Of course Scaramanga was smart enough to house his death ray here instead of in a little wood shed where it would self-destruct.
Posted on 02/03/2011 5:15:15 AM PST by numberonepal
Eric Jacqmain, from Indiana in the US, covered an ordinary fibreglass satellite dish with 5,800 tiny mirror tiles - and made his very own 'death ray'. When aligned correctly it can generate a heat spot a couple of centimetres across, with an intensity of 5,000 shining suns, the 19-year-old claims. The inventor then posted video of his invention on YouTube, with people commenting in awe of the power of the satellite. The ray generates enough power to melt steel, vaporize aluminum, boil concrete, turn dirt into lava, and obliterate any organic material in an instant. It stands at 5ft 9ins and measures just 42 inches across. Jacqmain, commenting on YouTube said : 'I drilled a small hole in the dish and glued a piece of PVC pipe on the back. 'Light shines through the hole and hits the translucent plastic on the end of the pipe. All I had to do was aim the dish once and mark the spot. 'As long as the target doesn't conduct heat away too fast it will melt or vaporize just about anything eventually. 'I have vaporized before carbon, which occurs above 6,500 Fahrenheit.' The American teenager called his invention the R5800 solar 'death ray'.
snip
Unfortunately for Jacqmain, his 'death ray' dish met it's own grisly end when it was destroyed in a shed fire. Jacqmain added: 'Yeah. It "committed suicide". It's very likely that it was the cause of the fire...' If there was ever a case of self-destruction, this was it. But Jacqmain's despair at the death of his 'death ray' has simply spurred him on to develop a yet more powerful alternative. 'Plans already in place for the new one, he added. 'The goal is to use about 32,000 mirrors this time.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Of course Scaramanga was smart enough to house his death ray here instead of in a little wood shed where it would self-destruct.
Elsewhere, I’ve seen how such an intense, point heat can be turned into something more practical.
Essentially a very insulated box, with a substance like sheet aerogel as the insulator, but inside is material that holds heat very well, having a high “heat capacity”. Then a conductive rod in the box has a metal ball target for the high temperature solar oven outside the box.
LOL!
Alternatively, a much easier way to do this is by taking a Fresnel lens from a wide screen TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGtA8E5iw3k
And what happened when you tried that?
I read that one!
How is this any different or stronger than any mirrored dish of that size? Having mirrored tiles as opposed to a uniform mirrored sheet wouldn’t increase its power.
“Death Ray” indeed.
Really?! Why didn’t I think of that?
(rolling eyes)
He will use the death ray on the world unless we pay him 1000 pesos!
There is an even simpler design for the solar cookers than parabolic.
Get a piece of thin, flexible cardboard. Line it with aluminum foil so the reflective part is face up. Then roll it into a simple conical shape.
Cut of the bottom couple of inches, and mount it about the pot holding whatever you want to cook.
Nowheres near as much aiming and aligning going on here. Any sunlight that enters the open wide part has to bounce its way down and come out the bottom hole.
Rob Cockerham over at www.cockeyed.com made his out of an twelve foot satellite dish. He calls it the Light Sharpener.
http://www.cockeyed.com/incredible/solardish/dish01.shtml
Intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2_5euShD4
Light Sharpener vs. Watermelon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8XMBVRdicg
Light Sharpener vs. Jiffy Popcorn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdrufLhHPJw
Light Sharpener vs. Poptart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWn2iUOdwMA
Light Sharpener vs. Videotape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaux-JztmHQ
Light Sharpener vs. Motherboard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbV-Kx7TpGM
It was, like the discussions of Albert and Niels, purely a “thought experiment”.
I guess the authro never burned ants with a magnifying glass.
The Mythbusters had an episode a few years back when they tried to emulate the myth of Archimedes burning Roman ships with his own death ray. They couldn't do it. They even asked a number of people including a prof and students from MIT to try and construct an effective death ray that would set a ship on fire. They couldn't do it. I'm not saying it can't be done, but some very smart people failed trying to make one. I'd like to see this kids model replicated. Too many things are faked on the internet.
The power of 5800 suns? Not hardly. It was the power of a couple of square feet of one suns light focused into one point.
Although, I do give him a certain amount of kudos for getting a descent size to his focus point. Could have made it even more efficient by using Post-it Notes to blank out each mirror and ensuring that each was aligned on the exact same spot.
Solar power plants usually run on this principle.
Take a massive parabolic dish.
Then run a steam engine at the focus.
It’s like 1/2 of an inside out disco ball
TT
I agree.
Yikes! I think I’ll stick with a regular solar oven at the outside, LOL!
However, even though it’s really sunny today, you can throw something out the back door and it freezes before it hits the ground, LOL! -8 this morning. Brrrr!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.