What you need:
A shoebox with a lid, aluminium foil, black chart paper, scissors, ruler, pencil, clear tape, glue, blade.
What to do:
1. Uncover the shoebox. Glue the aluminium foil to the inside of the box (sides too!).
2. Cut the black chart paper to the size of the box and place it over the aluminium foil. Tape it to hold it in place.
3. Use a ruler to draw a rectangle on the cover of the shoebox, on the inside. Leave about one inch space from the border on each side.
4. Use a blade to cut out three sides of the rectangle; leave the fourth side intact so the whole thing acts as a flap.
5. Glue the foil to the inside of the flap too.
6. Tape the plastic wrap on the inside of the cover. That way, when you open the flap, you have a plastic-lined window.
7. Place a slice of pizza, or any food that you need to reheat, into the box. Leave it in the sun with the cover over it.
8. Make sure to position the flap in such a way that light is reflected from it inside the box. Prop the flap open using the ruler.
What happens?
The food gets heated in a little while. It takes longer than a conventional oven but it does the job!
Why?
The shoebox oven is a basic solar cooker. It gathers sunlight and converts it into heat. The aluminium foil does most of the gathering work. It is a reflective surface so it reflects all the sun rays to a particular area. In that point, inside the box, we’ve placed black paper.
Black is a colour that absorbs the maximum light and converts it into heat. When the black paper heats up, it heats the air inside the box. This hot air is held in with the help of the clear plastic sheet. That’s how food left in the box gets heated. Since it is a very basic oven, don’t expect it to cook and heat large amounts of food!
Picture Credit : Google
