TheEffectofMaterialsonFoodTemperatureUsingSolar

Energy
ByBrigidOBrienandAlmaWolf

Abstract
Thisreportisananalysisoftheeffectivenessofsolarovens.Ourgoalwhenperformingthe
experimentforthisprojectwastodeterminewhetherrefractionorreflectionismoreefficientin
increasingthetemperatureoffood.Weusedatraditionalsolaroven,glasstupperwareoven,and
acontrolgroup(placedthecookiedoughonarockneartheotherovens)toseewhichsolaroven
wouldincreasethetemperatureofcookiedoughthemost.Traditionalsolarovensaremeantto
increasetheamountofenergythatfoodreceivesbyusingreflectivesurfaces.Glasscauseslight
wavestorefract,changingtheeffectthattheyhaveonthefood.Wewantedtotestwhetheror
nottherefractivepropertiesofglasshadapositiveeffectonheatingthecookiedough,andwere
moreeffectivethanthereflectionusedintraditionalsolarovens.Totestourquestion,we
constructedatraditionalsolarovenoutofapizzaboxandothermaterials.Aglasstupperware
wasusedastheglassoven.Weplacedapproximatelyequalsizedblobsofcookiedoughineach
ovenandonanearbyrockasacontrolgroup.Wetookthestartingtemperaturesofeachblob,
andthenletthemsitinthesunlightfor45minutes.Then,werecordedthetemperaturesagain.
Wefoundthatthetraditionalovencausedthedoughtobeheatedthemost.Interestingly,the
doughintheglassovenwasactuallylesswarmthanthedoughinthecontrolgroup.Fromthis,
wecanhypothesizethatwhilethelightwaveswererefractedthroughtheglass,somewaveswere
alsoreflectedaway.Thismayhavecausedthedoughintheglassoventoreceivelessenergy
thantheotherdough.Whiletheseresultsarenotworldchanging,wehavevalidatedthe
effectivenessofsolarovensusingreflection.

Introduction
Thisexperimenthasbeendesignedtotesttheeffectivenessofmaterialsusedinsolarovens.
Traditionalsolarovensusealuminumfoil,ahighlyreflectivesurfacetoredirectlightwavesto
heatorcookfood.Inourexperiment,wewillalsotestasolarovenmadeofaglasscontainerto
compareeffectiveness.Whenlightwavesencounterachangeinmediumoranobject,theyeither
reflect,refract,orreactinbothways.Reflectioniswhenwaves,whetherphysicalor
electromagnetic,bouncefromasurfacebacktowardthesource,statesmsnucleus.org.When
lightwavesencounteramaterialsuchasaluminumfoil,theyarepredominantlyreflectedaway.
Inthecaseofasolaroven,aluminumfoilisusedtoreflectthewavestowardfoodintheoven.
Anotherwavebehaviorisrefraction.Whenlightwavespassfromonemediumtoanother,they
bendslightly.Accordingtosciencelearn.org,Thischangeofdirectioniscausedbyachangein

speed.Forexample,whenlighttravelsfromairintowater,itslowsdown,causingittocontinue
totravelatadifferentangleordirection.Wecallthisbehaviorrefraction.Whenyouplacea
strawinaglassofwater,itappearsasthoughthestrawisdisconnectedornotstraight.Thisis
becauseoftherefractionoflightwavesthroughwater.Glassisanothermediumthatcauseslight
wavestorefract.Ourexperimentwillstudywhetherreflectedlight(traditionalsolaroven)or
refractedlight(glasssolaroven)ismoreeffectiveinincreasingthetemperatureoffood.One
uncontrolledvariableisthegreenhouseeffect.Theinfraredspectrumoflightemittedfromthe
sunisabsorbedbygasessuchascarbonmonoxide,causingthetemperaturetoincrease.This
existsonalargescaleinouratmosphere.Inoursolarovens,thisprocessmayalsocauseaslight
increaseintemperature.
Ourinspirationforthisexperimentcamefrom1)Brigidsdesiretoeatpizzaand2)because
Brigidalsowantedtoeatcookies.Almaprobablydidtoo,butnotasmuchasBrigid.

QuestionandHypothesis
Inoptimizingasolaroven,howdothematerial'sinteractionwithwavesaffecttheovensability
toincreasethetemperatureoffood?
Ifthereflectiveorrefractivepropertiesofthematerialsusedinbuildingasolarovenaffectthe
temperatureoffoodbeingcooked,thenthealuminumfoilsolarovenwillbemoreeffectivein
heatingupthefood(cookiedough)becauseitusesreflectioninsteadofrefraction.We
hypothesizethatreflectionwillincreasetheamountofenergythroughlightraysthatthefood
receives.

Methods&Materials
Pizzabox
Cookiedoughuseyourfavoritevariety,wereusingchocolatechip!(Almausedan
exclamationpointhere,whichIthinkisunnecessary,butfine).
Aluminumfoil
Cleartape
Plasticwrap
Newspaper
Ruler
Thermometer
Blackconstructionpaper
Anadulttohelpwithcutting
Glasscontainers

1) Constructthefirstsolaroven:aluminum
a) Usethescissorstocutasquareflapinthelidofthepizzabox.Onlycutalong
threesides,leavingaboutaninchbetweenthesidesoftheflapandtheedgesof
thelid.Foldtheflapupsothatitstandsonitsown.
b) Covertheinnersideoftheflapwithaluminumfoil,tapingtheedgestothe
outsideoftheflap.
c) Openingtheboxandtapeadoublelayerofplasticwrapovertheopeningyou
madewhenyoucuttheflapinthelid.Leaveaboutaninchofplasticoverlap
aroundthesidesandtapeeachsidedown,makingsuretheplasticistaughtsoyou
aresealingoutair.Ifyouuseaplasticbag,cutoutasquarebigenoughtocover
theopening,andtapeonelayerovertheopening.
d) Linethebottomoftheboxwithblackconstructionpaper.Overlapitifyouneed
to.
e) Rollupsheetsofnewspaperandplacethemonthebottomoftheboxaroundthe
edges,andtapethemsotheyaresecure.
f) Whenyouareoutside,makesureitissunny,andangleyourboxtowardsthesun.
g) Allowcookiedoughtositfor45minutes.

Designborrowedfrom:
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/a/buildasolarovenproject

2)Constructthesecondsolaroven:glass
a) Placetwoglasscontainerstogethertomakeabox,donottapeoradherethem
together
3)Locatesunnyoutdoorenvironmentwheresolarovenwillreceivemaximumexposure(see
Fig.4)
4)Preparecookiedough,allowittositfor30minutestoreturntoroomtemperature
5)Measurethreeglobsofcookiedoughforeachoven,andacontrolgroup.Youcanchoose
yourownsizebuttrytokeepituniform.
6)Placeeachservingofdoughineachovenandplacecontrolgroupdirectlyontothesurface
whereyouareexperimenting(seeFig.1,2,3)
7)Recordtemperatureofeachcookiedoughblob
8)Allowcookiedoughtositforfortyfiveminutes
9)Checkandrecordtemperaturesagain
10)Repeatasmanytimesasyouwouldlikewedidnotrepeatthis
11)Comparetemperaturesandresultingeffectivenessofeachoven

Results
OvenType

Traditional
Oven

GlassOven

Control

StartingTemp
(averageof
threecookie
doughblobs)

63.33

67

62.33

Finishing
Temp
(averageof
threecookie
doughblobs)

81

78.33

76

Temperature
Increase

17.67

11.33

13.67

Thetemperatureofthedoughinthetraditionalovenincreasedthemost,about17.67degrees.
Whenwetookthetemperaturesagainafter45minutes,thedoughinthisovenhadspreadout,
likecookiesusuallydowhentheybeginbaking.Italsolookedshiny(seeFig.6).
Thetemperatureoftheglassovenincreasedsignificantlylessthanthetraditionalovendidfrom
starttemperaturetofinishtemperature,about11.33degrees.Thiswastheoventhatwastheleast
effective.Thedoughinthisovenhadalsospreadoutandappearedshiny.
Surprisingly,thecontrolgroup(cookiedoughplacedonarock)hadthesecondmosttemperature
increaseitwasmoreeffectivethantheglassoven.Thedoughontherockshadnotspreadout
andchangedappearancequiteasmuchastheothertwoovens,yetithadchangedslightly.
Therewerenotanyissuesinobtainingtheseresults.However,onepotentialsourceoferrormay
arisefromthecookiedoughtemperaturemeasurements.Someofthecookiedoughwasexposed
tothesunforashortperiodoftime(aminuteorless)beforewetookitsstartingtemperature,
becausewewererecordingthetemperaturesoftheothercookiedoughgroups.Thefactthat
someofthecookiedoughwasoutlongerthantheothergroupsofcookiedoughcouldbean
issue,dependingonyouropinion.

Photos

Fig.1
Initialsetupoftraditionaloven

Fig.2
Initialsetupofcontrolgroup


Fig.3
Initialsetupofglassoven

Fig.4
Areawhereallovensweresetup


Fig.5
Interestingsteamoninsideofglassoven

Fig.6
Traditionalovenafter45minutes

Discussion
Inourwaveexperiment,wetestedwhetherasolarovenusingreflectionorasolarovenusing
refractionwasmoreeffectiveinincreasingthetemperatureoffood.Wehypothesizedthatthe

traditionalsolaroven,usingreflection,wouldbemoreeffective.Ourresultsshowedthatthe
traditionalsolarovenwasthemosteffectiveinincreasingthetemperatureofthecookiedough.
Thecontrolgroupwasthesecondmosteffective,andtheglasssolaroven,usingrefraction,was
theleasteffective.Toquantifyeffectiveness,wemeasuredthebeginningtemperatureofcookie
doughblobsineachovenandcomparedittothetemperatureofdoughafter45minutesof
exposuretosunlight.Therewerethreeblobsofdoughineachovenandinthecontrolgroup.
Thestartingtemperaturesrecordedinthetableaboveareaveragesofthethreetemperatures
recordedineachoven.Thedoughinthetraditionalovenincreasedanaverageof17.67degrees.
Thedoughintheglassovenincreasedanaverageof11.33degrees.Thecontrolgroupdough
increased13.67degrees.Accordingtothisdata,wecanconcludethatthetraditionaloven,
whichutilizedreflection,wasmosteffective.Whencomparingthecontrolgroupandtheglass
oven,itseemsthattheglassovenhadanegativeeffectonthetemperature.Thecookiedough
thatwassimplysittingonanearbyrockbecamewarmerthanthedoughintheglassoven.This
maybebecausetheglassusedintheglassovenwasreflectingsomelightwavesawayfromthe
dough,andrefractingotherwavestowardsthedough.Thiscouldhavecausedthedoughinthe
glassoventoreceivelessheatenergythantheothertwotests.Interestingly,wealsofoundthat
condensationhadcollectedontheinsideofthelidoftheglassoven(seeFig.5).Iamnotsure
whythisoccurredonlyinthisoven,yetitalsomayhaveimpactedtheamountofenergythatthe
doughreceived.
Whiletheresultstakenfromourexperimentmakesense,Iamnotentirelyconfidentin
theresults.Ithinkthattheyrepresenttruedata,andthatthetraditionalovenwasthemost
effective.However,Ifeelthatthestartingtemperaturesthatweretakenmaynothavebeen
entirelyaccurate.Thecookiedoughwaskeptalltogetherinacooleruntilweremoveditand
placeditintheovens.Someofthedoughwassittingoutwhileweweretakingthetemperature
ofotherdoughsamples.Itmayhavealreadybegunheatingupbeforewehadthechancetotake
thetemperature.Itdoesnotseemaccuratethattherewasafivedegreedifferencebetweenthe
startingtemperaturesofthecontrolgroupandglassoven,andthismaybearesultofthediscord
inthetimeittooktomeasuretemperatures.
Additionally,itwouldhavebeenbeneficialandmorerealistictohaveperformedmore
testsandrepeattheprocessoflettingthedoughsit,andthentakingthetemperatureagain.Other
thanthat,Ithinktheresultsrepresentaccuratedata.
Whileourexperimentdoesnothavemajorapplicationstodailylife,itwasintendedto
verifytheefficiencyoftraditionalsolarovens.Inthissense,theresultsaresignificantbecause
theyshowthatthisformoftechnologyismoreeffectivethannot,yetslightlyoutdated.
Afterdiscoveringthroughthisexperimenttheeffectivenessofreflectivesolarovens,I
wouldliketotestdifferentsolarovendesignsandwhicharemoreeffective.Iwouldpredictthat
designswhichutilizethemostreflectivesurfaceswouldbethemosteffectiveinheatingfood.

IfIweretodothisexperimentagain,Iwouldbemorepreciseinmeasurecookiedough
andtemperature.Wedidnotuseadigitalthermometerandweonlyapproximatedtheamountof
cookiedoughthatwasplacedineachoven.Nexttime,Iwoulduseadigitalthermometerto
recordtemperature,andameasuringcuptomorepreciselyallocatecookiedoughblobs.

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"ComparingDiffraction,Refraction,andReflection."
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"RefractionofLight."
ScienceLearningHubRSS
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