Question

What is usually the shape of a reflector in a solar concentrator?

Answer 1

Hint:The solar concentrator or a solar cooker works on the principle of conversion of light energy to heat energy. Solar concentrators, concentrate sunlight onto a receiver in a cooking vessel. This process is called conduction, which is the interaction between light energy and the receiver materials converts light to heat. The process is maximized by using materials that retain and conduct heat so as to increase the heat contained.

Complete answer:
Reflectors are used in these solar cookers because these mirrors reflect sunlight into a single point and focus it. This mirror focuses sun rays onto a receiver into the above said cooking vessel/ pan. To focus the sunlight to one point we need a concave mirror. Concave mirrors converge the parallel rays of sunlight onto one point.

In conclusion, the parabolic trough reflector is a sun powered nuclear power gatherer intended to catch the Sun's direct sunlight-based radiation over an enormous surface region and center, or all the more by and large 'concentrate it' into a little point of convergence region expanding the sun-based energy got by in excess of a factor of two which implies more generally speaking warmth.

Note:One might think that the reflector can be any mirror because it can reflect light but, the purpose of this reflection is to focus the light coming from the sun onto one particular point and in turn concentrate heat. Therefore, we need a converging mirror so as to focus all the parallel beams of sunlight from the source onto a particular point.