It wasn’t lunch time as some fourth grade students at Dr. Mario E. Ramirez Elementary School chanted, “weanies, weanies, weanies.” Instead, it was in the middle of science class. The lucky fourth graders were anxiously awaiting the chance to eat their science experiment, hot dogs cooked by solar energy.
Coach Mark Olivarez used Pringles cans, wooden skewers, transparency film (or a sheet protector), a knife, a hammer, a nail and two strips of clear packing tape to make thermal ovens. He demonstrated the entire process of creating the thermal ovens for the students who avidly looked on.
“We are gonna take the sun’s radiant energy and bring it down into the can through the clear plastic, and we are gonna reflect it off the silver on the inside of the can and then it turns into thermal energy, or heat. We are keeping all the heat in the can, just like an oven, and that will cook the hot dog. It’s important that we place the cans towards the sun so we can get the most energy from the sun as possible.”
The students paraded outside, proudly displaying their cans and set them down one by one.
The hot dogs were skewered inside the cans and cooked for 40 minutes outside using the sun’s energy and the reflective silver from the inside of the can.
