Solar Cooker

 Today we learned about solar energy.  The sun gives off heat and light, which is absorbed by the soil, plants, and animals on Earth.  The sun's energy can be used to power and heat things.  We created a solar cooker out of a box, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, black construction paper, and tape.  Then we made S'mores and cooked them by using the sun's energy!

Here are the materials we used and the steps we followed to make our solar cooker.

Materials:

Cardboard box

Aluminum foil

Plastic bags or plastic wrap

Skewer

Black construction paper

Marshmallows

Chocolate bar

Graham crackers

Procedure:

1. Cut a window in the top of the box

2. Cover the window with plastic, line the inside of the box with aluminum foil. 

3. Glue the black piece of construction paper to the inside bottom of the box. 

4. Place the S'mores in the box, directly beneath the window.

5. Place a thermometer inside the box, and one outside the box. 

6. Prop the flap with a skewer and place the box in direct sunlight.

7. After a few hours, return to the solar cooker and remove the cooked S'mores.  Eat!

8.Check the temperature inside the box, and outside the box.  

Results:

The solar cooker cooked our marshmallows and melted the chocolate.  The S'mores were delicious!  The temperature in the solar cooker was more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit.  The temperature outside of the solar cooker was only 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

What is soil made of?

Plants grow from seeds.  They need soil, water, sunlight, and room to grow.  Today we made our own soil, so that we can find out what kind of soil grows the healthiest plants.

Question:  What kind of soil grows the healthiest plants?

Hypotheses:  Zoe and Zane both think that Soil 2 will grow the healthiest plants.  They predict that Soil 3 will grow the least healthy plants.

Materials:

Three plastic bins
clay (we got some from the backyard)
silt (we visited a local river to collect silt from the banks)
sand
organic material or humus (dead leaves, grass, plants)

Soil 1

Components	How Much?
Clay	1 cup
Humus	1/2 cup
Silt	1/2 cup
Sand	1/4 cup

Soil 2

Components	How Much?
Clay	1/2 cup
Humus	1 cup
Silt	1 cup
Sand	1/2 cup

Soil 3

Components	How Much?
Clay	2 cups
Humus	1/2 cup
Silt	1 cup
Sand	1 cup

Pictures of our soil:

Results:

We planted 4 beans in Soil 1, 4 more beans in Soil 2, and 4 more beans in Soil 3.  Check out our post about planting the beans to find out which soil type grew the healthiest beans.