Building and Testing Your Collector

1. Build your solar collector. Remember to work on the inside first.

2. Place your solar collector on a flat surface in the shade. Leave it there for 10 minutes. Then read and record the temperature of the air inside the collector. (Be sure to repair any holes made when reading the thermometer.)

3. Place your solar collector on a flat surface in the sun. Position the collector so that the sun's rays are not shining directly on the thermometer. Leave it there for 10 minutes. Then read and record the temperature of the air inside the collector.

4. Calculate how much the temperature went up.

   • temperature in the sun - temperature in the shade = temperature increase

5. Redesign, test, modify, and retest your collector as often as you want until you have a collector you like.

[ Return to Step 4 ]