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Revision as of 06:55, 28 February 2006 by Mac (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)In high energy physics experiments, an absorber is a block of material used to absorb some of the energy of an incident particle. Absorbers can be made of a variety of materials, depending on the purpose; lead and liquid hydrogen are common choices.
Most absorbers are used as part of a detector.
A more recent use for absorbers is for ionization cooling, as in the International Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment.
In solar energy, the most important part of the collector takes up the heat of the solar radiation through a medium (water + antifreeze). This is heated and circulates between the collector and the storage tank. A high degree of efficiency is achieved by using black absorbers or, even better, through selective coating.
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