THE SOLAR DEATH RAY

The Solar Death Ray idea has been around since about 213 BC when Archimedes purportedly destroyed the Roman fleet at the siege of Syracuse by setting them on fire with his invention of the burning mirrors.

More recently seen on Episode 16: of the Mythbusters Sept. 29, 2004. The Ancient Death Ray as they called it attempted to duplicate Archimedes invention, but after a rudimentary attempt failed they claimed that Archimedes invention was just a Myth.

A more recent attempt at building a Solar Death Ray has had a little more success than the Mythbusters team but still hasn't matched Archimedes design. I believe it should be possible to build a larger scale version based on the descriptions of Archimedes Burning Mirrors.

While looking for materials for my own Solar Death Ray I discovered that the Chinese and many other countries have already started harnessing the power of the Sun in Solar cookers that look remarkably similar to the Archemdies etching. To get your own supplies you can get some good reflective materials or the whole cooker here www.cleardomesolar.com.
If you are cheap like me I am only going to get the reflective material and build my own parabola I found some good instructions enjoy.

While looking for more information on the Solar Deathray, I came across another similar technology like the Solar Deathray. French physicist Augustin Fresnel invented the Fresnel lenses 1822 for use in light houses. It has been said that the average Fresnel lenses can cast its light 18 to 20 miles away and only looses 17% of its light.

Some less spectacular Fresnel Lenses can be purchase through www.edmundoptics.com and are said to be able to melt asphalt. This article on www.slashdot.com documents one group’s destructive acts with one. It seems logical that you would be able to combine the two technologies to make a Solar Deathray that is comparable to the legend or Archimedes but I am no scientist. Here is a fun flash game that someone sent me when they read the first article about the Solar Deathray its pretty fun: Ant
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