Solar Furnace

This 12" diameter, parabolic dish lets you safely and easily demonstrate the extraordinary power of the sun by concentrating solar energy.

Using its reflective mirror, the furnace can generate extreme temperatures to heat materials placed in the attached copper receptacle.

More on Solar Power

We've used the Sun for drying clothes and food for thousands of years, but only recently have we been able to use it for generating power.

The Sun is 150 million kilometers away, and amazingly powerful. The Solar Furnace is a great way to show this awesome power.

Just the tiny fraction of the Sun's energy that hits the Earth (around a hundredth of a millionth of a percent) is enough to meet all our power needs many times over.

In fact, every minute, enough energy arrives at the Earth to meet our demands for a whole year - if only we could harness it properly.

Advantages

• Solar energy is free - it needs no fuel and produces no waste or pollution.
  
• In sunny countries, solar power can be used where there is no easy way to get electricity to a remote place.
  
• Handy for low-power uses such as solar powered garden lights and battery chargers.

Disadvantages

• Doesn't work at night.
• Very expensive to build solar power stations. Solar cells still cost a great deal compared to the amount of electricity they'll produce in their lifetime.
• Can be unreliable unless you're in a very sunny climate. In the US, solar power isn't much use except for low-power applications, as you need a very large area of solar panels to get a decent amount of power. However, for these applications it's definitely worthwhile.
  
  
  Excellent for grades 3-12