A real life Solar System

[RGM-79N_GM_CUstom]

One of my friend's showed me this site because it reminded him of a Solar System from gundam.. Its an MIT experiemnt to see if Archemede's death ray.

http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/lecture...desResult.html

If Archimede's really created something similiar or if this test is the first I guess you could say they just created the first solar system.

In MS Gundam a Solar System was a weapon first developed and deployed by the Earth Federation. Same idea magnifying sunlight to use as a weapon but just imagine it being alot of large mirrors in outer space protected by a Federation fleet that is just guarding until the mirrors come into focus. The Solar system was first used in the orginal MS Gundam series by the Earth Federation when it attacked the Zeon asteroid base Solomon. An improved version that uses less mirrors but gives the same power can be seen in the OVA 0083.

[Apophis]

They did this on MythBusters a while back. They ended up resorting to a huge Fresnel lens to make the thing work properly. I think. Then again. Who knows. But I do remember them trying to burn something up with a bunch of mirrors a la death ray.

[TheFeniX]

It failed on mythbusters, and this fails as well unless the ship is going to sit still and you've got a bunch of guys with amazing teamwork to keep all those mirrors fixed on a single point of the boat.

[Santa]

Originally Posted by TheFeniX

It failed on mythbusters, and this fails as well unless the ship is going to sit still and you've got a bunch of guys with amazing teamwork to keep all those mirrors fixed on a single point of the boat.

Teamwork? They mighta had TG back then, who knows.

[CingularDuality]

What if the mirror was parabolic? And combined with a magnifying lens? Imagine if you could focus that beam of sunlight down to a pencil's diameter...

[munchkin]

Mythbusters is a fun show, but I wouldn't say they did it especially precisely. On TV here we have a UK show called "Brainiac" - it's like Mythbusters but with less overtures of science.

For example:
Voiceover: The lyrics from Twisted Sister say "You can't stop rock and roll". We've decided to prove them wrong.
*Cut to a boombox on a pedestal. Camera pans up, and there's a freaking caravan suspended by a crane. The crane drops the caravan on the boombox.*

Heh, if you can get a copy of some episodes, do it. It's good fun.

[Vulcan]

Some of the things they created back in those days, i would not be suprised if a device was indeed built that magnified a sunbeam without being to large.

[Addict]

Huh. I like myth buster's aproach. They start with what they think is probable... then, if that doesn't work, they scale up to what is even possible... And they ussually get things to "happen", eventually. Then they judge on just how hard it was to have happen whether it probably did happen.

One of my favorites was when they tried to flip a car with the backwash from a jet engine. Pretty much tore the car apart, but just wouldn't flip it... But damn if they didn't try hard!

The death ray, I think they did get it to smolder/smoke a little, when they introduced something more than just a bunch of mirrors(the fresnol lense?), but they just fealt the classical account of getting the hull to burn was HIGHLY improbable, given the likely wet nature of the boat wood, and the length to which they had to go just to get it to smolder, at a distance of like 30 feet.

[.143 Beth©]

Can mythbusters replicate the pyramids? No, but it was done with time and hard labor.

[Addict]

But myth busters *coiuld* replicate the tools that were available at the time and test certain neccesary processes.

Though it wasn't myth busters, I do remember seeing another show on the discovery channel where they were trying to replicate at least the process that would have been used to build the pyramids. They had about 3 days. Some of the tests were to move a typical size stone used in the pyramids(wet wooden blocks, sleds, etc). Some tests were to see how the movement would work from level to level(ramp size neccesary, crane, etc). Some tests were to see how the actual shaping and quarying of the stones could be done(auger holes, insert wooden stakes, wet them...). Anyway, my point is you don't have to reproduce something completely to get an idea if it was possible.

[Kojio]

Originally Posted by Addict

But myth busters *coiuld* replicate the tools that were available at the time and test certain neccesary processes.

Though it wasn't myth busters, I do remember seeing another show on the discovery channel where they were trying to replicate at least the process that would have been used to build the pyramids. They had about 3 days. Some of the tests were to move a typical size stone used in the pyramids(wet wooden blocks, sleds, etc). Some tests were to see how the movement would work from level to level(ramp size neccesary, crane, etc). Some tests were to see how the actual shaping and quarying of the stones could be done(auger holes, insert wooden stakes, wet them...). Anyway, my point is you don't have to reproduce something completely to get an idea if it was possible.

I saw that episode too. They proved that the egyptians did have the tools and abilities to create the pyramids in such a timeframe. In fact, they showed egyptian people that still used the same tools and techniques even today, and how it all worked.

Pretty cool.

[Rincewind]

The story may be true, but I think the target is inaccurate. Maybe it might have been enought to set fire to the sails on the ship. Burning sails may have wicked any of the equipment and pitch that the boats were carrying for naval skirmishes and sieges. It might have also been enough just to catch one or two boats on fire from a few hundred meters out to make the rest of the fleet turn and flee.

The 'historians' account is most likely an embellishment of what actually occurred so if there is any truth to the death ray, I doubt it is as powerful or as destructive as the stories make it out to be. Cotton, flax, retinas, and skin burns faster than solid wood beams. If Archimedes was smart enough to build a death ray, he would have been smart enough to know that

[Addict]

Heh, rincewind, maybe... Gotta imagine just seeing a couple of your ships(sails) even start to smolder for some inexplicable reason, just might give you pause.

Similerly, have you seen the opening battle in Gladiator? The way it was portrayed in the movie, I can well imagine the fear and mythic regard that that the roman army was held in. Catapults and arrows don't sound all too frightening compared to todays weapons, but seeing it on the big screen gave enough perspective for me to imagine how opponants must have fealt.