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 Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 10:58 am
--------------- wahmbulance WARNING wahmbulance ---------------------
If you are easily bored,stop reading!
Hello everybody(again!)
This is just a very small topic about archimedes...i hope we don't have another one like this... mrgreen
It is said that Archimedes burnt many roman ships with mirrors and light from the sun in Syracouse...
Does anyone have an idea about how is that possible?
PEACE!
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 12:57 pm
Give me a place to stand, and with a lever, I will move the whole world - Archimedes.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:26 pm
Amandeus --------------- wahmbulance WARNING wahmbulance --------------------- If you are easily bored,stop reading! Hello everybody(again!) This is just a very small topic about archimedes...i hope we don't have another one like this... mrgreen It is said that Archimedes burnt many roman ships with mirrors and light from the sun in Syracouse... Does anyone have an idea about how is that possible? PEACE! Well look at it this way: there's X amount of energy per Y area of sunlight, and you can use a lot of mirrors to focus X energy on a lot smaller area, say on a wooden ship, then you could do it. All the photons that would normally be spread out over a large area are instead all hitting the same spot on the same ship, eventually raising the temperature enough to make it burn.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 1:15 am
Yes,i agree,but would the romans wait until the ships were burnt,and how many mirrors do they needed to focus such a strong ligh beam?
...I'm probably a bit overcurious....
I understand that Archimedes was many years forward of other physicians of his era.... confused
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:26 pm
Amandeus Yes,i agree,but would the romans wait until the ships were burnt,and how many mirrors do they needed to focus such a strong ligh beam? ...I'm probably a bit overcurious.... I understand that Archimedes was many years forward of other physicians of his era.... confused How many mirrors? A lot. It depends on the size, quality, and placement of the mirrors, as well as the kind of wood the ships were made of. Or perhaps he set fire to the sails first. There are so many variables involved that its impossible to calculate without a more detailed description. The important thing is that it is possible.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:56 am
Anarchist Miracle Amandeus Yes,i agree,but would the romans wait until the ships were burnt,and how many mirrors do they needed to focus such a strong ligh beam? ...I'm probably a bit overcurious.... I understand that Archimedes was many years forward of other physicians of his era.... confused How many mirrors? A lot. It depends on the size, quality, and placement of the mirrors, as well as the kind of wood the ships were made of. Or perhaps he set fire to the sails first. There are so many variables involved that its impossible to calculate without a more detailed description. The important thing is that it is possible. The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show, in Episodes 16 and 46, busted this one. In theory it's possible to do it but the mirror array would have to be impossibly large. On top of that, even with a very large array of mirrors, the ship would have to hold perfectly still for a time in order for the wood at the focus point to get hot enough to burst into flames.
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 4:33 pm
DeeFarnham Anarchist Miracle Amandeus Yes,i agree,but would the romans wait until the ships were burnt,and how many mirrors do they needed to focus such a strong ligh beam? ...I'm probably a bit overcurious.... I understand that Archimedes was many years forward of other physicians of his era.... confused How many mirrors? A lot. It depends on the size, quality, and placement of the mirrors, as well as the kind of wood the ships were made of. Or perhaps he set fire to the sails first. There are so many variables involved that its impossible to calculate without a more detailed description. The important thing is that it is possible. The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show, in Episodes 16 and 46, busted this one. In theory it's possible to do it but the mirror array would have to be impossibly large. On top of that, even with a very large array of mirrors, the ship would have to hold perfectly still for a time in order for the wood at the focus point to get hot enough to burst into flames. Yeah, and then MIT reduplicated it to prove them wrong, I thought?
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:03 pm
Basil_Marcus DeeFarnham Anarchist Miracle Amandeus Yes,i agree,but would the romans wait until the ships were burnt,and how many mirrors do they needed to focus such a strong ligh beam? ...I'm probably a bit overcurious.... I understand that Archimedes was many years forward of other physicians of his era.... confused How many mirrors? A lot. It depends on the size, quality, and placement of the mirrors, as well as the kind of wood the ships were made of. Or perhaps he set fire to the sails first. There are so many variables involved that its impossible to calculate without a more detailed description. The important thing is that it is possible. The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show, in Episodes 16 and 46, busted this one. In theory it's possible to do it but the mirror array would have to be impossibly large. On top of that, even with a very large array of mirrors, the ship would have to hold perfectly still for a time in order for the wood at the focus point to get hot enough to burst into flames. Yeah, and then MIT reduplicated it to prove them wrong, I thought? Did they? I hadn't heard.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:33 pm
DeeFarnham Basil_Marcus DeeFarnham Anarchist Miracle Amandeus Yes,i agree,but would the romans wait until the ships were burnt,and how many mirrors do they needed to focus such a strong ligh beam? ...I'm probably a bit overcurious.... I understand that Archimedes was many years forward of other physicians of his era.... confused How many mirrors? A lot. It depends on the size, quality, and placement of the mirrors, as well as the kind of wood the ships were made of. Or perhaps he set fire to the sails first. There are so many variables involved that its impossible to calculate without a more detailed description. The important thing is that it is possible. The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show, in Episodes 16 and 46, busted this one. In theory it's possible to do it but the mirror array would have to be impossibly large. On top of that, even with a very large array of mirrors, the ship would have to hold perfectly still for a time in order for the wood at the focus point to get hot enough to burst into flames. Yeah, and then MIT reduplicated it to prove them wrong, I thought? Did they? I hadn't heard. Yes... the MythBuster guys tried a few experiments and gave up when it didn't work, but MIT tried a few more. At first they only got smoke but then they got pretty good ignition. And being that the ancients weren't stupid, and probably spent more than one episode's worth experimenting to get a desired effect, they probably had more success than MythBuster guys.
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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:36 pm
Basil_Marcus DeeFarnham Basil_Marcus DeeFarnham Anarchist Miracle Amandeus Yes,i agree,but would the romans wait until the ships were burnt,and how many mirrors do they needed to focus such a strong ligh beam? ...I'm probably a bit overcurious.... I understand that Archimedes was many years forward of other physicians of his era.... confused How many mirrors? A lot. It depends on the size, quality, and placement of the mirrors, as well as the kind of wood the ships were made of. Or perhaps he set fire to the sails first. There are so many variables involved that its impossible to calculate without a more detailed description. The important thing is that it is possible. The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters show, in Episodes 16 and 46, busted this one. In theory it's possible to do it but the mirror array would have to be impossibly large. On top of that, even with a very large array of mirrors, the ship would have to hold perfectly still for a time in order for the wood at the focus point to get hot enough to burst into flames. Yeah, and then MIT reduplicated it to prove them wrong, I thought? Did they? I hadn't heard. Yes... the MythBuster guys tried a few experiments and gave up when it didn't work, but MIT tried a few more. At first they only got smoke but then they got pretty good ignition. And being that the ancients weren't stupid, and probably spent more than one episode's worth experimenting to get a desired effect, they probably had more success than MythBuster guys. Because I'm limited by my doctor to only say one pun a day, I reserved it until now. Ahem.. Mythbusters got burned!! OOOOH!
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Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:03 pm
The MythBusters should invade MIT with wooden ships. Only then will we know the truth.
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 12:11 am
It wouldn't be the first time that Mythbusters got punked. They usually get called on their firearm experiments a lot, for instance.
Anyway, I often wonder how Marcellus got through that siege. It was such a dreadfully frustrating thing, and the Romans aren't exactly known for being comfortable sea warriors.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:33 am
Charley It wouldn't be the first time that Mythbusters got punked. They usually get called on their firearm experiments a lot, for instance. Anyway, I often wonder how Marcellus got through that siege. It was such a dreadfully frustrating thing, and the Romans aren't exactly known for being comfortable sea warriors. The town was invested from the land side, too, but this may explain why that Roman soldier was in such a foul mood when he encountered Archimedes.
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Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:14 pm
DeeFarnham The town was invested from the land side, too, but this may explain why that Roman soldier was in such a foul mood when he encountered Archimedes. Most certainly.
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