Solar Cells Get Boost

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory have tapped the efficiencies of nanotechnology to double solar cells' potential energy production. The key to the method is the use of lead selenium nanocrystals which can produce 2 electrons where 1 was produced before. Other optical applications can also benefit."

Comments

gasoline

[boarder]

Why do Americans call petroleum gas?
Why does the rest of the world call gasoline petroleum?

Gas is short for gasoline, which is what we put in our cars (well, it used to be... now it is a mix of gasoline, ethanol and other crap). It's boiling point is well below that of water and evaporates rather quickly (gas fumes are much more explosive than liquid gas).

Petroleum is "a thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the earth's surface, can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products." (dictionary.com) It is also called crude oil.

What do you put in your tank? Gasoline or Petroleum? Us Americans use gas(oline) and it costs $2.50/gallon. If you Euros use petroleum maybe that is why it costs you $5.00/litre.

Hopefully, you were just joking and already knew why we call it gas. My point is that gasoline is NOT petroleum, but gasoline is closer to a gas at ambient temps than water.

Why do Euros call a trunk a boot? A trunk is where you store stuff, a boot is what you put on your feet. I store stuff in my trunk, but rarely put my feet in it.