Light Energy, A Viable Solution For The Future
In everyday usage, we use the word light to mean only those forms of radiation that we can see. Light is always in motion, but the light energy can not be stored, so it is a potential type of energy. Light energy is the excess of energy given off by an atom. Each packet of energy is called a photon. Light energy is very important for all the living organisms because all life on earth is dependent on the light energy from the sun. For example, plants use the process of photosynthesis to capture light energy and use it to convert CO2 and H2O into sugars-storing. In few words, plants convert light energy into chemical energy.
Whenever a scientist peers into space, he observes things that emit light energy, called electromagnetic radiation. Some if this radiation is called optical radiation. This is the light that we can see with our eyes. Electromagnetic radiation is present in different wavelengths, such as optical, infrared, radio waves, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. Optical radiation refers to the electromagnetic radiation visible to the human eye. The eye perceives this radiation as colors. Another form is the ultraviolet radiation. We all heard about it. We are warned to take care of the ultraviolet radiation whenever we go to the beach. Happily for us, the atmosphere absorbs most of the ultraviolet light.
The frequency of light determines the energy in contains. Also, every color contains a different amount of energy. The amount of radiation absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere plays an important role in these processes. Certainly, if the atmosphere let different frequencies of light through, the world would be very different. Plants, for example, are specialized to use the frequencies that reach them to make chemical energy (via photosynthesis).
In fact, human activity has changed the frequencies of light that reach us because pollutants reduce the ozone level in the upper atmosphere, allowing more ultraviolet light through than before. That certainly causes more skin cancers, and may have other very serious bad effects for various types of life. Fortunately, international treaties have reduced the amount of the worst ozone-destroying pollutants, so this problem may gradually get less severe.
In the present, scientists are working in developing new technologies, able to extract more light energy and improve the conversion process. This way we should be able to obtain electricity with very low costs, and even less effort. Light energy is predicted to be more and more important.