US teen’s ’solar death ray’ can melt anything from metal to concrete
By ANIFriday, February 4, 2011
SYDNEY - An aspiring teenage scientist in the US has created a solar death ray, out of thousands of mirrors, that can melt anything from metal to concrete.
Eric Jacqmain, 19, from Indiana, demonstrated the 90-dollar contraption in a YouTube clip and claims it offers the “power of 5000 suns”.
It is essentially a fibreglass satellite dish covered in 5800 small mirror tiles, which focus the sunlight into a spot the size of a coin when positioned correctly.
“This intensity of light is more than enough to melt steel, vaporize aluminium, boil concrete, turn dirt into lava, and obliterate any organic material in an instant,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Jacqmain as saying.
Jacqmain said the temperature of the ray varied based on the darkness of the material being targeted.
“It was able to destroy tungsten lightbulb filaments and vaporize carbon, which occurs at temperatures above 6000 F (3315 celsius). Most other materials simply burn, melt, or evaporate,” he stated.
Unfortunately, the death ray was destroyed in a shed fire that was likely caused by the device, but Jacqmain is reportedly working on a new model, this time with 32,000 mirrors. (ANI)
