Get ready for a tasty treat with a solar hot dog cooker.
A solar hot dog cooker works by using a parabolic reflective surface to concentrate sunlight on a focal point, which is the place where you put whatever is to be cooked---in this case, hot dogs. This same principle of concentrating sunlight is used to generate electricity and heat in industrial applications, making this an outdoor educational project that kids ages 8 to 14 would thoroughly enjoy.
Instructions
1. Draw a shallow curve on one of the pieces of corrugated cardboard. Start about 1 inch below a long side, draw the curve so it touches the bottom of the piece of cardboard and finish the curve about 1 inch below the top on the other end of the piece of cardboard. Cut out the curve with a utility knife. Lay the curved piece of cardboard on the other piece, trace it, and cut out the second side of the solar cooker with the utility knife.
2. Glue one piece of 3/4-inch plywood to the ends of the two pieces of cardboard, with one piece of cardboard on each end of the plywood. Match the ends of the wood with the 1-inch straight edge at each end of the curves. Let the glue dry, then nail the cardboard sides and plywood together using 1-inch brads and a hammer. Repeat on the other ends of the two curves. You should now have a boat-shaped object with no bottom.
3. Lay the poster board over the curved edges of the cardboard, bending it to match the curves. This piece will form the bottom of the solar cooker. Trace the outline of the cooker on the poster board with a pencil and cut out the piece with scissors. Attach the bottom to the cooker by bending it to fit in place and securing it with small pieces of masking tape. You now have boat-shaped object with a bottom.
4. Cut a piece of aluminum foil to fit the inside of the bottom of the solar cooker exactly. Apply glue to the bottom of the cooker and lay in the aluminum foil shiny side up, keeping the aluminum foil as flat and wrinkle-free as possible.
5. Drill a 1/4-inch hole 1/2 inch from the end of one of the 1-inch by 1-inch by 13-inch pieces of wood. In the end of the other piece, drill a 1/4-inch hole at the very top. Using a saw, cut off the top half of the hole to form a notch. You will insert one end of a sharpened dowel in the hole in one piece and rest the other end on the notch in the other piece. The dowel is the skewer for your hot dogs.
6. Glue one of the wood pieces you worked on in step 5 inside the cooker so that it rises upward from the deepest part of the curve: find the deepest part of the curve and place the end of the wood piece there touching the inside of the cardboard. The wood piece will form an upright that goes from the bottom center of the cooker upward to extend above the top of the cooker. The end of the wood piece with the hole or notch is the top of the upright. Glue the wood piece in place, then attach the other wood piece directly opposite the first, also on the inside of the cooker. Sharpen the dowel at one end using the utility knife. Place the sharpened end of the dowel in the hole in one upright and extend the dowel to rest on the notch in the other.
7. Skewer one or two hot dogs on the dowel and and place the dowel in the holder. Place the cooker so that it is directly facing the sun, and let your hot dog cook.
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