of them.
As well as what Stephen said about the parking meters, I've seen them used
for other road-side things like those warning signs that flash up your
speed, the little mini weather stations thingies by the side of the
motorway, etc.
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"Invisible" <voi### [at] dev null> wrote in message
news:4933c66f$1@news.povray.org...
>>> It's more that, in everyday life, there is no way of turning light into
>>> either electricity
>>
>> Solar panels.
>
> And when do you *ever* see those in everyday life? ;-)
Come to Joburg.
We've got a number of places where solar panels and batteries are used to
power lit billboards. There are plans to put solar panels at every set of
traffic lights so that they work even in a power cut.
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On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:52:29 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>>> Solar panels.
>>> And when do you *ever* see those in everyday life? ;-)
>>
>> PV applications today are more common place than we might expect. Domestic
>> burglar alarm systems are now fitted with PV panels to charge the battery for
>> the system. In Milton Keynes, parking meters are powered by solar panels. ;)
>
>LOL! Like I'd know about parking meters - I never go outside, remember? ;-)
>
You've got a car, you go to work, the town centre, shops, church (for the organ
playing). No excuses, please :)
>(Damnit, suddenly I feel like I'm in a Monty Python sketch. "All right,
>but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public
>order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what
>have the Romans ever done for us?")
Solar clocks!
--
Regards
Stephen
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>> LOL! Like I'd know about parking meters - I never go outside, remember? ;-)
>
> You've got a car, you go to work, the town centre, shops, church (for the organ
> playing). No excuses, please :)
What makes you think I go to shops or the town center? :-P
My place of work is a farmer's field, and that church is in a small
village several miles outside MK.
>> (Damnit, suddenly I feel like I'm in a Monty Python sketch. "All right,
>> but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public
>> order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what
>> have the Romans ever done for us?")
>
> Solar clocks!
LOL!
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On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:10:59 +0000, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>
>What makes you think I go to shops or the town center? :-P
To get away!
--
Regards
Stephen
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Invisible wrote:
> It's more that, in everyday life, there is no way of turning light into
> either electricity or magnetism. I'm sure theoretically it must be
> possible somehow, but it's not something you typically observe.
Solar panels. Infrared remote control receivers (i.e., photodiodes). Optical
sensors on doors.
> Presumably knowing the *colour* of an object still requires you to
> compute electron energy band gaps and weird crap like that though?
Yes.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
The NFL should go international. I'd pay to
see the Detroit Lions vs the Roman Catholics.
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Invisible wrote:
> Heh. You know, all I was *actually* trying to find out in the first
> place is whether the reflections on a coloured surface are themselves
> coloured.
This is just something I ran across somewhere without actually researching,
but I understood that the difference between a "metallic" reflection and a
"non-metallic" reflection is whether the reflection still has colors. I.e.,
a reflection off a surface that looks metallic will reflect at least some of
the colors, while a reflection off (say) plastic will be various shades of
the color of the plastic itself. (Isn't this what the "metallic" keyword in
POV-ray does too?)
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
The NFL should go international. I'd pay to
see the Detroit Lions vs the Roman Catholics.
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>> Heh. You know, all I was *actually* trying to find out in the first
>> place is whether the reflections on a coloured surface are themselves
>> coloured.
>
> This is just something I ran across somewhere without actually
> researching, but I understood that the difference between a "metallic"
> reflection and a "non-metallic" reflection is whether the reflection
> still has colors. I.e., a reflection off a surface that looks metallic
> will reflect at least some of the colors, while a reflection off (say)
> plastic will be various shades of the color of the plastic itself.
> (Isn't this what the "metallic" keyword in POV-ray does too?)
Actually the "metallic" keyword affects surface hilights only.
Which leads to another question: Do surface hilights really exist? Or
are they just reflections of the shape of the light source?
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On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:11:43 +0100, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>> It's more that, in everyday life, there is no way of turning light
>>> into either electricity
>> Solar panels.
>
> And when do you *ever* see those in everyday life? ;-)
I used to have a solar powered pocket calculator. Worked pretty well
indoors too.
--
FE
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>> It's more that, in everyday life, there is no way of turning light
>> into either electricity or magnetism. I'm sure theoretically it must
>> be possible somehow, but it's not something you typically observe.
>
> Solar panels. Infrared remote control receivers (i.e., photodiodes).
> Optical sensors on doors.
Infrared receivers *respond to* light. They do not actually *transform*
it into electricity.
>> Presumably knowing the *colour* of an object still requires you to
>> compute electron energy band gaps and weird crap like that though?
>
> Yes.
Damn. :-(
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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