> > > http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/lectures/10_ArchimedesResult.html
> >
> > They did this because Mythbusters tried it, and couldn't
> > get it to work. The boat got a bit warm.
>
> So how does that affect Mythbusters' credibility ?
>
> I'm sure if they'd actually tried cedar/wax instead of oak
> it would've gone up a lot quicker, and probably with
> fewer mirrors. I saw the builders next door putting cedar
> scraps on their bonfire. Talk about flammable, went up
> like cardboard. So although their experiment worked they
> might have done it the hard way
>
> > Slashdot has an update where Discovery Channel (produces
> > Mythbusters) invited MIT to have a go where they failed.
> >
> > Didn't work.
>
> But the class above is from MIT ?


Mythbusters made a large disc, and covered it with mirrors.  Apparently that was how Archimedes did it.  They couldn't get the focus
tight enough.  From what I can remember, their model boat was made out of some sort of pine, then covered in tar, etc.

MIT lined up a bunch of mirrors in a row, and had to continually adjust them as the sun moved.  Got the boat to burn eventually.
Took 10 minutes.

The update is here:  http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/23/1349221&tid=14.  Bit light on details of what the second
MIT team did, but "mirrored system shaped like flower petals" sounds like what Mythbusters tried.

There was a bloke in the '70s who set a boat on fire with mirrors, so it's not like it can't be done.  Mythbusters' point was the
Archimedes story was a myth.  A big mirror makes a crap weapon, especially if you need to be in arrow range.

Don't forget www.solardeathray.com.

Tony

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