What Does A Solar Cooker Do

You might remember from secondary school how one form of energy converts to another.

What does a solar cooker do.

The cooker is made of a material that reflects light like thin metal or mirrors. How does a solar oven work. Instead of converting solar energy to electricity solar ovens trap light particles called photons to generate heat. What sounds like magic is simple science.

The box cooker is a simple type of solar cooker. If you want a really heavy duty solar oven that will last a long time you can make one from a metal drum. A solar cooker needs an outdoor location that is sunny for several hours and protected from strong wind and where food will be safe. Retention is the final principle in solar cooking if a solar cooker is not well insulated and if it does not have a cover or lid then all of the concentrated heat energy and all of the absorbed heat would quickly dissipate into the air and be lost to the surrounding environment.

With the help of metal reflectors which are positioned around the oven to maximize light input photons pass through the oven s transparent glass top and strike the interior of the insulated box. Even if you have electricity a solar oven can be an effective energy saving way to cook your food. All the light concentrates at one point. A solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat cook or pasteurize drink and other food materials.

A solar cooker must have the means to trap or hold the. There s basic science involved behind the working of a solar cooker. Well the solar oven uses the sun as the energy source. Other than that no sort of hassle is required.

Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively inexpensive low tech devices although some are as powerful or as expensive as traditional stoves and advanced large scale solar cookers can cook for hundreds of people. There is so much you ll be able to do with this solar cooker that calling it a cooker in the first place is a little reductive. At this point you keep the vessel containing food or liquid. You can make a lightweight solar oven out of a cardboard box if you want a portable oven for camping or your backyard.

Solar cookers don t work at night or on cloudy days though during the best months for cooking many foods can be cooked under intermittent clouds or a light haze as long as food is put out early and there is definitely more sun than not overall. That is how fossil fuels work as well. How does a solar oven work if there is no source of energy. At its most basic the box cooker consists of an open topped box that s black on the inside and a piece of glass or transparent plastic that sits on top.

With it you can cook from dusk to dawn preparing enough food for 3 4 people at a time.