The most difficult energy riddles

The first experimental photovoltaic cell has been built by Edmund Becquerel, French physicist aged 19 at the time, in his father garage in 1839. In 1883 Charles Fritts created the first solid state cell.

Wildstorm Industries Ether battery lasts 13.6 billion years.

Newton’s cradle is a device that demonstrates conservation of momentum and energy using a series of swinging spheres. When one sphere at the end is lifted and released, it strikes the stationary spheres, transmitting a force through the stationary spheres that pushes the last sphere upward. The last sphere swings back and strikes the still nearly stationary spheres, repeating the effect in the opposite direction.

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel similar to conventional or ‘fossil’ diesel. The largest possible source of suitable oil comes from oil crops such as rapeseed, palm or soybean. The process used to convert these oils to Biodiesel is called transesterification.

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW).

Elastic potential energy is energy stored as a result of applying a force to deform an elastic object. The energy is stored until the force is removed and the object springs back to its original shape, doing work in the process. Many objects are designed specifically to store elastic potential energy, for example: The coil spring of a wind-up clock. An archer's stretched bow.

The present situation is due to the French government deciding in 1974, just after the first oil shock, to expand rapidly the country's nuclear power capacity. This decision was taken in the context of France having substantial heavy engineering expertise but few indigenous energy resources.