Cooking Eggs

Today we decided to use our sun oven to cook a egg. With the cooler Washington weather we thought we would easily cook a soft boiled egg in about an hours time. We found our focal point and placed our egg in the cooker. As the sun moves through the sky we must make adjustments to keep a steady cooking temperature. Approx. every 15 minutes we move it ever so slightly to follow the path of the sun.

Unfortunately, when we moved the egg to make the adjustments - it broke! We were excited however, to see how much it had already cooked in just 15 minutes.

We were much more careful at our second attempt making a soft boiled egg, making adjustments every 15 minutes for 1 hour. We brought our egg inside and began to crack and peel it - it seemed very well cooked and had a slightly different smell than a egg boiled in water.

Considering the cooking time, we agreed to share the egg rather than spend the afternoon cooking several :) When cut in half, it revealed a beautiful HARD cooked egg. Which we promptly consumed and thoroughly enjoyed :)

Welcome to our Science Blog

Hi! We are the Bailey family - we are three homeschoolers ages 6-13 who would like to share our learning experiences with you. This year we are studying sustainable living to learn how we can lessen our impact on the environment. We will be completing building projects and experiments to gain knowledge on several "green" living subjects, focusing on renewable and regenerative energies. Please join us on our exciting adventures!

Solar Oven

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The sky was clear this morning, the news said our weather would be partly cloudy with highs between 51-58. We decided it was a good day to build our solar oven and try it out. We used hot glue instead of wood glue, making the process quicker with less waiting time. You never know when Washington weather could take a turn for the worse.

When it was completed we took it outside and found our focal point to get the highest temperature we could. We measured the temperature at 95 degrees celsius which converts to 203 degrees fahrenheit. We decided to try and make toast in our oven. Once set-up we had to wear glasses and avoid looking directly at our toast or the oven. It appeared that our toast was glowing!

We could tell the solar oven cooked differently than a toaster or convection oven. The toast barely turned color but became crispy and we observed it smoking as it cooked. The total cook time was 13 minutes, with approx. 6-7 minutes for each side.

Some of us enjoyed our toast with jelly while others just couldn't wait =)