The Excitation of the Electron

Connecting the Freedom of the Electron to that of Man?

There is nothing in gravitation that explains why two people fall in love - Albert Einstein?

The Photovoltaic Effect

Wikipedia: The photovoltaic effect is the generation of voltage and?electric current?in a material upon exposure to?light. It is a?physical?phenomenon.[1

The photovoltaic effect is closely related to the?photoelectric effect. For both phenomena, light is absorbed, causing excitation of an?electron?or other?charge carrier?to a higher-energy state. The main distinction is that the term?photoelectric effect?is now usually used when the electron is ejected out of the material (usually into a vacuum) and?photovoltaic effect?used when the excited charge carrier is still contained within the material. In either case, an?electric potential?(or voltage) is produced by the separation of charges, and the light has to have a sufficient energy to overcome the potential barrier for excitation. The physical essence of the difference is usually that photoelectric emission separates the charges by?ballistic conduction?and photovoltaic emission separates them by diffusion, but some "hot carrier" photovoltaic devices concepts blur this distinction.

A Little Science History

The first demonstration of the photovoltaic effect, by?Edmond Becquerel?in 1839, used an electrochemical cell. He explained his discovery in?Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, "the production of an electric current when two plates of platinum or gold immersed in an acid, neutral, or alkaline solution are exposed in an uneven way to solar radiation."[2]

Freeing the Electron?

The first solar cell, consisting of a layer of?selenium?covered with a thin film of gold, was experimented by?Charles Fritts?in 1884, but it had a very poor efficiency.[3]?However, the most familiar form of the photovoltaic effect uses solid-state devices, mainly in?photodiodes.?

When sunlight or other sufficiently energetic light is incident upon the photodiode, the electrons present in the?valence band?absorb energy and, being excited, jump to the conduction band and become free. These excited electrons diffuse, and some reach the rectifying junction (usually a diode?p–n junction) where they are accelerated into the n-type semiconductor material by the built-in potential (Galvani potential). This generates an?electromotive force?and an electric current, and thus some of the light energy is converted into electric energy. The photovoltaic effect can also occur when two photons are absorbed simultaneously in a process called?two-photon photovoltaic effect:

Band diagram?illustration of the photovoltaic effect.?Photons?give their energy to electrons in the depletion or quasi-neutral regions. These move from the?valence band to the?conduction band. Depending on the location,?electrons?and?holes?are accelerated by drift electric field?Edrift, which gives generation?photocurrent, or by scattering electric field?Escatt, which gives scattering photocurrent.[4]

Physics

In addition to the direct photovoltaic excitation of free electrons, an electric current can also arise through the?Seebeck effect. When conductive or semiconductive material is heated by absorption of electromagnetic radiation, the heating can lead to increased temperature gradients in the semiconductor material or differentials between materials. These thermal differences in turn may generate a voltage because the electron energy levels are shifted differently in different areas, creating a potential difference between those areas which in turn create an electric current. The relative contributions of the photovoltaic effect versus the Seebeck effect depend on many characteristics of the constituent materials.

Africa and the Second Annus Mirabilis?

1905 was the Annus Mirabilis, when Einstein discovered the photon and the photoelectric effect:

for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

The Connection

Deseret?was the initial concept of using concentrated solar radiation in North Africa to generate electricity by way of generators driven by steam. The generators would utilize the steam produced by focused solar radiation to produce electricity. This electricity would be transmitted under the Mediterranean by cable to power Europe.

The concept was rejected because of culture and the politics; the replicating of an era of colonialism, when the resources of Africa were directed at powering and empowering ...Europe. This was a reminder of the Berlin Conference when European states carved Africa like a turkey for their own benefit.?

Today, some African leaders consider the armed violence of such as Russia's Wagner Group, China's debt trap, that of Boko Haram (in Nigeria), corruption and worship of the?Caudillo?- to be alternatives to Democracy and Light.

A more effective alternative may be to use the existing, organic resources of Africa more efficiently

to catalyze the production of clean, green hydrogen. Hydrogen when stored in tanks and transmitted by pipelines can be used in fuel cells, and the green hydrogen can be utilized to power …Africa.?

Mike Strizki proved that all this works with the Hopewell, NJ hydrogen house project.

Africa has the solar (photoelectric and photovoltaic resources) the wind and geothermal resources, the Trifecta, to power much of the continent.?Now all it needs is the will and the money. In the U.S, the money to power data centers is coming from The Magnificent Seven. They also need to develop more effective ways of utilizing existing energy resources.

Finally, The Magnificent Seven need to acquire the deep knowledge, the Education whereby computers (machines) can be taught he world's most important enterprise, namely global trade.

Continued