Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Change in plans: Going to Fresnel Lens

Elliot and I tested the polished panels weekend before last.

They functioned, but our calorimetric tests were a miserable failure.  We conclude that we can focus the rays but it is very hard to get them into the target.  We can probably toast bread well, because it is a nice, flat, target.  However, attempting to heat our jar of water was very ineffective.

However, we are not giving up.  Rather, we are now going to investigate using a large Fresnel lens, which Elliot happens to have.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Robert,
    I wish I were smart enough to make a lucid comment on all the work you're doing. I read back through the last few posts and found myself really admiring your tenacity and determination, and the same for Eliot. But I also had to look up a couple words to figure out exactly what you were doing in your experiments. Very cool and smart.

    I admire Bucky Fuller too, though I certainly can't claim to have read his works. It's so great that you have the same idea he did to benefit mankind by doing hands-on inventing. Me, I'm a slacker in comparison.

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