4 ms·

I wonder if there is some underlying insight? LEDs are both photovoltaic generators and light emitters... just not well optimized for converting light into ele

I wonder if there is some underlying insight? LEDs are both photovoltaic generators and light emitters... just not well optimized for converting light into electricity. PV solar panels are LEDs too, just highly optimized for the opposite direction. When a panel is partially shaded (and without bypass diodes which most modern panels have) the shaded portion becomes an infrared light emitter driven by the portions in brighter light. Based on this paper it seems something like the peltier or thermoelectric effect also exists, though obviously typical LEDs are not optimized for it and so the cooling effect / excess power is very small. Is there some simpler unified way to describe the interactions between semiconductor electric fields/electrons, photons, and thermal energy? Maybe you could predict the best way to optimize a given material to prioritize the effect you want.

itishappy 2y ago
> Is there some simpler unified way to describe the interactions between semiconductor electric fields/electrons, photons, and thermal energy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensed_matter_physics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensed_matter_physics Thermal energy is treated as quantum excitations called phonons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonon Oh wait you said simpler...
- xenadu02 2y ago
  > Oh wait you said simpler... Isn't that always the problem with QM? Plus there's no intuitive simplified model to explain and most analogies are so off the mark they do more harm than good. The only way to understand QM is via the math which makes it seem like hocus-pocus to most people. The old "atoms as mini solar systems" model was easy to explain to anyone. Atom as a sun, electrons orbit around it. Yes that leaves a lot out but it is "enough" that average people can kinda understand the point of it. Gravity and General relativity can be explained as a big rubber sheet with a heavy bowling ball in the middle. A normal person can begin to understand that spacetime has curvature. If you think about it that's something of a miracle - being able to explain something so complex so simply. I know of nothing like that for quantum mechanics. Simplified models and analogies give a learner a useful start of a mental model for the theory. Yes their mental model is wrong but it is useful enough. Similar to the Poverty of Stimulus principle when children learn language: learning starts with relatively shallow and sometimes inaccurate input.

itishappy 2y ago

> Is there some simpler unified way to describe the interactions between semiconductor electric fields/electrons, photons, and thermal energy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensed_matter_physics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensed_matter_physics Thermal energy is treated as quantum excitations called phonons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonon Oh wait you said simpler...

xenadu02 2y ago
> Oh wait you said simpler... Isn't that always the problem with QM? Plus there's no intuitive simplified model to explain and most analogies are so off the mark they do more harm than good. The only way to understand QM is via the math which makes it seem like hocus-pocus to most people. The old "atoms as mini solar systems" model was easy to explain to anyone. Atom as a sun, electrons orbit around it. Yes that leaves a lot out but it is "enough" that average people can kinda understand the point of it. Gravity and General relativity can be explained as a big rubber sheet with a heavy bowling ball in the middle. A normal person can begin to understand that spacetime has curvature. If you think about it that's something of a miracle - being able to explain something so complex so simply. I know of nothing like that for quantum mechanics. Simplified models and analogies give a learner a useful start of a mental model for the theory. Yes their mental model is wrong but it is useful enough. Similar to the Poverty of Stimulus principle when children learn language: learning starts with relatively shallow and sometimes inaccurate input.