Solar Cookers Name _______________________________ Per _______
Engage
Jot down some ideas about what you think is the best design for a solar cooker. Apply your
knowledge about solar radiation, the greenhouse effect, absorption and reflection of heat.
Explore
Materials to Gather: Cardboard, Aluminum Foil, Scissors, Tape, an empty steel can (size of a
soup can), a regular thermometer and an Infrared (IR) thermometer (optional)
Safety: Be careful when tearing the aluminum foil out of the container—the edge is sharp. Also, when testing your
apparatus in the sun, be careful with the hot steel can. If it is too hot to hold with your finger, use tongs. If using
razor blades to cut the cardboard, cut away from your body.
Building your cooker (2-4 days in lab): Make an apparatus that will heat water using the sun's energy. You will use
cardboard and aluminum foil and anything else you can find that you may think will help build your device. The sun
will heat 200 ml water in the steel
can. If your solar cooker works
heating water, you may use to cook
other foods such as s’mores, cookie
dough and hot dogs later on.
Draw a picture of your final
apparatus, or take a picture with
your phone, print and tape.
Testing Day: We will choose a sunny
morning, set up outside at 8 AM
and take down at lunch.
Place your apparatus in the sun at in
the morning. Fill your can with 200
ml tap water and place inside your
apparatus. Cover with plastic wrap. All the cans will start out with room temperature water.
Take several temperature readings until lunchtime. Arrange with your group who will take which temperature
reading between classes. You should choose people with different brunch times, open periods, and classes close to
X2404 as you make your schedule. No late passes to class will be issued. Make a data chart below to record your
times and temperature readings of your group and the control can (not the entire class’s readings)
DATA CHART (Your group and the control only, NOT all the class data). Create a chart below or on a separate sheet
of paper.
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Explain
1. Which group had the highest temperature reading? What were some reasons this group was able to heat
water the most efficiently?
Disease-causing organisms in water are killed by exposure to heat in a process called pasteurization.
Pathogen Examples Killed at
Worms, Protozoa cysts Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba 55º C
Bacteria V.cholerae, E.coli, Shigella, Salmonella typhi 60 º C
Viruses Rotavirus, Hepatitis A 65 ºC
2. Was your apparatus effective in killing any pathogens from the chart above? Explain which ones would be
killed IF you had a contaminated drinking water source:
3. A Water Treatment Facility, such as SCV Water at the top of Central Park, treats our water and runs water
tests every day to make sure it does not have any pathogens. Describe how water treatment cleans water
and kills pathogens.
4. Over a billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. Why do you think that is?
Where do you think they get their water? What contaminates it?
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Solar Cookers Elaboration and Evaluation with Flipgrid
In the United States, solar cookers are a novelty and used by campers, backpackers, and people who think it’s fun
to cook with the sun. Developing countries and refugee camps, however, use them for survival to help sterilize
water that is unsafe to drink and to cook food.
Read these two infographics: https://bit.ly/2VT9YYU and https://bit.ly/304kwUw
1. What are the problems with unsafe drinking water and sanitation around the world? (Answer with facts
from both links)
Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cooker
2. Describe how solar panel cookers could help this problem. (3-4 complex sentences)
3. Identify THREE reasons why solar cookers are better than firewood to heat and treat water.
How would a villager in Africa (for example) know what the temperature of the water is in a cooker if they do not
own a thermometer? Go to https://bit.ly/2VlsZnt to learn about one invention that is helping.
4. How does this invention let people know how hot their cookers are?
5. Think about it, (or research online): What are benefits of solar cookers in the United States (which already
has clean water and energy to cook with)?
Evaluation: Go to Flipgrid (link is on Google classroom) and click on the “Solar Cooker” Assignment. Your group
needs to create a video explaining the following. Use your research from the websites above to create your video.
Use your cooker as your prop.
1. Discuss the design of your cooker and why it worked or did not work.
2. How hot did your water get? What kind of pathogens did it kill?
3. How can solar cookers be used in the world to help people survive and to prevent other environmental
problems? Use facts and data.
4. How can solar cookers be helpful environmentally and for human health in the United States?
EVERYONE MUST SPEAK in your group.
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