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Archimedes Solar Death Ray Analysis by skliva is a document available to read on EtoBox.

Archimedes may have used polished bronze mirrors or shields to focus sunlight and set fire to Roman ships during the Siege of Syracuse. To determine if this was possible, the study calculated: 1) The minimum heat flux of 60-80 kW/m2 needed to ignite wood ships within a minute. 2) Using ray tracing of mirrors 60m from ships, the peak heat flux a single 0.5m2 mirror could produce, from which the number of mirrors required was estimated. 3) Factors like mirror shape, slope error, and sun position were an

Author

skliva

Language

EN