production of electricity

[praneeth1]

as light has oscillating electric and magnetic fields why cant we use this electric field to produce electrcity for us?

[rmarz]

praneeth1 - In the broadest context, sunlight is responsible for 100% of the energy that falls, in real time, on the earths surface. We directly convert this to electrical energy using photovoltaic (PV also known as solar cells) every day. There are obviously other systems that harness heat (from the sun) to generate energy. In addition, the light that has fallen on our planet over millions of years created the carbon sources (plant and animal life) that later were converted to coal, petroleum, methane and other energy sources we use today. There is a reference below from the Niels Bohr Institute that states that light can have an electrical field or a magnetic field, but not both at the same time. There are also some sites that will suggest experimentation into using the magnetic field to harness energy. I'm not sure that I totally understand your question about converting light in a different way than I suggested above.

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2012/06/exper ... ltaneously
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/201 ... olar-cells

Rick Marz