Everyday our sun sends enough photoelectric energy to power our planet – falling like manna from heaven.

This sunlight is made of photons which are discrete bundles of energy. These energy bundles may fall upon a solar panel. The most common terrestrial solar panel is made of silicon doped with phosphorus. This doping creates a voltage potential across a junction in the silicon.

Back to the photon – the bundle of sun energy. This strikes an electron of the silicon/phosophorus molecule, giving it enough energy to escape the molecule and flow in the direction of the voltage potential. When there is a peice of metal at the end of this voltage potential, the electron is picked up and passed along as electricity.