How do I Increase the Amount of Radiation Reflected Into a Solar Pizza Box Oven?

Teach about solar power with an improved pizza box oven.

Innovative teachers often use fun experiments to teach their students about scientific principles. A popular way to teach about solar energy is to have students make a solar-powered oven from a pizza box. While the basic pizza box oven can create enough heat to warm a hot dog or make s'mores, you can improve on the design. Add materials to make a better solar oven and teach your students about different oven styles and their degrees of effectiveness.

Things You'll Need

• Pizza box oven
• Cardboard
• Duct tape
• Foil
• Mirrors

Instructions

1. Adjust the flap in your pizza box oven so that the sunlight is reflected more strongly onto your food. As the afternoon passes and the sun moves, you will need to move your oven flap repeatedly to reflect the most amount of radiation into your oven.

2. Build flaps onto the sides of your oven top flap. Cut out pieces of cardboard to form side wings. Tape them to either side of the top flap. Cover the wings with flat foil to capture more sunlight and reflect it into your oven opening.

3. Tape mirrors onto the surface of your oven top flap and side wings. Mirrors have a smoother surface than foil, so they will reflect more of the solar radiation into the oven instead of having the light diffusing over the entire surface of the box.

Tips & Warnings

• Place crumbled newspaper around the edges of your box to insulate it and keep the heat in.

• Add a second layer of plastic on top of the first in the top opening to keep in more heat.

References

• New Mexico Solar Energy Association: Make a Pizza Box Solar Oven
• Solar Now, Inc.: Make a Pizza Box Solar Oven