Aldossary 1

Memorandum
To:
Professor Thompson
From:
Saud Aldossary
Date:
October 4, 2016
Subject:
Technical Documentation for Project 2
______________________________________________________________________________
In this memo, my purpose is to give an accurate technical definition and technical description on
the topic I have chosen, which is solar energy. The audience and need for the technical definition
and my method of extending the definition are included in this memo, as well as the audience
and need, visual choice, and organizing pattern for the technical description.
Technical Definition: Audience and Need
The audience for the technical definition is for anyone who wants to know about what solar
energy in order to understand why it is a great alternative to other types of energy. Any audience
who reads the definition should have prior knowledge about what renewable resources and nonrenewable resources are, which should be fairly common knowledge.
Extending the Technical Definition
To extend the technical definition, I will be using a metaphor comparing solar energy to banking
investment. Other rhetorical strategies I will use include visualization and an analogy to mining.
Technical Description: Audience and Need
The audience for the description of solar energy would be anyone who wants to understand how
solar energy is processed and used. The audience would need to know this in order to understand
how solar energy is produced differently than other types of energy.
Technical Description Visuals and Organization Pattern
The visuals I will be using will be from an outside source to show details of how solar energy is
processed. I will be using a sequential organization pattern to go through the steps of getting and
using solar energy.

Aldossary 2

What Exactly is Solar Energy?

Technical Definition
Solar energy might seem like a new concept, but it has actually been used since around
the 7 Century B.C. The magnifying glass had not yet been refined (and it wouldnt be until
about 1250 A.D.), but simple versions of magnifying glass were around during the 7th Century
B.C. and they were mostly made of crystal. The scholar from this time, Ibn al-Haytham, wrote
books about light, color, and optics. Around this time, people realized that they could use the
simple magnifying glass to heat fuel to the point of starting fires for heat and cooking. Mirrors
were used by the Greeks and Chinese to start fires for religious purposes. Romans started putting
widows in the direction of the sun to get a room to heat up without fire around the 1st to 4th
Century A.D. (The History of Solar). Basically, solar energy is produced by the radiation from
the sun. The suns rays can, therefore, be used to harness energy for use by people as heat or
electricity, which is called solar power. There are two basic forms of capturing solar energy:
passive and active. Passive capture of solar energy involves finding ways to basically trap the
suns warmth using infrared radiation (rays that people cant see but they can feel as heat). Using
double or triple layered windows can let the suns rays in, which heats the air in the room. It is
like the way your car is so hot on a sunny day even if it is not that hot outside. Other passive
methods include building houses or other structures of clay or other insulating materials that
absorb the suns heat and then stay warm long after the sun goes down. Active capture of solar
energy involves using some mechanical process to heat a conductor, such as water. The water
then can be used as hot water in the home. The black solar panels you see on the tops or homes
or in large quantities near solar energy companies use the suns rays to convert the rays directly
into electricity.
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The benefits of solar energy include lower pollution and renewable energy. Think of solar
energy as investing in a bank, except its not money you earned; its just money that you find on
the street regularly. Similarly, solar energy is totally free coming from the sun, and if it is
captured (invested), then it is of great value. Solar energy is not like using natural gas or coal to
heat or produce any energy. It is renewable, which means it will always be there, unlike natural
gas or coal, which are non-renewable. Those can and will run out eventually. Additionally, using
coal and natural gas causes emissions that cause carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Solar energy
does not produce these emissions, making it a green or low pollution option. The reason cost is
not mentioned here is because solar energy is in a stage where people still rely mostly on nonrenewable resources and making the transition to solar power (which is solar energy that has
been captured, remember?) could get expensive to begin. Making the solar panels is reasonable,
but getting enough solar panels to run entire communities is not cheap. Using the mechanical
devices to convert the suns energy is fairly expensive as well because it is a constantly evolving
technology and it takes people to create these devices. Its like mining for gold. If you hire
miners and get them to dig, they can find gold, which is a natural and valuable metal. It is also
free because all you have to do is dig for it. However, it really has no use until it is turned into
gold bars stamped with their value, jewelry, etc. You still have to pay the miners, so you really
have to make sure that gold is transformed into something useful and valuable.

Aldossary 3

Technical Description of Solar Energy

Solar energy is used to produce power and heat. There are two main ways this happens:
passive and active capture. When solar energy is captured in a passive way, it does not need a
mechanical process. The suns direct rays travel through some sort of material like glass or clay
or stone. When it is glass, the rays
can go into a room or a car, and the
air gets warmer. However, the sun
rays cannot take the heat with them
to
go back out of the room.
Greenhouses and sunrooms use this
method. The radiation of the suns
rays goes through the glass and it is
trapped there. In Figure 1, you can
see how passive solar energy is used
to
heat a greenhouse. The rays from the
sun enter through the glass and the
light can reflect back out through the
glass; however, the infrared rays or
heat rays warm the air and objects
Figure 1
inside the greenhouse and cannot
exit through the glass. When solar energy is captured in an active way, it is more about using a
mechanical process to use the suns rays to produce electricity or heat. Solar panels use the sun to
warm a liquid, such as water, and then that water is sent to a tank to be used by a household as
hot water or it travels through pipes in the floor of a home to heat the home. The water is then
recycled and heated again, and the
energy from the sun never stops.
Additionally, the sun can come into
the solar panels, heat the water, and
create steam which can be used to
power a number of things with its
pressure. Solar energy can also heat a
substance such as silicon in the solar
panels (see Figure 2), which cause
electrons to move quickly. When the
electrons are excited, it makes a
specific kind of energy. There is then
a device that changes the type of
electricity so it can be used to power
things that require electricity.
Figure 2

Works Cited
Figure 1:

Aldossary 4
Priyadarshini, Sonali. Essay on Greenhouse Effect (With Diagram). Biology
Discussion. 2016. Web. 28 Sep. 2016.
Figure 2:
Solar Energy. Madison and Charles Solar Energy. 2013. Web. 29 Sep. 2016.
Other:
The History of Solar. US Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy. n.d. Web. 30 Sep. 2016.