Would it be possible to put solar panels on Mercury?

No, the Mercury Monsters would eat the panels.

Plus, stfu.

-i/10

No. We can't even get to the moon (do NOT believe that moon-landing hoax the government has tried to ram down our throats) - how the hell are we supposed to get to Mercury?

So inefficient...why not build a Dyson Sphere and then convert it into a Matrioshka brain?

Obviously the OP is a joke, but here is something that I have wondered for a while. If we took all of the acres of fields that are used to grow corn to convert to ethanol and we replaced them with solar panels, would that be a more efficient way to make energy? From everything I've heard, the process of converting corn to fuel results in a net loss of energy. It seems like using the space to make solar power would make more sense.

Bear of Bad News wrote:

Obviously the OP is a joke, but here is something that I have wondered for a while. If we took all of the acres of fields that are used to grow corn to convert to ethanol and we replaced them with solar panels, would that be a more efficient way to make energy? From everything I've heard, the process of converting corn to fuel results in a net loss of energy. It seems like using the space to make solar power would make more sense.

It might be, but there are several issues.

Ethanol can be used to fuel cars and trucks. Solar cells can't unless everyone uses battery powered vehicles and, pretty clearly, we don't.

The corn lobby. 'nuff said.

We might not be able to make enough solar panels to meet our needs. Silicon is abundant, but pure silicon is expensive and hard to make and if you increase demand by paving the Earth with solar cells then prices will go way up (of course, you could go solar thermal, but that's a different set of problems).

You have to strike a balance between using technology to get benefits now and waiting until cheaper/more efficient means exist. I don't think that anyone doubts that solar energy will be much cheaper in 20 years. Given that, would we really want to do a hugely ambitious plan with todays technology? It would likely be better to do smaller roll outs so that when new tech comes along you don't have as much to replace.

You would be a lot better off putting those solar panels on a Hyundai. Do they even make Mercurys anymore?

Yeah sounds good. Now the only problem would be the fact that the daily temps on Mercury rises to 818 degrees F.

Solar power isn't very efficient. Luckily I have a plan that could completely revolutionize the world. I don't want any of you stealing it though. Planning on working on it if I don't take the low road and become a teacher (I'm only joking about the "low road" stuff). It will be bioengineering at its finest and will solve much of our energy demands. You just wait.