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Thread: What if XKCD on optics.

  1. #1
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    Default What if XKCD on optics.

    http://what-if.xkcd.com/145/

    Yet another great article from Randal, on a topic that some of us still can't wrap their heads around.

  2. #2
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    Of course you can light a fire on the ground using moonlight with just a lens and a mirror ........ the trick is to put your mirror on the moon!
    Cheers
    PS.
    The really difficult bit (apart from hitching the lift from NASA) would be keeping the mirror pointing in the right direction!

  3. #3
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    Or use the lens to intensify the moonlight on a few PV panels that power a 445nm diode. That will start your fire!

    Or just short some nichrome wire across the PV panels...
    If you're the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room.

  4. #4
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    Good point .... just a question of energy concentration... in either time or space!
    Probably easier than hitching to the moon!
    Cheers

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