Solar Oven - Make Your Own Solar Oven

It might just be a popular saying for hot summer days, but the sun really is hot enough to cook an egg and many other items for that matter. A solar oven can be used to capture this energy from the sun and use it to cook food. As unbelievable as it may be at first, a solar oven can reach temperatures of at least 275 degrees. This is hot enough to cook food and kill any germs. If you don’t believe it you can try making your own solar oven out of common everyday items. The items you will need are: a pizza box, black construction paper, aluminum foil, glue, tape, scissors, tape measure, marker, and a straw. The first thing you will need to do is make a door for the oven so that you can open and close it when needed. Start by drawing a one-inch border on the top of the pizza box. Make sure to draw on all four sides of the box. Cut on three of the sides of the box. Pull back the “door” on the oven and forming a crease on the uncut line. Cut a piece of aluminum foil and fit it to the inside of the flap. Affix the foil to flap using glue. Make sure there are no wrinkles when gluing the foil. Line the bottom and inside of the pizza box with foil. Glue the foil into place, making sure that there are no wrinkles, just as you did for the oven door. Once you have lined the box with foil, put the piece of construction paper on the bottom of the solar oven and tape it into place. The black construction paper will help to absorb light from the sun to cook the food. Prop the door of the solar oven open with the straw and face it toward the sun. Place the box in a position so that the maximum about of sunlight shines through the box. Preheat the solar oven for about one and a half hours and cook foods double the time that is usually needed.