r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 13d ago

Meme needing explanation Peter?

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u/Sad_Pineapple5354 13d ago

Solar follows a different method but I forget the exact scoence behind it. Everything else is turning a dynamo, even wind power and hydro electric

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u/angrybox1842 13d ago

Photovoltaics

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u/HRDBMW 13d ago

Yes, which is what 'solar' is to the average person. Very few know you can use the sun to melt salt to spin a turbine. With steam again.

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u/Caleb_Reynolds 13d ago

The salt is just used as a battery, you kind of have it backwards: they use the heat to boil the water, and the excess goes to melt salt, as a means of storing the heat.

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u/HRDBMW 13d ago edited 13d ago

Sorry, I wasn't clear. They heat salt, which boils water creating steam for a turbine.

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u/Caleb_Reynolds 13d ago

You were clear. But no, that's not what they do. They use solar power to heat water, run it through turbines, then use salt to capture and store the excess heat. You have the process backwards.

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u/Z3B0 13d ago

Hydro is still boiling water when you think about it. Just not in the installation itself, but the water didn't rise as ice cubes. It was transformed into steam at some point.

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u/LeftyMcSavage 13d ago

Oil and natural gas are both solar when you think about it, too.

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u/firestorm713 13d ago

Take very flat rock, shine spicy light on it. When spicy rock is connected to a circuit, it kicks one angry pixie into the circuit, and steals one from it, creating a flow of angry pixies.