
Lauren H. answered 02/25/19
Experienced High School Chemistry Teacher
A solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurize drink and other food materials.
When you build a solar oven, the parts of the oven are constant. The amount of sunlight is not because it could be night or cloudy or deep winter in a northern latitude so the sun's rays are at an angle. The amount of heat generated depends on how much sunlight reaches your solar oven.
The amount of heat generated is the dependent variable.
The oven and sunlight are independent because there is no other sensible way to define the variables in this example, even though the sun energy may vary.