Do it yourself “Solar Death Ray” – Parabolic Mirror Dish
So solar death ray may be misleading as the folks in the video only seem to be cooking wieners, boiling water, and just plain burning things for fun. This simple heat generating process is known as solar thermal collecting. I believe this small homemade model would be typically named a ‘solar cooker’. By placing tiny mirrors on a dish shaped object, you can reflect the sun’s light into a focus point of heat. But rest assured if you move into the focal point, you will get burned. How long you choose to stand there could inevitably designate your creation the ‘solar death ray’!
Great post! I actually want to make one of these death rays now…
1I most certainly do. I actually have a science set as a child that had about a 12″ diameter bowl shaped mirror, along with various other kid’s experiment gadgets.
Now I wish I had read the instructions a tad closer…
Probably would have fried my finger anyway.
2Exciting to visit your site, you can feel our new future beginning.
3It is definitely a positive feeling to see a new generation of environmental defenders on the net. Our voice shall be heard:)
4Call me a conspiracy nut, but there was a company in Dallas (Artistic) that fabricated the supports for some of the big panels shown on that farm, but they were bought by GE in 2008. The big power companies and oil interests want to control any technology that effects end-user demand. Another good example is the process for making a panel of tempered glass and applying a reflective coating in ONE step — as soon as that was achieved, Corning bought the company, patents, everything in one fell swoop. No manufacturer can do it without paying a royalty to them now…
5Hey Lee, get an old fiberglass satellite dish with a continuous curve (not the metal segmented kind) clean it off, dry it well, and put glass mirrors on it.
6There was a project some gradeschoolers did on a larger dish, and even though it was very basic, the mirror mosaic method worked very well. Even if the small mirrors fall off, you can replace them. The downside is the weight from the choice of grouting material. The video is on youtube.
Have fun down under!