"The Solar Death Ray is dangerous. Don't build one. I'm surprised I haven't burnt or blinded myself yet. The fumes from molten plastic can't be good either."
It appears that they used a larger setup with a longer focusing length, aiming at a "ship" to debunk the idea that Archimedes could have burned a fleet with it.
I STILL think a curved mirror, as, I believe Archimedes was alleged to have used, would have worked.
And that's the same episode where they find that a paperback book stops a .22, then fire a .357 at the same book (whose structure is already compromised by the .22) and declare that it doesn't stop a bullet. Of course it does. It just doesn't stop all bullets, especially not after the first one.
I was distinctly unimpressed with the show when I saw it.
The main problem with the mythbusters setup was a) they didn't focus it very well, b) they used 1 foot square mirror tiles, which are likely to be a lot larger than anything Archie had available, c) they claimed that because it was so large, it was essentially immovable. To which my reply is, get yourself a few hundred slaves and think a lot bigger. Everything can be mounted on movable platforms as long as you're willing to make it *large*.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-22 08:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-22 08:59 pm (UTC)It appears that they used a larger setup with a longer focusing length, aiming at a "ship" to debunk the idea that Archimedes could have burned a fleet with it.
It's not the same setup at all.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-22 09:05 pm (UTC)I STILL think a curved mirror, as, I believe Archimedes was alleged to have used, would have worked.
And that's the same episode where they find that a paperback book stops a .22, then fire a .357 at the same book (whose structure is already compromised by the .22) and declare that it doesn't stop a bullet. Of course it does. It just doesn't stop all bullets, especially not after the first one.
I was distinctly unimpressed with the show when I saw it.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-22 09:08 pm (UTC)