Saturday, October 14, 2017

DIY Solar power

So in his science class, Clay learned how to make a solar cooker.   It was pretty cool.   The project suggested cooking a hot dog, but since we had none in the house, we used a potato and some mushrooms.


We started out with a box, which, ironically, was from Hello Fresh, so said, "Get Cooking".  We cut out the front, and used that for the sides of our "oven". 

 

Initially, since the instructions stated that the oven wall had to be 9x14, we measured the sides to be 9x14", but once we put it up to the 9x14 wall, we realized we had not done the sides right; they needed to fit to the wall.  So we recalculated and got sides that actually fitted the wall. 




Measuring out the "oven



The final result of the sides.  

Attaching he sides to the wall.  

Applying the tin foil


Attaching the food to the skewer.  We used potatoes and mushrooms, since we had no hot dogs.  



Cooking!  We placed the box facing the sun.   

That day was a cool day, but the mushrooms actually dehydrated, although the potato did bake.  I was not expecting the dehydration result, so it was interesting.  Also, now I know how to dehydrate mushrooms.   It was pretty cool.  The wind blew the box around the yard, though, so I'd recommend using a weight of some kind in the heater if you tried this.   

It was really fun for both the boys to see an example of solar power, and get some hands on experience.   Instead of just reading about it, they got to do an experiment and see how solar power works, from something they created.  It is really exciting to see them learn with Connections.    And I'm learning with them!  I really like the hands on opportunities.  



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