Fourth block Algebra 3 students met on the hill in front of Andover High School last Friday, the final day of classes, to cook hot dogs using shoeboxes, tinfoil and a fusion-powered element that reaches about 10,000 degrees.
That last item is, of course, the sun.
Students found they could harness just the right amount of solar energy to heat up their hot dogs on June 15, the final day of school before finals started the following Monday.
As students set up their projects to bounce sunlight off the parabola-shaped tinfoil surface back to a hot dog on a wood skewer, high school math teacher Cory Chapman cautioned that he's "not officially licensed to serve food, so if you eat your hot dog, it's at your own risk."
Math teacher Dorothy Ogrodowczyk also participated in the project with her class.
After around 45 minutes, with many of the students sunning themselves on the lawn, some of the hot dogs started to "sweat," showing that their internal temperature was rising and the hot dogs were cooking.
