astronomy

SolSource

SolSource is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand SolSource rather than just read about it. In short: SolSource was a brand of solar cooker which used a parabolic mirror to concentrate solar energy onto the bottom of a cooking pot or pan. The cookers were manufactured by One Earth Designs.

Key takeaways

SolSource belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect SolSource to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of SolSource from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

SolSource was a brand of solar cooker which used a parabolic mirror to concentrate solar energy onto the bottom of a cooking pot or pan. The cookers were manufactured by One Earth Designs. Initially marketed in rural China, the products were later sold worldwide.

Research and development The SolSource was originally developed by Scot Frank, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology while studying household energy usage in remote parts of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and India, beginning in 2005. Original designs used indigenous materials such as fabric made of yak fur. By 2008, Frank had received a US $3000 grant from MIT to perfect his design. After graduation, Frank began teaching science at Qinghai University. He teamed up with Catlin Powers, a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health to form One Earth Designs. Powers had done research on indoor air pollution on the Himalayan plateau caused by burning fuels for cooking and heating.

Commercialization In 2010, the project won an environmental prize of €500,000, equivalent to US $662,200, from the Nationale Postcode Loterij in the Netherlands. Prototypes of the SolSource could generate electricity at that time. In 2011, US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr. said that the SolSource "could be significant to the U.S.-China relationship since clean energy will be a substantive aspect of our future bilateral priorities." By 2012, the business was based in Hong Kong. Their business model included selling their products in remote western China, in cooperation with the Chinese government. SolSource went into full production in 2012, initially distributed in the province of Qinghai on the Tibetan plateau. In 2013, the company began sales in the United States and other countries, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, focusing on the outdoor barbecue market. In 2014, the company won a CleanEquity Monaco award, given by Albert II, Prince of Monaco to companies with "the greatest potential and most innovative technologies" in the clean energy field. In 2017, the company introduced its second model, the smaller and less expensive SolSource Sport, again utilizing a Kickstarter campaign. Powers became the company's CEO, and Scot Frank was an advisor. The company secured $500,000 in funding from Mark Cuban in 2017 on season 9 of the Shark Tank reality TV show, but ceased commercial operations in 2019.

Products The original SolSource weighed 40 pounds (18 kilograms), and had a 51 inch (1.3 meter) diameter mirror. It was intended to be placed at ground level. The SolSource Sport weighed 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), and had a 30.5 inch diameter mirror. It was a tabletop unit.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with SolSource

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what SolSource claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to SolSource before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about SolSource ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of SolSource

In research: SolSource appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses SolSource in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: SolSource is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Shark Tank, Solar-powered devices, Solar thermal energy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for SolSource outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study SolSource in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what SolSource means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain SolSource out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is SolSource in simple terms?

SolSource was a brand of solar cooker which used a parabolic mirror to concentrate solar energy onto the bottom of a cooking pot or pan. The cookers were manufactured by One Earth Designs.

Why does SolSource matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study SolSource?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on SolSource.