Odeillo solar furnace

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/odeillo-solar-furnace

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How tall is Odeillo solar furnace?48 meters (157 ft)
2. How wide is Odeillo solar furnace?54 meters (177 ft)
3. What is the location?Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, Pyrénées-Orientales, France
4. What is the year operational?1969
5. How does the Odeillo solar furnace make such hot temperatures?It uses 63 large mirrors called heliostats that track the sun and focus its light onto a single spot. The concentrated sunlight heats the spot to up to 3,000 degrees Celsius.
6. Where is the Odeillo solar furnace located?It is in the town of Font‑Romeu‑Odeillo‑Via in the French Pyrenees mountains. The high, clear skies there help the mirrors catch plenty of sunshine.

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP): Technology that uses mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight onto a small area to generate high temperatures or electricity.
Heliostat Field: An array of mirrors designed to track the sun and reflect its rays onto a central receiver.
Materials Science: The interdisciplinary study of the properties of matter and its applications, particularly in understanding how materials behave under various conditions.
Solar Irradiance: The measure of solar power received per unit area, indicating how much sunlight is available at a specific location.