Sunlight per square, Mars v. Earth

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Gawdzilla Sama, Jul 26, 2018.

  1. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Caveat: I broke my math bone in the fifth grade and it never worked right again.

    Martian year is longer than Earth year and Mars is further away, right? Can someone tell me how much sunshine a square meter of ground on each planet would get per year? (Or per day if that's quicker.) Assume the ground is on the equator with axial tilt to be factored in later. Disregard weather, dust storms, etc., I need "ideal" numbers. Counting the number of planet-wide dust storms and their duration is a separate project.

    Thanks. (And I hope that all makes sense-ish.)
     
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  3. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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  5. mathman Valued Senior Member

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    You need to define the unit of "sunshine". In any case the ratio of the amounts is based on the inverse square law (of the distances from the sun of the two planets).
     
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  7. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Really? I was thinking of total energy from the sun, and probably failed to make that even slightly clear.
     
  8. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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  9. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    Roughly speaking Mars gets half the amount received on Earth.
     
  10. Janus58 Valued Senior Member

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    Watts are already in joules per second, so it doesn't make sense to talk about watts per time unit unless you are dealing with a variation over time.
     
  11. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    No need to complicate it.

    Earth is 1AU from the Sun.
    Mars is about 1.5AU from the Sun.
    Light drops off as the square, so Mars receives 1/(1.5^2) = 1/2.25 as much light as Earth.
     
  12. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Good to know that.
     
  13. James R Just this guy, you know? Staff Member

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    At the Earth's surface it is more like 1000 Watts per square metre. And on Mars, the irradiance is a bit less than 600 Watts per square metre.
     
  14. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    On a slight tangent

    How much energy required to build a square metre solar panel and match with a suitable battery?

    And using it 10 hours of sunlight per 24 hours expected life span of the unit?

    Of course cost of shipping such units to Mars increases their value and extends the break even period

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  15. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    The tomato information was more in line with my thoughts here.
     
  16. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    Here on Earth energy payback times range from 1 to 4 years for solar panels, depending on type of construction. (i.e. within 1 year the panel generates more energy than it took to produce.) Modern panels have a ~25 year lifetime.
     
  17. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks

    I have a fair number of mini devices with solar panels built in

    Small items like a torch or a power bank for recharging phones

    Still weighing up the cost of solar panels against the benifits

    As a old fart the government provides a discount for power cost

    Since my use is so low, the most heavy use items I have is fridge along with washing machine, and that is used very infrequently, the discount covered all my cost = power bill $0

    Solar panels advantage might be just be to run tv if grid goes down

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  18. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    Most 'standard' solar systems will not do that. FYI
     
  19. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    Did a check on my LED TV and seems to be power equivalent between 50 and 60 watts

    Then checked 12 volt storage battery and moving on to a 12 volt DC converter to 240 volt AC

    Seems can do if careful not to stuff up the TV electronics with poor sine waves

    I have no intention of solar panels and battery converter system for TV. More just using the concept as a rough guage for possible future usage post cyclone

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  20. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    Passing along a "thank you" from a twelve year old who is doing a speculative piece on "Farmers' Markets On Mars." Quite a clever young lady.
     
  21. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    Do they get to get to go on a field trip there?

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  22. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    OK. For 'real' solar (i.e. solar that saves you money) you need panels and a grid tie inverter. Most will not give you power when the grid goes out. The SMA inverters are the exception there; they will give you ~2000 watts AC as long as the sun is strong enough (and you have enough panels.)

    For backup solar you'll need solar PV panels, a charge controller, a battery and an off grid inverter. There are a lot of decent sine wave inverters out there now.
     
  23. Gawdzilla Sama Valued Senior Member

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    No, but someday... The stories had to be plausible, no trips to Mars on a brown dragon. (Kudos to the one that knows that reference.)
     

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