solar energy heat energy light energy......

[WARGREYMONKKTL]

i am a student in high school. and i want to ask someone about the basics of
solar energy. i want to create a solar system that can heat up water. anyof you can give some advices/ equation/model/ for my idea.
is ther possible if a solar cells can run a motor? and is it possible that a solar energy can be gather to create a fusion reaction (if possible)?
can sombody give me the explaination for the following situation?
" i use a magnify glass to gather the sun light onto a paper. after a few minutes the paper burn up." how can magnifying glass do that?
some body can give me a system equation for the following situation?
" i let the sun ligh (concentrated) go through a transparent contaner which containing pure water. i notice that the temperature of the water is being raised up." i wonder why?:surprised
these question is really basics for all designer in here. can you give some informations about these "old stuff"?
thanks!
:surprised

[russ_watters]

Could you start by saying what you think is happening here? We don't just answer homework questions for people here - we help students answer them themselves.

[JANm]

Could you start by saying what you think is happening here? We don't just answer homework questions for people here - we help students answer them themselves.

The energy we receive from the sun at mean earth distance is called solar constant (SC) SC=1353 watt/M^2 that is 13,53 watt /dm^2. A lens makes a dot of the sun in mm^2. If you want to calculate the intensity of the light in the dot you need to divide the surface of the lens bij the surface of the dot. for example 2cm^2/(2mm^2) = 100.
The intensity of the sunlight on the lense is 13,53*2/100 is 0,27 watt.
If the lense is 100% you get 0,27 watt / (2mm^2)
Savie?