How much of the solar radiation that hits a transparent glass is actually heating the glass?
821260
The transmittance of good quality glass 1cm thick ranges from 99.6% to 99.9%, so the absorption is less than .4% in the visible spectrum.  It increases in the ultraviolet.  But if you have glass covering a box, nearly all the light passes through and heats whatever is in the box.  The infrared energy radiated is mostly blocked by the glass.  That's what heats a greenhouse.
819964
On the vernal equinox, the sun is directly overhead the Earth's equator at local noon, and we are told that the insolation under those conditions is 1368 W/m^2.\n\nAt latitudes other than the equator, the solar energy per unit area is decreased by a factor of cos(L), where L is the latitude.  This is called the "projection effect".  At 40 degrees latitude, the incoming solar energy per unit area is therefore:\n\n1368 W/m^2 * cos(40 deg) = 1368 W/m^2 * 0.766 = 1048 W/m^2.\n\nI'm assuming the question is asking how long it would take to bring the water to a boil, not how long it would take to completely boil away the water.\n\nIn either case, you are missing a key bit of information necessary to answer the question:  the initial temperature of the water.  Let's assume that temperature is T.  I'll also assume that you are located as sea level, so the boiling point of the water is 100 C.\n\nThe specific heat capacity of water is 4.1855 J/(g*degC), and the density of water is ~1.00 gm/cm^3, so to bring one liter of water from temperature T to 100 C requires:\n\nE = 4.1855 J/(g*degC) * 1000 cm^3 * 1 gm/cm^3 * (100 degC - T) \nE = 4.1855*10^3 J/degC  * (100 degC - T)\n\nWe have a collector with a 1 m^2 surface area, so it supplies 1048 W = 1048 J/sec at 40 degrees latitude, all of which we are to assume goes into heating the water.\n\nWith these assumptions, it would take:\n\nt = [4.1855*10^3 J/degC  * (100 degC - T)]/(1048 J/sec)\n\nseconds to bring the water to a boil.\n\nFor instance, if T = 25 C, t = 299.54 sec ~= 5 minutes to bring the water to a boil.
402472
What you perceive as transparent glass transmits visible light because none of the differences in energy level bands match the energy of visible light. If they did, light would be absorbed by the material as electrons were excited into higher energy levels. Clear glass is still opaque in other frequencies, such as infrared.
81499
Depends on what you are burning.  I know you can get paper to 451 farenheit, because it will burn.  (You do know about Ray Bradbury's book, don't you?)  It would be interesting to know whether there are any limits, given that solar energy is really nuclear power.  Any science majors want to tackle the experiment?  Burn different materials with known flash points?
9993
The major applications of solar thermal energy at present are heating swimming pools, heating water for domestic use, and space heating of buildings. For these purposes, the general practice is to use flat-plate solar energy or evacuated tube collectors with a fixed orientation (position).\n\nThe highest efficiency with a fixed flat-plate collector or evacuated tube collector is obtained if it faces toward the equator and slopes at an angle to the horizon equal to the latitude plus about 10 degrees. Solar collectors fall into two general categories: nonconcentrating and concentrating.\n\nIn the nonconcentrating type, the collector area (i.e. the area that intercepts the solar radiation) is the same as the absorber area (i.e., the area absorbing the radiation).
1138859
solar rays could do that
12898
When white light (for example sun light) strikes a black object, almost all the light (all visible wavelengths) are absorbe and not re-released.  That is why a black object heats up more under the sun than a white object that reflects all visible wavelengths.  You can still see the black object because it may not be perfectly black and not all visible wavelengths are absorbed or because some of the white light is reflected at the surface without being absorbed.  For light to be absorbed, the photons must penetrate the material and interact with the electrons of the atoms and molecules it meets which absorbs either none, some or all of the photons before reflecting the rest back to your eye as black, a specific color or white light.  Also consider clear glass where the photons interact with electrons and are almost all allowed to pass through only slowing down because of the longer path - permitting lenses and magnification.
611962
How hot is concentrated light, what is the temp of the sun?\n\nWELL WE HAVE A ENERGY SHORTAGE, ONLY AT SUNSET.\n\n I read about Solar collection in power plants like Solar One.  In these plants the where they make molten salt, for heat transfer for running steam generator. At the reciever of Solar One plant or concentrated light point temperature reachest approximately 1,050 Fahrenheit.\n    \n      THIS LINK IS ABOUT YOUR SUN AND THE TEMPS ARE HOT.\n         SO HOW MUCH LIGHT CAN WE CONDENTRATE MORE  \n           DEVELOPMENT IN SOLAR SAILS\n\nhttp://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html \n\n Earth's Sun is a medium-sized star which lies on the main sequence with 90% of the known stars. It has a effective surface temperature is 5780 K, putting it in spectral class G2. Its mass is 1.989 x 1030 kg and its mean radius is 6.96 x 108 meters. The mass of the sun is over 99.8% of the mass of the entire known solar system, leading de Pater and Lissauer to refer lightly to the solar system as "the Sun plus some debris". \n\nThe sun radiates energy at the rate of 3.85 x1026 watts. Just outside the earth's atmosphere solar energy is received, assuming normal incidence, at the rate of 1340 watts per square meter. \n \n\nThe orbit of Earth ranges from 1.47 to 1.52 x 1011 meters from the Sun. The average light travel time to the earth is 8.3 minutes. \n\nThe radius of the sun at 696,000 km is 109 times the Earth's radius. Its surface gravity is 274 m/s2 or 28.0 times that of the Earth. Its mean density is 1410 kg/m3 or 0.255 times the mean density of Earth. \n\nThe composition of the sun is 71% hydrogen, 27.1% helium and less than 2% of all other elements. \n\nThe center temperature is modeled to be 15.5 million K. The Sun is fueled by the proton cycle of nuclear fusion.\n\nEscape velocity = 618 km/s\n\nSO
429574
gas emitting visible light as a result of being heated
656604
You could focus sunlight from a bundle of light fibers using a lens and really burn things up.\n\nFocused sunlight can burn holes through steel plates.\n\nAny amount of sunlight falling on something will heat it.\n\nYou only need a simple thermometer to check it out.
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Energy can exist in many forms (chemical, electrical, mechanical, light and heat, etc.) and can be converted from one form to another without being lost (conservation of energy).  When solar energy strikes different surfaces it is either mostly reflected (from pure white or mirrors) or absorbed (pure black) or somewhere in between.  Solar energy consists of photons that enter the material and interact with the electrons of atoms (and molecules) and knock the electrons into higher orbits storing energy.  When the electrons fall back to rest orbits they give up their excess energy as photons.  To understand heat transfer, follow the electrons and photons because the black surfaces that absorbed the photons heats up.  Heat may be stored within a material in its solid, liquid and gaseous states.  Atoms of solids vibrate more when hot and transfer some energy to adjacent cooler atoms within a crystal.  Atoms of liquids bump into each other with more force when hot and transfer some energy to cooler atoms.  Atoms within a gas travel at greater velocities when hot and transfer some energy to any other cooler atom it strikes (like pool balls).  Heat stored in vibrating solids atoms and circulating liquid atoms and flying gaseous atoms can transfer energy from hotter to cooler atoms and in fact a copper vessel filled with half water and half air will reach an equilibrium (identical) temperature as all three states warm or cool by transferring heat energy.  At equilibrium, there will still be atoms well above or below the equilibrium temperature which is only an average temperature.  Thus you can have steam in an ice cube or ice in a flow of steam depending upon the instantaneous (and highly temporary) state or two or more adjacent atoms, but all are driven back toward the equilibrium state by additional collisions or vibrations of neighbors.\n\nThat said, heat is transferred from solid to solid in contact (metal pot on electrical heating element?) by conduction as vibrations of hot neighbors affect cooler neighbors.  Heat is transferred by conduction (from the pot to liquid at the bottom?) by metal atoms vibrating against liquid atoms.  The hot liquid at the bottom of the pot is less dense (due to expansion caused by liquid atom vibrations and electrons in higher orbits) and rises to the top by convection (stirring or forced convection helps).  If you hold your hand near the pot you can feel heat similar to solar heat of radiation.  As electrons in the heated metal fall from higher energetic orbits to rest orbits, photons are transmitted to your hand raising some of your oown electrons to higher (hotter) orbits.\n\nInterestingly, if you open the drapes of your picture window on a frigid winter day, radiation energy will enter your house from outside while even more radiation is leaving from inside, and the net effect will be to cool the house, unless the sun is shining brightly through the window.  It sounds strange but if the interior of your house was at absolute zero temperature the same radiation from the "cold" outside would enter and heat it, right?
721956
Most glass blocks UVA and UVB rays, but a small portion gets transmitted through...so yes you can, but you would have to really work at it.
829976
You'll need this number:\n\n1.740×10^17 W.\n\nThis is the solar constant, the amount of energy received at the earth per second per area.\n\nAnd this number:\n\nsigma=5.67x10^-7 J/s/m^2/K^4\n\nThis is the Stefan Boltzmann constant which goes into the (surprise) Stefan Boltzmann law:\n\nJ=e*sigma*T^4\n\nSo, J is the energy received by the body per second per area, and T is it is temperature. The e stands for the efficiency of the body which is the ratio between the power it absorbs and then reemits.\n\nSo, you have an albedo which is an indication of how much light an object reflects from its surface versus how much it absorbs. With these numbers, you should be able to piece together your information with the equation above to get an answer. Let me know if you have further questions.
1102375
No...it will be 100% more than glass A....double the amount.
138840
Its UV or ultra voilet Radiation
357464
It can because a dark color will absorb more heat or radiation causing them to melt faster, say in a black glass vs. a clear one.
578383
There are two types of substances\n1] Transparent.eg.Glass   2] Opaque.eg.iron                    Glass allows light to pass thru it as atoms in glass are in contact with each other.So when 1 atom receives energy,it vibrates with a greater amplitude[atoms are always in a state of vibration].It disturbs the neighbouring atom which accepts the energy liberated by the 1st atom.It transmits the energy to the next atom and so on....\n\nIn case of iron ,atoms areplaced even more closer which results in reflection of the entire light.In case of glass,there is partial reflection and partial refraction