> I realize the legend suggests the boats were set afire, but I was thinking
> that might not be the most effective way to use a focused sunlight weapon.
>
> Wood requires temperatures of several hundred degrees to ignite, and being
> boats they would likely be wet (at least on the surface). But human flesh
> is
> much more sensitive. Severe pain and injury could be achieved at
> significantly lower temperatures than those needed to ignite wood. It
> seems
> that even 3-4 times normal sunlight would be enough to cause eye injury or
> at least temporary blindness, and would certainly be enough to prevent
> attackers from effectively targeting the defending troops.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> -Denny


Sounds ok, but hard to do in practice.  A scaled up version of kids frying
ants with a magnifying glass?

You need to focus on one person at a time, who'll be running around rather
quickly (or hiding).  Individual soldiers with polished shields wouldn't
be co-ordinated enough, it's hard to see your "hot spot" in amongst the
100 or so others.

A frame containing the mirrors is a bit large & heavy, so hard to swing
around easily.  Sure, you could hang it off some ropes, but then you also
need to adjust the focus.

I guess you could dazzle are few of them until their friends put a few
arrows in you.  The Romans always were sore losers.

Tony

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