Emma Roberts designed two solar ovens using different materials. The first design used foam, sand, and cotton balls and reached a maximum temperature of 60°C but cooled quickly, scoring 0 overall. The second design used foam pieces, sand, and cotton balls but only reached 31°C and cooled faster, scoring -11 overall. Emma concluded the shredded foam and sand did not insulate effectively. Future designs would use solid foam and cotton balls to fully cover surfaces and prevent heat from escaping.

1. DESIGNING A SOLAR OVEN
BY: EMMA ROBERTS
Monday, May 20, 13

2. Imagine For Design #1
• Idea #1
• Our materials are foam, sand and cotton balls
• We need one unit of each.
• The advantage of this idea is that foam and cotton are
good insulators. Sand and cotton have a low impact score.
• The disadvantage of this idea is foam has a high
environmental impact and it is not recyclable. Cotton is
also not recyclable.
Monday, May 20, 13

3. Imagine For Design #1
• Idea #2.
• Our materials are foam, cotton balls and white cloth.
• We need one unit of each material.
• The advantages of this idea are cotton and cloth have low
impact scores are good insulators and can be reused.
• The disadvantages of this idea are that foam has a high
impact score. Cotton and cloth and foam can not be
recycled.
Monday, May 20, 13

4. Top View
Plan #1
Monday, May 20, 13

5. Side view
Monday, May 20, 13

6. Plan for design #1
Material Units
How will
you use it
Foam 1
We will put it on
the bottom.
Cloth 1
We will put it on
the sides.
Cotton balls 1
We will put it on
the top.
Monday, May 20, 13

7. Impact Score For Design #1
Design
#1
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Natural/
Processed
# of
points
Cotton
Balls
Foam
White
Cloth
1 unit No No Processed 4
1 unit Yes No Processed 1
1 unit Yes No Processed 2
Our total impact score is____ points.Our total impact score is____ points.Our total impact score is____ points.Our total impact score is____ points.7
Monday, May 20, 13

8. Solar oven testing in the sun.
Time Temperature
0 min. 25°c
5 min. 37.9°c
10 min. 41.3°c
15 min. 56.6°c
20 min. 59.4°c
25 min. 60.3°c
Monday, May 20, 13

9. Solar oven in the shade.
Time Temperature
1 min. 42.7°c
2 min. 35.8°c
3 min. 32.1°c
4 min. 31.2°c
5 min. 32.1°c
6 min. 31.1°c
7 min. 30.7°c
Monday, May 20, 13

10. Create for design #1
• Our heat score is our solar oven maximum temperature subtracted
from the control oven: 60c - 55c =5
• Our time score is the number of minutes it
took to cool down which was 2 minutes
• Our total impact score was 7 points
Total score
5+2-7 =
Score
5
2
7
0
Monday, May 20, 13

11. Improve for design #1
• The total score for our first solar oven design was 0.
• The parts of our solar oven that worked well were the
insulators because they allowed the temp. to increase to
60°c.
• The time score didn't work out well because the oven took
a short time to cool down.
• We will improve our time score by making sure to cover all
the holes where heat may escape in the box.
Monday, May 20, 13

12. Cloth
Plan For Design #2
Monday, May 20, 13

13. Plan for design #2 (side view)
Monday, May 20, 13

14. Plan for design #2
Material Units
How will we use
the material
White Foam 1
Cut into pieces
(On the sides)
Cotton Balls 1
Leave normal
(On the top)
Sand 1
Leave normal
(On the bottom)
Monday, May 20, 13

15. Impact score for design #2
Design
#2
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Natural/
processed
Total
points
White
Foam
Sand
Cotton
balls
1 point
No
(+ 1)
Yes
(- 1)
Processed
(+ 1)
2 points
1 point
Yes
(- 1)
Yes
(- 1)
Natural
(- 1)
0 points
1 point
No
(+ 1)
No
(+ 1)
Processed
(+ 1)
4 points
Our total impact score was 6 points.
Monday, May 20, 13

16. Solar oven testing in the sun
Time Temperature
0 min. 16°c
5 min. 25.9°c
10 min. 27.8°c
15 min. 28.9°c
20 min. 29.2°c
25 min. 30.1°c
30 min. 30.9°c
Monday, May 20, 13

17. Solar oven testing in the shade
Time Temperature
1 min. 27.9°c
2 min. 25.7°c
3 min. 24.0°c
4 min. 22.7°c
5 min. 21.5°c
6 min 20.6°c
7 min. 20.1°c
8 min. 19.5°c
9 min. 19.0°c
10 mi. 18.5°c
Monday, May 20, 13

18. Create for design #2
• Our heat score is our solar oven maximum temperature
subtracted from the control oven: 31-41 = -10.
• Our time score is the number of minutes it took to cool
down which was 5 minutes.
• Our total impact score was 6 points.
• Our new total score for the solar oven was -11.
Monday, May 20, 13

19. Reflection
• Our improved design did not work as well as the first one. I think
it did not work as well because we didn't have as good insulators.
Although we thought that sand would reflect the sunlight and
heat up the box, we didn't have enough time for the sand to heat
up. Also what didn't work well was the white foam, since it was
shredded, it didn't cover the whole side of the box allowing heat
to escape. The cotton balls were the only good insulators in our
box, they filled up the whole space on the top of the box with no
gaps that could let heat through.
• If we could improve our design again we would use flat foam on
the sides because we think that the majority of the heat escapes
out the sides. We would also continue using the cotton balls as
we have every design because a single unit can cover a whole side
of the box. We wouldn't shred anything because if we did there
wouldn't be enough of the material to cover the designated space.
Monday, May 20, 13

20. THANKS FOR WATCHING! :)
Designing a solar oven
By: Emma Roberts
Brought to you by:
Have a Nice Day Inc.
Monday, May 20, 13