wdlang said:now in many houses, there are solar water heaters
the problem is that, what is the highest possible temperature reachable using the sunlight?
DaveC426913 said:There is no theoretical upper limit* on the size of a solar collector, though there are myriad practical ones.
*OK, there is. The absolute upper limit would be an elliptical reflector that completely encloses the sun with the sun at one focus and the Earth at the other. It would collect 100% of the output of the sun.
wdlang said:i mean the highest temperature achievable
i do not mean the highest power achievable
phinds said:But the two go together directly and you have set no parameters. It would not take a great deal of power to raise a couple of molecules to a VERY high temperature, but that would be utterly useless for anything practical.
I'm just saying what Dave already said. You're question is too vague to have any meaning.
Ken G said:A passive system, which does nothing but absorb heat, could never reach a temperature above that of the Sun, some 5780 K. But if you take the absorbed energy and extract work from it, you could channel that free energy into as small a system as you like, and get an arbitrarily high T, as has been said.
wdlang said:you are right!
The highest temperature reachable using solar light as an energy source is approximately 15 million degrees Celsius. This temperature can be achieved in the core of the Sun where nuclear fusion reactions take place.
No, it is not possible to reach higher temperatures than the core of the Sun using solar light as an energy source. This is because the temperature in the core is already at the upper limit of what can be achieved through nuclear fusion reactions.
The temperature achievable with solar light is lower than that of other sources of energy such as nuclear fission or thermonuclear fusion. However, solar energy is more sustainable and environmentally friendly compared to these other sources.
Yes, the high temperatures of the Sun can be harnessed for practical applications such as solar thermal power plants and solar cookers. These technologies use mirrors to concentrate the solar energy and produce high temperatures for heating or generating electricity.
Yes, there is a limit to how much solar energy can be converted into heat. This limit is known as the thermodynamic limit and is based on the laws of thermodynamics. The maximum efficiency of converting solar energy into heat is around 86%, which is achievable through concentrated solar power systems.