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Tests of Fabled Archimedes Death Ray Fail
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| 10/22/05
| RON HARRIS
Posted on 10/22/2005 9:14:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor David Wallace, performing an experiment for the Discovery Channels 'Mythbusters,' uses hundreds of mirrored panels to focus sunlight onto a boat in the hope of creating a fire Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005, in San Francisco. According to sparse historical writings, the Greek mathematician Archimedes torched a fleet of invading Roman ships by reflecting the sun's powerful rays with a mirrored device made of glass or bronze. More than 2,000 years later, researchers from MIT and the University of Arizona set out to recreate Archimedes' fabled death ray. Their attempts to set fire to an 80-year-old fishing boat using their own versions of the device, however, failed to either prove or dispel the myth of the solar death ray. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
2
posted on
10/22/2005 9:17:10 PM PDT
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: NormsRevenge
Their attempts to set fire to an 80-year-old fishing boat using their own versions of the device, however, failed to either prove or dispel the myth of the solar death ray.
---
Film of a bunch of animals and crew members sun bathing and snoozing on the 80-year-old fishing boat during the experiment at 11.
3
posted on
10/22/2005 9:21:14 PM PDT
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: NormsRevenge
Mythbusters did it first.
4
posted on
10/22/2005 9:22:00 PM PDT
by
CzarNicky
(The problem with bad ideas is that they seemed like good ideas at the time.)
To: NormsRevenge; blam
The Roman ships in question had one sail and lots of men rowing. Torching an old sail is easier than torching wood.
Model Length: 24-1/2" (623mm) Scale: 1/30
provided by Hobby World of Montreal
A typical Roman war ship of the first Century B.C. this Bireme was driven by two rows of oars. Out riggers stabilized the ship and the whales protected the hull from the protruding bows of enemy ships. While fast under oar, this type of vessel capsized easily under too much sail. This ship was built with plank on bulkhead construction.
5
posted on
10/22/2005 9:22:43 PM PDT
by
Southack
(Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
To: CzarNicky
They do some pretty interesting experiments on Mythbusters.
6
posted on
10/22/2005 9:22:46 PM PDT
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: NormsRevenge; Southack
"They do some pretty interesting experiments on Mythbusters." I agreee but, their goofiness turns me off.
7
posted on
10/22/2005 9:47:26 PM PDT
by
blam
To: blam
..their goofiness turns me off
I agree.
8
posted on
10/22/2005 9:48:35 PM PDT
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi ... Monthly Donor spoken Here. Go to ... https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: NormsRevenge
Mythbusters did do it first...these guys didn't need to waste their time.
9
posted on
10/22/2005 9:55:33 PM PDT
by
pcottraux
(It's pronounced "P. Coe-troe.")
To: NormsRevenge
"John Zonaras wrote: "At last in an incredible manner he burned up the whole Roman fleet----by tilting a kind of mirror toward the sun he concentrated the sun's beam upon it..." I used to watch kids doing this to ants with a magnifying glass. I don't think they were mathmeticians though.
10
posted on
10/22/2005 10:51:45 PM PDT
by
TheCrusader
("The frenzy of the Mohammedans has devastated the churches of God" -Pope Urban II, 1097AD)
To: TheCrusader
I used to watch kids doing this to ants with a magnifying glass. I thought ALL boys did this.
11
posted on
10/22/2005 11:00:43 PM PDT
by
Cowboy Bob
(Liberalism cannot survive in a free and open society.)
To: NormsRevenge
I noticed that they always use flat mirors,Archimedes probibly used many small ones that were curved slightly and able to be aimed with a simple sight by a grunt.
12
posted on
10/22/2005 11:12:07 PM PDT
by
usmcobra
To: Southack
"The Roman ships in question had one sail and lots of men rowing. Torching an old sail is easier than torching wood."
It ain't necessarily so. A plane, porous surface like a sail allows much of the "heat ray" to pass through and also to dissipate heat away from the dark side via rapid air transport. If you can't get smouldering temperatures on a wood plank, you are unlikely to succeed on a sail.
A similar issue of observation comes up for Noah's flood adherents. Plants do not survive 40 days under water. A simple experiment in a bathtub shows the story has to be false.
To: thomaswest
No. You need to have some sailing experience to truly understand this one, but cloth out on the open sea becomes dry...drier than kindling...and frays easily.
Roman sails were prime targets for a sun ray. Better materials were only used later in Time.
14
posted on
10/23/2005 1:32:14 AM PDT
by
Southack
(Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
To: NormsRevenge
All of the mirrors look flat. The mirrors or mounted on a frame that looks concave. That will never focus enough energy in a single spot. The mirror(s) need to be concave. The design needs to be run on simulation until the correct prescription is obtained. A computer model could be created that would account for focal points for each sq mm of the surface of the reflector. If every reflective surface isn't focused at exactly the same spot, there will be a loss of energy. Too much loss and no fire.
To: Cowboy Bob
"I thought ALL boys did this" OK you got me, I was one of those boys. LOL
16
posted on
10/23/2005 11:15:39 PM PDT
by
TheCrusader
("The frenzy of the Mohammedans has devastated the churches of God" -Pope Urban II, 1097AD)
To: NormsRevenge
well you know, now that these guys did thier thing, the case is solved.
conclusive evidence, ya know
17
posted on
10/24/2005 3:27:49 AM PDT
by
camle
(keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you.)
To: NormsRevenge
the orgination of the 1st ZOT ?
18
posted on
10/24/2005 6:37:50 AM PDT
by
Rakkasan1
(Peace de Resistance! Viva la Paper towels!)
To: NormsRevenge
...he ignited the air from this beam and kindled a great flame, the whole of which he directed upon the ships that lay at anchor in the path of THE FIRE... So he didn't just ignite the ship, but "the air," along a path from his device to the ship, in a sense the world's first flamethrower. So any modern attempt to reproduce this with magnifying glasses alone doesn't disprove it, imo. You've got to try to figure out how Archimedes ignited "the air" in front of the ship(s).
To: Fred Nerks; NYer; blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; StayAt HomeMother; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; ...
I remember a similar test of this tale, I think in Syracuse itself, anyway, in the 1970s. It also failed miserably. Sounds to me like Archimedes screwed up. [rimshot!]
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20
posted on
10/24/2005 11:14:03 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated my FR profile on Sunday, August 14, 2005.)
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