[Jennifer Clark]

Jennifer Clark asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Wind / solar energy can be transformed into electrical energy then heat / light / so on...

Light is a form of energy, right?  If so, how is it transformed - what is the type of energy that its transformed into?

What do you think?

[Nizzle]

It can be converted to Chemical Reaction energy through the process of Photosynthesis in plants.

It can also be converted to Electricity in Photoelectric Cells

It can also be converted to Heat in anything that's painted black

[lyner]

Or any colour not perfectly white!

[Vern]

Light can also transfer momentum when it strikes an object so we can add kinetic energy.

[syhprum]

High energy electromagnetic radiation can also transform into particle anti particle pairs.

[yor_on]

I'm not sure it's transformed at all?
Energy as a concept is not defined even though we can see its effects clear enough.
It's that thingie 'not there' that somehow transform into 'cause and effect chains' controlled by SpaceTime, and us of course, manipulating their relations.

[Vern]

Yes; there need be no transformation. All that is needed is to somehow trap the radiation in a local area. We can do it with a mirrored box for example. I like to avoid magic when thinking of physical phenomena. There is no need for a magical transformation when we realize that there are mechanisms within electromagnetic phenomena that can trap a photon in a repeating local pattern.