The sun sends the earth 35,000 times the amount of energy required by all of us on the entire planet, every day. The fourth lesson in the 10-part series looks at how light energy from the sun transfers into thermal energy. Scholars build a solar oven as well as observe convection in liquids and conduction in solids—all through hands-on activities and experiments.

Concepts

thermal energy, energy flow, conduction, convection, radiation, light energy, fluids, heat transfer

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Extend the solar oven by predicting how long it would take to reheat a piece of pizza; what variables would one need to know to make a prediction? i.e. thickness, toppings, cloud cover, etc.

Classroom Considerations

• Requires a lot of advanced preparation and construction of materials, which is time consuming
• Be aware of any allergies when using food items
• Remember to follow all safety guidelines with hot items

Pros

• Highly visual lesson demonstrates the movement of thermal energy, which typically isn't observable
• Includes two optional extension ideas
• Offers teacher tips for setting up experiments to get the best results

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.6-8.3 RST.6-8.4 RST.6-8.7