Solar power is clearly one of the ways to have unlimited energy till the end of our planet’s life, since “No sun, no party” is the general principal on Earth.
Many scientists are trying to find ways to harvest more and more solar power. Some of them, try to do it without using these ugly panels on roof tops or fields. And some of them are doing it right!
A team of researchers at Michigan State University has developed a new type of solar concentrator so transparent, that when placed over a window creates solar energy while allowing people to actually see through the window (unlike other attempts).
It is called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator and can be used on buildings, cell phones cars and any other device that has a clear surface.

Imagine your car powered by its windshield, and your cellphone lasting much longer since it charges from the sun while you are using it!
In physics, intensity is the power transferred per unit area, which is transmitted through an imagined surface perpendicular to the propagation direction. In the SI system, it has units watts per square meter (W/m2).
Since we are talking for solar power, let’s read about the Intensity of Light.
Intensity of Light or Rayleigh scattering, is the (dominantly) elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. The Rayleigh scattering does not change the state of material hence it is a parametric process. The particles may be individual atoms or molecules. It can occur when light travels through transparent solids and liquids, but is most prominently seen in gases. Rayleigh scattering results from the electric polarizability of the particles. The oscillating electric field of a light wave acts on the charges within a particle, causing them to move at the same frequency. The particle therefore becomes a small radiating dipole whose radiation we see as scattered light. Rayleigh scattering is t the reason you see the sky blue and the sun yellow!
It’s pretty awesome!

In detail, the intensity I of light scattered by any one of the small spheres of diameter d and refractive index n from a beam of unpolarized light of wavelength λ and intensity I0 is given by where R is the distance to the particle and θ is the scattering angle. Averaging this over all angles gives the Rayleigh scattering cross-section (σ _s), given by the formula on the left.
The fraction of light scattered by a group of scattering particles is the number of particles per unit volume N times the cross-section. For example, the major constituent of the atmosphere, nitrogen, has a Rayleigh cross section of 5.1×10 ⁻³¹ m ² at a wavelength of 532 nm (green light). This means that at atmospheric pressure, where there are about 2×10 ²⁵ molecules per cubic meter, about a fraction 10−5 of the light will be scattered for every meter of travel.
The strong wavelength dependence of the scattering (~λ ⁻⁴) means that shorter (blue) wavelengths are scattered more strongly than longer (red) wavelengths.

Now go and try using fxSolver, with the Rayleigh scattering and Rayleigh scattering cross-section formula in our database.
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