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Name: Jenni
Status: Student
Age: 13
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Could you explain to me how passive and active solar-heating systems work?


Replies:
A passive solar-heating system simply traps energy from the sun. A greenhouse is a good example. An active solar-heating system also traps solar energy, and does something to improve the collection, storage, or distribution of that energy. A turtle sunning itself on a rock is an active solar-heating system: its blood distributes the energy throughout its body, and this also improves the efficiency of the heat transfer into the turtle by moving cool blood near the heated surface of its shell.

Tim Mooney


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