Cooking Eggs Using Only Sunlight

This contest sounds like a lot of fun! And I suppose it helps that it is held in the desert when the midday temperature of more than 100 F.

Many contestant gathered to cook their eggs, but without using any gas, fuel, or electricity.

People of all ages and skill levels came to the 19th annual Oatman sidewalk egg fry. Contestants were given 15 minutes to fry their eggs using whatever devises they deemed necessary and that would assist the egg cooking process. The eggs were provided by the Oatman Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event.

I like the description of one of the setup.

Perhaps the most innovative - and certainly most effective - method of frying eggs on Saturday was that of Eric Schmidt and Xinaxiao Chou from Cibola, Ariz. Using a Frensel lens to intensify the heat, Schmidt was able to cook a perfect - and edible - sunny-side up egg in about 60 seconds.

“The Fresnel lens sequesters the carbon from the carbon dioxide. The heat coming out of the lens is about 3,800 degrees,” Schmidt said. Chou was a physics professor in Beijing and came up with the idea, he said.

The Frensel lens, named for French physicist Augustin Jean Fresnel, is a thin, optical lens of many concentric rings, which amplify light - and heat.

We could probably use this to motive students in Optics courses. :)

Zz.