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The solar ovens ‘cooking’ Courtesy of E. Stanton |
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Conclusions |
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Given the results of the experiment, the hypothesis that a magnified solar oven will produce more heat than a standard solar oven can be rejected. The increase in the temperature of the control, the standard solar oven, is greater than that of the magnified solar oven. The percentage change for the magnified solar oven was 140.5% while the percentage change for the standard solar oven is 202.9% in the first trial. Similar results were found in the second trial. For the standard solar oven, the percentage change in temperature was 234.8%, and the percentage change in temperature for the magnified solar oven was 157.2%. In the last trial, the percentage change in temperature was 201.3% for the control, and the percentage change in temperature for the magnified solar oven was 127.8%. This shows that the percentage increase for the standard solar oven is higher than that of the magnified solar oven in all three trials. Therefore the magnified solar oven does not produce more heat than a standard solar oven. In all cases, the percentage change for the magnified solar oven was less than the percentage change for the control. One explanation for this is that the water lens absorbed some of the energy. There was an average temperature change of 117.0% that showed a significant temperature increase. This energy did not reach the cooking pan filled with water. How much energy was collected by both ovens? There is an energy measurement called the joule. It takes 4.184 joules to heat one milliliter of water by 1 °C. To calculate the amount of energy collected by each solar oven, take the number of millilitres of water and multiply it by 4.184. Take this number and multiply it by the difference between the before and after temperatures of the water. The result is the total number of joules required to heat the number of milliliters by the increase in temperature. Using the averages, the standard solar oven collected 92,025.7 joules of energy to heat 640 milliliters by 34.4 °C while the magnified solar oven collected 63,016.6 joules to heat the same amount of water by 23.5 °C. Interestingly, the lens also collected 123,009.6 joules of energy to heat 1680 milliliters of water by 17.5 °C. Therefore, the magnified solar oven collected a total of 186,026.2 joules of energy which is more than the total joules collected by the standard solar oven. Although the magnified solar oven absorbs more energy than the standard solar oven, a portion of this energy does not reach the water below the lens. In future experiments, the water could be heated to its maximum temperature. This would allow the solar energy to direct itself fully at the water in the pan because the water cannot absorb any more energy and the energy passes through the water and onto the cooking pan below. Other possibilities need to be explored to find different ways to direct energy into the solar oven.
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What is the Affect of Magnification on Heat in a Solar Oven? |
