please help! Science project....**10 points**?

Question

For my project (im in 9th grade) I am seeing how different insolators affect the temperature of a solar oven. Only problem is, its winter (i live in NY) and we dont get many sunny days. I've read that you can use solar ovens in winter but im afraid that we dont get enough sun. I was thinking that i could use a infrared or UV bulb to act like the sun and do it indoors just to test my project even though this would not make sense to do this if you were using it to cook food..... the only problem is i dont think that infrared light can go through the glass of my solar oven and im not sure about UV. So please i need some project suggestions and if this will work, or if i should hope for sunny days. If you have any advice on construction that would be so great... im really afraid my project wont work ****10 points best answer****

thanks!!

should i make it out of wood or cardboard which one is better?

Answer 1

I would just use a regular white flood light. It would be an interesting side (or test) to also test with the IR bulb (heat lamp) and a UV bulb. Make sure in your experiment you keep the distance from the bulb to the oven constant for that type of bulb.
Since you are testing insolators, this should work fine. There are also some "full spectrum" bulbs available. It would be hard to compare the different light types (frequencies) as an absolute, but you can do it by wattage. If you have some other questions, please let me know. BTW, you should have better results with lights, since the intensity will be constant, where as this time of the year there will be clouds. Good luck! You have thought this out well.
Construct from wood. Use the insulators inside to keep the wood cool. And use a thermometer. I would keep it out of the direct light. Maybe have a piece of metal in there to heat, and then give a certain time and measure the temperature. To test the effectiveness of the insulation, measure the temperature at intervals...maybe at 15 seconds. The best insulator will keep the oven hotter the longest.

Answer 2

Cardboard or Wood? i'm not sure what would be the best to build it out of, i would go with Cardboard. You could buy a UV and infrared light bulb and test both to see which is better to use. test both of them using the same insolaters and see which has the highest or lowest temperture.

When making your solar oven, get a good size of a box and insolate the inner (or outer) walls of the box, at the top of the box, cut out a small window and put clear plastic over it and see if that works. Clear plastic is thinner than glass, so maybe the UV or infrared light might go through.

Answer 3

If you are doing it without sunlight you should use a source which is closest to natural sunlight. That would be UV light and if you can find a bulb which emits at least into the green portion of the spectrum then your simulation would not be too bad. Infrared is not part of incident solar radiation. This is the type radiation emitted by the earth and objects that have absorbed short wave solar radiation. I would think this UV plus partial visible would be sufficient to heat your solar oven. You can then experiment with various insolators.

Answer 4

first of all, I think you should build the box out of wood because it's much more stronger and durable. You can cover it all in aluminum foil , as it conducts heat. Then for the power source, you can use 2 ways , instead of just one. Use a material that requires solar power, AND use one that doesn't need the rely on the sun. This way, you will always have a backup in case there isn't any sun.!
Have fun building your oven