How Do Solar Hot Dog Cookers Work?
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A Popular Experiment
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Solar hot dog cookers have long been used as science experiments to show how the sun's energy can be utilized in everyday activities. It allows students to see how powerful the sun's rays actually are when they're focused on a single object. These cookers are simple to construct and are a great project for summertime, when the sun is at its brightest and warmest.
Making a Solar Hot Dog Cooker
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Though there are many more complicated versions, a basic solar hot dog cooker is constructed of nothing more than a cardboard box, aluminum foil and skewers or wire coat hangers. The box's open top is cut into a curve and the opening is closed with a curved strip of foil. The hot dog is skewered on a wooden skewer or unfurled wire hanger and suspended over the deepest portion of the curve, where it is rotated while it cooks.
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How It Cooks a Hot Dog
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Solar hot dog cookers work by redirecting the sun's rays in a narrow band of heat onto the hot dog. The sun hits the foil and skims down to the deepest point in the curve. Once it reaches that point, it forms into a solid beam and is directed onto the hot dog suspended above. The heat and intensity of the concentrated rays cooks the hot dog as it rotates. Because the rays aren't as hot as a flame, cooking the hot dog in this manner takes about twice the amount of time as cooking it over a campfire or on a grill. However, it is an excellent demonstration of how solar energy works.
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