In summertime the sun sits high above the horizon in the sky. Use this statement and explain why a fixed Tilt angle of 90 degrees produced such as low energy output value. You can make use of a labelled sketch to explain your answer.
A fixed tilt angle of 90 degrees means that the solar panel is positioned vertically, perpendicular to the ground. When the sun sits high above the horizon in the sky during summertime, its rays hit the solar panel at a very low incident angle.
In the labelled sketch (please refer to the attached image), the horizontal line represents the ground, while the vertical line represents the solar panel in a fixed 90-degree tilt angle. The curved line represents the path of the sun.
When the sun sits high above the horizon, it emits rays that spread out and hit the solar panel at a shallow angle, close to parallel to the panel. This results in a lower effective area for the solar panel to capture solar energy.
The sketch shows that the incident angle, which is the angle between the direction of the sunlight and the normal line (perpendicular to the solar panel), is close to 0 degrees in the case of a fixed 90-degree tilt angle. This means that the sunlight hits the solar panel almost parallel to its surface.
When the incident angle is close to 0 degrees, the solar panel captures less energy. This is due to the cosine effect or the cosine loss. The cosine of a shallow angle is close to zero, meaning that the effective energy captured by the solar panel is significantly reduced.
Therefore, a fixed tilt angle of 90 degrees produces such a low energy output value during summertime because the solar panel receives sunlight at a shallow incident angle, resulting in reduced energy capture.
The statement mentions that in summertime, the sun sits high above the horizon in the sky. To understand why a fixed tilt angle of 90 degrees produces a low energy output value, we need to consider the position of the sun and its angle relative to the solar panels.
When the sun is high above the horizon in the sky during summertime, its rays are more direct and concentrated, providing higher levels of solar energy. However, a fixed tilt angle of 90 degrees means that solar panels would be placed perpendicular to the ground, facing directly upwards.
In this configuration, the solar panels would not be able to capture the direct sunlight effectively. Their surface area would be facing away from the sun's rays, resulting in a minimal energy output. The sketch below illustrates this scenario:
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In the sketch, the horizontal line represents the ground, and the diagonal line represents the sunlight coming from the sun. The solar panel is placed at a 90-degree tilt angle, perpendicular to the ground. As you can see, the sunlight cannot effectively hit the solar panel, reducing the energy output.
Therefore, a fixed tilt angle of 90 degrees would produce a low energy output because the solar panels would not receive direct sunlight while the sun sits high above the horizon in the sky during summertime.