Harnessing the sun's power

For a recent science project, Emily had to create a solar oven. Her task was to create an oven that used only the heat from the sun's rays that would melt together a s'more placed inside it, and melt it in less than 30 minutes.

I'm sure you can easily see the far reaching ramifications of such a project. I mean, really, how many times have you kicked yourself because you were away from home, longing for some melty chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker goodness, even have said ingredients with you, and no possible means of creating the delicious treat you so heartily desire? You can easily see how desperately we all need a portable solar oven!

Armed only with instructions to keep it around the size of a shoebox, Emily began her MacGyver-like planning. Here is the process she went through, as quoted from her report on the project:

First, I chose a shoe box. Next, I cut a hole in the top of the box. I then put quilt batting into the box around the sides and the bottom. On top of the batting, I put aluminum foil. I chose the quilt batting because I thought it would be a good insulator to keep heat in. I used the aluminum foil because it reflects the sun’s rays which would warm up the oven.
On the lid, I lined it with strips of aluminum foil. Then I taped saran wrap underneath the lid across the hole I cut to make a window for the sun’s rays to enter the box. I wanted a hole otherwise the box would not be heated as well. But I needed a material to trap the heat inside the oven while it let the sun in.
The last thing I did to the oven was place a black sheet of paper in the middle of the bottom of the box, on top of the aluminum foil. This was to absorb the heat to melt the smore.

In the end, her design was magnificent. When we did a test run with a piece of dark chocolate, the chocolate became completely liquified in under 15 minutes!!

And now, we'll never be caught in the wild unable to melt those ingredients into a pile of yummy goodness.

I know I'm sleeping better at night.