Jem Melts Rock Using Highly Concentrated Sunlight.

wow this is highly overrated. It's useful for working with heat-resistant materials, but very limited as a weapon. not the greatest energy source either, thermal energy doesn't convert very efficiently to electricity. I'm pretty sure there are a couple mirror arrays around the world that focus sunshine on a sort of solar panel, and there's a reason they are no more than experimental technology

Originally posted by ZELDAR
Amazing post! I had to mute it cause I hate europeans tho.... F & S

What, why ?? Where are you from ? You obviously use English so why the hatred for Europeans?

Originally posted by Nightfury
reply to post by LoneGunMan

 

Solar panels convert the sun's energy to electricity, This is using the sun's energy to convert to heat...HUGE difference.
.

Let's not get confused. Heat and energy are one of the same,

www.answers.com...

1.
a.A form of energy associated with the motion of atoms or molecules and capable of being transmitted through solid and fluid media by conduction, through fluid media by convection, and through empty space by radiation.
b.The transfer of energy from one body to another as a result of a difference in temperature or a change in phase.

www.answers.com...

a.Usable heat or power:
b.A source of usable power, such as petroleum or coal.


layman terms-
All heat is, is the excitement of molecules. Energy is is the same thing though we use the meaning more in the lines of a tangible product that is for our benifit.

Now what is cold? Trick question, There is no such thing. It should be 'lack of heat(energy)'

Back to the topic at hand-
I'm curious as to where the heat/energy is coming from. The parabolic is pointed down. It can.t be a use of mirrors as you would have a loss from each deflection.

Now if they're using an artificial source, the whole video and BBC haven't much creditablility and are misleading us.

saw this when it was on tv, and i was thinking why is that prat hovering his hand right next to something that would melt it in like two seconds. I swear he would have run his hand through it if left any longer with it.

Now everyone is saying solar power is the way of the future because of this post....

Look, solar power is currently a broken business model that relies are huge government subsidies to survive. Additionally, solar panels are made with the assistance of fossil fuels. They are completely useless in their current state.

I do not feel like quoting the person, but someone said why not focus the sun on solar panels? First, this is already being done, The problem is that there is an efficiency limit with our current cells. Second, focusing extreme radiation (light and heat) on an area makes the panel degrade faster. See the problem?

Hmm only one thing comes to mind ever heard of the gears of war? Thats right the Hammer of Dawn. Anyway neat to see at the least I wonder when I can go to Lowes and buy myself a solar welder

i have a giant fresnel lens 54x40 - and you can use it as a solar oven.
the thing is incredible!
it will melt the zink out of pennies in 1 second each. i used to take a roll of pennies and mout them all stacked on a piece of board then melt them consecutively. zip, zip, zip, as each one squirts its zinc out.

it will also turn alkali powder into black beads in seconds.

we have a very useful thing in these magnifying glasses that could be used for energy.
it doubles as my when TSHTF tool for fire and cooking.

S&F

What a fun find. I realize it is not new, but just think about how much energy is present at its focal point.

Also, I wonder if they're using a computer controlled lens to follow the sun or it they are using something to simulate sunlight. He states something about the sun traveling all the way here and still being powerful, which is why I wonder. If they are not tracking the sun with something then the ability to focus the sun like that would only last a few seconds.

I find inventions such as this just very interesting to observe, light is amazing.

They use this concept in solar power towers.
The temperature gets so hot they have molten salt containers that store the heat for night time use.

but it's nothing compared to the 500 trillion watt laser

reply to post by Blaine91555


True but it was such fun to see and catch the genuine childlike "wow" for science. 3000 degrees is pretty hot. That is why the Brits should pay their TV licence!

Originally posted by oou420
wow this is highly overrated. It's useful for working with heat-resistant materials, but very limited as a weapon. not the greatest energy source either, thermal energy doesn't convert very efficiently to electricity. I'm pretty sure there are a couple mirror arrays around the world that focus sunshine on a sort of solar panel, and there's a reason they are no more than experimental technology

If this tech is legit(which it seems to be) and there is no outside energy source, or very little, besides the sun of course. Then I could see this device as being a viable solution for our energy problems.


While thermal energy doesn't convert to electricity that well (when it comes to solar panels), it does however heat water tanks. So you would simply have to replace a coal burning furnace or even a nuclear reactor with multiple modified versions of the device. Which would in turn heat the properly adapted tanks, create steam, said steam is funneled down(to increase pressure) to turn the rotor blade, which is connected to a magnetic rotor and copper coil generator, and thus electricity is created.
There ya go problem solved. ('')

Also there are solar plants that use mirrors to heat balls or pieces of thermo-voltaic materials (creates electricity by applying heat as compared to the traditional photo-voltaic(solar) panels ) . I do believe there is at least one in the nevada desert or the surrounding desert areas that use this application. Unfortunately there isn't a material of said nature that could withstand 3000°C that I have come across, at least. Eventually as the industry expands I'm sure something might come along, who knows.

Weapons, well I don't like them so I won't really go there, but there are plenty of uses for it.

With more funding the technology could really take off, but with the strangle hold on the power industry, it is only a matter of time before this too is swept under the rug.

PEACE
JC

This device is truly outrageous, can't believe nobody caught that typo yet.

There is a guy on youtube that has been doing stuff like this for years. His youtube channel is at www.youtube.com...

He is always playing around with fresnel lenses and he even makes his own parabolic dishes some interesting stuff.

There is a solid state device called a TEC thermoelectric cooler, also known as a Peltier Device, which can convert heat directly into electricity. I know that if enough research is invested into this technology with the right materials along with the focused energy of the sun it could very well be the answer to the worlds energy needs.

Originally posted by tauristercus
As amazing as this is, with its ability to generate 3000+c temperatures at the focal point ... I can't help but be puzzled as to why the molecules of oxygen, nitrogen,water vapour, etc that occupy the space at the focal point itself do NOT ionize due to massive energy absorption. After all, we plainly see cellulose molecules (wood) and iron atoms placed at the focal point absorb huge amounts of energy and either burst into flame or melt.

edit on 23/11/10 by tauristercus because: (no reason given)

The temperature at the focal point is not actually 3000+ degrees c. Until you put something there, it's approximately room temperature, because the absorptivity of the atmosphere is so low that almost none of the solar energy is being converted into heat. Strictly speaking, it doesn't make much sense to describe the focal point in terms of temperature (which will vary according to the absorption of what you put in it, as well as how quickly it can shed the heat.) It makes more sense to describe it in terms of energy density, but if the scientist took the time out to explain all of that, viewers would probably have found something else to watch.

Demonstrations like this can be cool to watch, because even people who know the figures generally haven't internalized the concepts of how much usable energy surrounds us all the time, but anyone who thinks that this shows that solar power is the way of the future should stop to consider just how much energy is available in other forms. Even though most of our electricity comes from it, for instance, most people don't really have a sense of the sheer quantity of chemical energy that's stored all around us. A single tic tac contains more stored chemical energy than there is kinetic energy in an armor piercing bullet that can blow your head to pieces.