Thermodynamics: Fundamentals for Applications

Photosynthesis is a process that is used by plants to harness suns energy to produce food. Plants have cells in the leaves that help trap energy from the sunlight. The light trapped from the sunlight is converted into other components that are used by the plant to make food. The energy used for photosynthesis comes from the photons absorbed by the plant leaves. The photons are reduced to other components by water. The components released are used by the plant to make food. Other components like oxygen are released to the atmosphere. After that, the light energy is converted to chemical energy. The light energy is available either in ATP or NADPH. Most people have developed technologies to trap solar energy and convert it into electricity. The technologies use semiconductors that have solar cells. The solar cells are used to trap energy from the sun (Haile &O’Connell, 2005).

A semiconductor is a solar cell that is used to harnesses solar energy and converts it into electricity. The electricity produced by the semi conductor is used by humans. Semi conductors used to harness energy from the sun and photosynthesis have some differences and similarities. First, the semi conductors and photosynthesis are similar as they all aim to trap energy from the sun. Plants use photosynthesis to trap energy from the sun and use it to manufacture food. Semiconductors trap energy from the sun and convert it to electricity. Another similarity between photosynthesis and semi conductor is that both have cells that trap energy from the sun. A semi conductor has solar cells that trap energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. Plants have cells that trap energy from the sun and convert it into useful product (Haile &O’Connell, 2005).

Moreover, semi conductor and photosynthesis are similar as they transform the solar energy into useful form. The energy absorbed by the solar cells is converted into electricity. The energy absorbed by plants is transformed into useful products. The two systems work well when they are placed perpendicular to the sun rays (Haile &O’Connell, 2005). The semi conductors and photosynthesis differ a lot. Semi conductors convert the energy trapped into electricity. While plants convert the energy trapped into chemical energy. Thus, the two systems produce different forms of energy after conversion (Haile &O’Connell, 2005).

Another difference between semiconductors systems and photosynthesis systems is that they differ in forms of production. Photosynthesis takes place naturally as the plants are able to harness energy naturally and convert it. They do not depend on factory production. Semiconductors are designed by factory dealers to trap energy (Haile &O’Connell, 2005).

The laws of thermodynamic apply to photosynthesis and semi conductors. In photosynthesis, plants transform energy. They transform light energy into food energy. This shows that plants obey the first law of thermodynamics. Also, during the process of photosynthesis, plants loose energy. They do not convert all the energy trapped from the sun into food energy. Some of it is lost in the process. So, plants obey the second law of thermodynamics. Plants need a constant supply of energy to make food and produce. They need to trap energy from the sun constantly. Hence, plants obey the third law of thermodynamics (Haile &O’Connell, 2005).

Semi conductors obey the first law of thermodynamics as they transform energy trapped from the sun into electricity. Also, energy is lost as the semiconductor transforms energy trapped from the sun into electricity. Thus implies that semi conductors conform to the second law of thermal dynamics. Lastly, the semi conductors need to trap energy from the sun constantly so as to produce electricity. The semi conductors follow the third law of thermodynamics (Haile &O’Connell, 2005).

Reference

Haile, J.M., &O’Connell, J.P. (2005).Thermodynamics: fundamentals for applications. CambridgeUniversity Press

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