Solar S'more Oven

Today was "fun science" day! I saw directions on how to make a solar s'more oven
at the Family Fun website. We have been waiting for a nice sunny day, and today was it!

We gathered our materials- mainly a pizza box, aluminum foil, clear page protectors, and black construction paper.
Using the lid of the pizza box, you cut a flap, leaving about an inch around the lid's border (so it can still close )
Cover the top flap with aluminum foil-the shiny side out. Put aluminum foil on the inside of the bottom part of the box. On top of that glue down black construction paper.
I used clear packing tape to secure the plastic to the lid. You want it sealed as good as you can get it. This causes a greenhouse effect, trapping the heat inside the box.
Take the solar oven outside and set up your s'mores as shown above. Close the plastic covered lid and angle the foil flap to reflect extra sunlight into the box.

We read that the temperature can reach 275 degrees inside the box. I didn't have a thermometer this time, but we will certainly do this again and take a temp.

There was a lot of science to talk about while we did this project:

solar energy

reflection

black paper aborbing more heat than white

greenhouse effect

After about 30 minutes, the breeze blew the lid off our solar cooker. The chocolate looked somewhat melted, but we couldn't really tell about the marshmellows. I told the kids, "We'll try another time when the wind isn't blowing. Let's just eat these."

The chocolate was liquid--the marshmellows melting to the black construction paper--our solar cooker was a complete success--and our s'mores where overdone.

Notice Becky's hand catching Gracie's chocolate-she slipped her hand under as it dripped and then yelled,"It's burning me!!!!!!!!!"

Yes, solor energy is certainly a viable energy resourse, especially when cooking s'mores.

YUM!

YUM!!