Lily sat by the window, watching the bright sun outside. “The sun doesn't just light up the world; it gives us a huge amount of energy,” she thought. She wondered how she could use this energy for herself.

The next day at school, Ms. Clara began explaining renewable energy sources. “Children, we can collect heat from the sun and even use it to cook food,” she said. Lily’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

Ms. Clara and Lily performed a small experiment in the school garden. they placed two pieces of paper under the sun, one black and one white. Five minutes later, they noticed the black paper was much hotter than the white one. Dark colors trapped the heat!

When Lily got home, she decided to build her own solar oven. She found a shoebox and lined the inside with shiny aluminum foil. At the bottom of the box, she placed a piece of black cardboard to absorb the heat.

Lily placed a piece of chocolate inside her oven and took it out to the garden. However, clouds appeared in the sky and the air turned chilly. Even though hours passed, the chocolate did not melt at all. Lily felt very disappointed.

The next day, she told Ms. Clara what happened. Her teacher said, “Don't give up, Lily. To prevent the heat from escaping, you should cover the top of the box with something transparent and add a lid that reflects light inside.”

Lily made improvements to her oven. She tightly covered the opening of the box with plastic wrap. She fixed the lid of the box at an angle that would reflect the sunlight directly inside. Now, everything was ready.

When the sun was directly overhead, she and her friend Arlo started the experiment again. The temperature inside the box began to rise. Before long, they saw the chocolate on the black cardboard slowly starting to melt!

Arlo shouted, “This is incredible, Lily! You actually managed to cook with the sun!” Arlo curiously examined the reflective lid of the oven to understand how it could get so hot.

When the “Science Corner” opened at school, Lily's solar oven was the most popular project. Ms. Clara came to Lily and congratulated her. Lily realized her biggest achievement wasn't just the oven, but learning how to ask new questions.