[AT] OT: solar project

[Ken Knierim]

Hi Folks,
   Thanks for all the suggestions on the little solar project. Instead
of a steam engine, I looked at my target audience... 12 year olds...
and came up with a different solution to get their attention. We ended
up making a hot dog cooker. The first shot at it used a hot dog in a
wire mesh but the dog kept catching fire in the intense heat
collected. I then opted for a copper tube painted black with water in
it. This gives a very set peak temperature and by adding a thermometer
the kids can see when dinner is done.

here are some pix of the collector. There are several of it with the
water at a full rolling boil. What you don't see is all the things we
set on fire before we came up with this configuration.

http://www.knierim.us/gallery/solar

thanks again to all who contributed!

Ken in AZ