Curated category
Energy conversion
- Electric motorOn the 3rd of September 1821, in the basement of the Royal Institution, Michael Faraday dipped a free-hanging wire into a pool of mercury.
- Solar powerIn 2025, solar power generated 9% of the world's electricity. A single solar cell can run a calculator, and a roof full of panels can power a remote home off…
- RecyclingRecycling sits at the third step of a simple, three-word hierarchy: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. That placement is not an accident.
- Solar cellA solar cell begins with light and ends with electricity, and that transformation happens in silence, with no moving parts.
- Steam engineThe steam engine is a heat engine that turns the force of pressurized steam into mechanical work. Inside a cylinder, that pressure pushes a piston back and…
- Solar energySolar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun, and the Earth catches an astonishing amount of it. Every moment, 174 petawatts of solar radiation…
- HydropowerHydropower is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. The word borrows from the Ancient Greek for water, and…
- Nuclear powerOn the 2nd of December 1942, beneath the empty stands of the Stagg Field stadium at the University of Chicago, a stack of graphite and uranium called Chicago…
- Nuclear fusionNuclear fusion is the reaction that lights every star in the sky, yet on Earth it has taken more than a century of science to approach anything resembling a…
- Energy developmentEnergy development sits at the center of nearly every human activity, from lighting a room to feeding a nation. In 2024, fossil fuels met 86% of the world's…
- Photoelectric effectThe photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons from a material struck by electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light.