Make a Solar Oven!

Earlier this year, we learned about how we get most of the energy on Earth from the sun. So today, we decided to take advantage of the bright sun and hot weather to experiment with our own home made solar oven using a pizza box.

MATERIALS:

cardboard box (a pizza box works perfectly here)

black construction paper or bristol board

glue

scissors

box cutter or knife

tape

wood skewer or stick

tin foil

plastic wrap

markers or stickers for decorating (optional)

S’mores:

graham crackers

marshmallows

milk chocolate bar

1. Start out by tracing the outline of the bottom of the box onto the black construction paper or bristol board. Then glue it onto the bottom of the inside of the box.

2. Next, draw a square or rectangle on the top of your pizza box, about 1.5 inches from the sides. Then, using your box cutter or knife, cut out three of the sides so that this flap can be pulled up with the seam at the back of the box.

3. Now cover the inside of the flap with tin foil. We wrapped it around and taped it onto the other side.

4. Next, cover the opening that you made in the top of the box with a few layers of plastic wrap. Tape these as tightly as possible.

5. Lastly, assemble your s’mores and place them inside of the oven. Seal the outside of the box if you have large gaps where heat can escape with pieces of tape. Then prop the foil flap up with a skewer or stick. Try to find the best position for the box and flap to catch the most sun on the tin foil to reflect into the box. Take a look at your oven every 15 minutes or so. Our s’mores took about an hour today but this could vary between 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the weather conditions.

HOW IT WORKS:

A solar oven uses energy from the sun to cook our food by absorbing sunlight and trapping the heat. The foil works to reflect sunlight into the box. The black paper inside the box absorbs heat and increases the temperature. Dark colours reflect less sunlight and therefore absorb more heat. The plastic wrap allows sunlight to pass into the box while also trapping it inside, much like a greenhouse.

We hope you enjoy your tasty s’mores as much as we did!