Background:
A solar cooker is a device that uses solar power to cook food. The first known solar cooker was built by Horace de Saussure in 1767. There
are mainly two types of solar cookers; concentrating solar cookers and solar box cookers (usually known as solar ovens because of the way they
are used). Since they use no fuel and they cost nothing to run, humanitarian organizations are promoting their use worldwide to help
slow deforestation and desertification caused by the need for firewood used to cook.
A solar box cooker is an insulated box with a transparent top and areflective lid. The top can usually be removed to allow dark pots
containing food to be placed inside.
The solar panel cooker is the simplest form of solar cooker yet developed. Solar panel cookers have multiple simple reflectors arranged
to focus solar radiation onto a covered black pot enclosed in a clear heat-resistant plastic bag or other clear enclosure. These are often
used in refugee camps.
Environmental advantages
Solar ovens are just one part of the alternative energy picture, but one that is accessible to a great majority of people. A reliable solar
oven can be built from everyday materials in just a few hours or purchased ready made.
Solar ovens can be used to prepare anything that can be made in a conventional oven or stove-from baked bread to steamed vegetables to
roasted meat. Solar ovens allow you to do it all, without contributing to global warming or heating up the kitchen and placing additional
demands on cooling systems. Nearly 75 percent of US households prepare at least one hot meal per day; one-third prepare two or more. Some of
those meals could be made in an environmentally responsible way, using a solar oven.
Solar ovens prevent deforestation (people don’t have to cut down trees to heat water or to cook) and are provided by relief and
humanitarian organizations to refugee camps and villages. The World Health Organization reports that cooking with fuel wood is
the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Inhalation of smoke from cooking fires causes respiratory diseases and death. One of
the solutions advocated to address this problem is solar cooking which makes no smoke at all. It just uses free and abundant solar energy.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2 million and 5 million people-many of them children in developing countries-die from
diseases resulting from contaminated water. Disease-causing organisms in water are killed by exposure to heat in a process called
pasteurization. Water that has been heated to 65º C for a short period of time is free from microbes including Escherichia coli, Rotaviruses,
Giardia, and the Hepatitis A virus. At around 70º C, water and other foods are pasteurized.
Worms, Protozoa cysts (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba) Killed Rapidly at 55º C
Bacteria (V.cholerae, E.coli, Shigella, Salmonella typhi), Rotavirus Killed Rapidly at 60 º C
Hepatitis A virus Killed Rapidly at 65 ºC
Your Mission:
You and your team will design a solar panel cooker using a pizza box or other cardboard and aluminum foil. If you want to try other materials,
check with me first. You need to design and experiment in order to come up with the most efficient cooker that can pasteurize water in the
least amount of time. Your team also needs to bring an empty can to heat water in. You can alter your can if you’d like.
You have two days to plan and make your solar panel cooker. The next day, your design will be tested. The team that can heat up water (0.5
liter) to the highest degree during the period will win a prize.
You need to write up this lab in your lab book. Include:
?Problem/purpose: How effectively can we use solar energy as a food heating/cooking device? Which designs work best?
?Hypothesis (you create)
?Materials: you need to list what materials you used
?Procedure: Write out a detailed procedure of how you can repeat and make another cooker
?Data (temp. vs. time chart) and a drawing or photo of your cooker.
?Analysis: Make a graph of time vs. temp. and answer the following questions:
oWhich design (in the class) was the most effective at heating water?
oWhat variables can affect how fast water is heated?
oWhy are solar cookers important in developing countries?
oCompare the use of the sun as an energy source to other sources such as wood (biomass), fossil fuels, nuclear power and wind.
?Conclusion: Was your hypothesis correct? Real or possible sources of error. Summary. What did you learn?
Resources:
http://solarcooking.org/ This is a wonderful website, with lots of different designs for solar cookers, ranging from simply made of recycled materials to complex, expensive designs. Look through the whole page for lots of help. Plans can be found here: http://solarcooking.org/plans/
http://www.cookwiththesun.com/solar.htm More plans and information about solar cooking.
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Recipes What are you going to cook? After you've built your cooker, browse through the list of wonderful recipes! In the past, my classes have had great success with s'mores, grilled cheese, soup, hotdogs, and cookies. Test it out at home, first!!!
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/The_Solar_Cooking_Archive_Wiki Solar cooking news, including press releases, product testing, and scientific information.
Feel free to do a search for anything that you couldn't find on these sites!!!
Acknowledgements: Kristi Schertz; AP Environmental Science/Biology; Saugus High School, CA & Abbie Walston
A solar cooker is a device that uses solar power to cook food. The first known solar cooker was built by Horace de Saussure in 1767. There
are mainly two types of solar cookers; concentrating solar cookers and solar box cookers (usually known as solar ovens because of the way they
are used). Since they use no fuel and they cost nothing to run, humanitarian organizations are promoting their use worldwide to help
slow deforestation and desertification caused by the need for firewood used to cook.
A solar box cooker is an insulated box with a transparent top and areflective lid. The top can usually be removed to allow dark pots
containing food to be placed inside.
The solar panel cooker is the simplest form of solar cooker yet developed. Solar panel cookers have multiple simple reflectors arranged
to focus solar radiation onto a covered black pot enclosed in a clear heat-resistant plastic bag or other clear enclosure. These are often
used in refugee camps.
Environmental advantages
Solar ovens are just one part of the alternative energy picture, but one that is accessible to a great majority of people. A reliable solar
oven can be built from everyday materials in just a few hours or purchased ready made.
Solar ovens can be used to prepare anything that can be made in a conventional oven or stove-from baked bread to steamed vegetables to
roasted meat. Solar ovens allow you to do it all, without contributing to global warming or heating up the kitchen and placing additional
demands on cooling systems. Nearly 75 percent of US households prepare at least one hot meal per day; one-third prepare two or more. Some of
those meals could be made in an environmentally responsible way, using a solar oven.
Solar ovens prevent deforestation (people don’t have to cut down trees to heat water or to cook) and are provided by relief and
humanitarian organizations to refugee camps and villages. The World Health Organization reports that cooking with fuel wood is
the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Inhalation of smoke from cooking fires causes respiratory diseases and death. One of
the solutions advocated to address this problem is solar cooking which makes no smoke at all. It just uses free and abundant solar energy.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2 million and 5 million people-many of them children in developing countries-die from
diseases resulting from contaminated water. Disease-causing organisms in water are killed by exposure to heat in a process called
pasteurization. Water that has been heated to 65º C for a short period of time is free from microbes including Escherichia coli, Rotaviruses,
Giardia, and the Hepatitis A virus. At around 70º C, water and other foods are pasteurized.
Worms, Protozoa cysts (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba) Killed Rapidly at 55º C
Bacteria (V.cholerae, E.coli, Shigella, Salmonella typhi), Rotavirus Killed Rapidly at 60 º C
Hepatitis A virus Killed Rapidly at 65 ºC
Your Mission:
You and your team will design a solar panel cooker using a pizza box or other cardboard and aluminum foil. If you want to try other materials,
check with me first. You need to design and experiment in order to come up with the most efficient cooker that can pasteurize water in the
least amount of time. Your team also needs to bring an empty can to heat water in. You can alter your can if you’d like.
You have two days to plan and make your solar panel cooker. The next day, your design will be tested. The team that can heat up water (0.5
liter) to the highest degree during the period will win a prize.
You need to write up this lab in your lab book. Include:
?Problem/purpose: How effectively can we use solar energy as a food heating/cooking device? Which designs work best?
?Hypothesis (you create)
?Materials: you need to list what materials you used
?Procedure: Write out a detailed procedure of how you can repeat and make another cooker
?Data (temp. vs. time chart) and a drawing or photo of your cooker.
?Analysis: Make a graph of time vs. temp. and answer the following questions:
oWhich design (in the class) was the most effective at heating water?
oWhat variables can affect how fast water is heated?
oWhy are solar cookers important in developing countries?
oCompare the use of the sun as an energy source to other sources such as wood (biomass), fossil fuels, nuclear power and wind.
?Conclusion: Was your hypothesis correct? Real or possible sources of error. Summary. What did you learn?
Resources:
http://solarcooking.org/ This is a wonderful website, with lots of different designs for solar cookers, ranging from simply made of recycled materials to complex, expensive designs. Look through the whole page for lots of help. Plans can be found here: http://solarcooking.org/plans/
http://www.cookwiththesun.com/solar.htm More plans and information about solar cooking.
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Recipes What are you going to cook? After you've built your cooker, browse through the list of wonderful recipes! In the past, my classes have had great success with s'mores, grilled cheese, soup, hotdogs, and cookies. Test it out at home, first!!!
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/The_Solar_Cooking_Archive_Wiki Solar cooking news, including press releases, product testing, and scientific information.
Feel free to do a search for anything that you couldn't find on these sites!!!
Acknowledgements: Kristi Schertz; AP Environmental Science/Biology; Saugus High School, CA & Abbie Walston