Boron+Argon+Gallium+Indium?

OK, I put this in the skunk works because I saw this on a TV show, Prison Break, and wasn't sure if there is any validity to it. Also, I did a Google search and could not find much.

So, in the episode, they mention a theory that if you could combine Boron, Argon, Gallium and Indium in a solar shell, you could harness all of the sun's power.

Does anyone have any info on this?

I'm no chemist but from what I remember, it seems unlikely. Argon is an inert gas. It has a filled p sub orbital - it doesn't want to gain or lose valence electrons. To my recollection the only way to bond noble gases is through an expanded octet (xenon is one) or if there is some way of forcefully removing electrons.

Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought, TV fiction. Pretty cool storyline though.

Totally cool storyline. A device like that would be really interesting (good and bad)

A better question would be, what is a solar shell?

reply to post by prototism


Hahaha, I was just ignoring that part ;-) I googled it and came up with zilch, so I'm going with "another figment of the writers imagination"

Be hard to do, Gallium melts in your hand. Yea, storyline =)

Not so fast. Do a Wikipedia search on CIGS.

It's not a sloar shell. This is what Michale said: "There is a theory if you combine boron, argon, gallium, and indium, you can form a solar CELL design that can harness 100% of the sun's power.

I don't know the relevance of those specific elements, but the show is referring to a dyson sphere:

Dyson Sphere

I believe they actually meant a 'solar cell' and not a 'solar shell' as mentioned above.

A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper) is a hypothetical megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. Such a "sphere" would be a system of orbiting solar power satellites meant to completely encompass a star and capture most or all of its energy output. Dyson speculated that such structures would be the logical consequence of the long-term survival and escalating energy needs of a technological civilization, and proposed that searching for evidence of the existence of such structures might lead to the detection of advanced intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Since then, other variant designs involving building an artificial structure — or a series of structures — to encompass a star have been proposed in exploratory engineering or described in science fiction under the name "Dyson sphere". These later proposals have not been limited to solar power stations — many involve habitation or industrial elements. Most fictional depictions describe a solid shell of matter enclosing a star (see diagram at right), which is considered the least plausible variant of the idea (see below).

wired i no prisen break geting good

wiki.answers.com...

it might happen if you actually could do it and thats the problem= no-one can do it yet

well u get control power of the sun

maybe if you throw all four of those elements in an accelerator like the one in france you might be able to get something??

With a couple million dollars of equipment, and a few extra ingredients (copper, selenium), you can make at least one type of solar cell with indium and gallium. Expect up to 19% efficiency.