5 ms·

I believe that mythbusters had an episode disproving the Archimedes heat ray

by camiller 9y ago

dacohenii 9y ago
They tried and failed three times (episodes 16, 46, and 157). Here's an interesting write-up about the team of MIT students that worked with them on the second try: http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/deathray/10_Mythbusters.html http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/deathray/10_Mythbus...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
djmips 9y ago
Yeah, like Mythbusters is definitive science. I'll half ass this with my high school level of education and TV budget and deadline and fail and declare it definitively busted!
- sqeaky 9y ago
  No science is definitive. Even Isaac Newton was overturned. As near as I can tell they have put the most effort into duplicating Archimedes Heat Ray. They attempted it three times with large budgets and demonstrated why it was possible, but entirely impractical. After they showed that just being wet was enough to save the boat (when would a boat ever be wet?!) they then offered a replacement explanation and had an example of a flaming arrow. It took one archer and required a fraction of the cost, could be reliably duplicated thousands of times (in battle) and had better range than a team of guys with mirrors.
  - cr0sh 9y ago
    I haven't seen the episodes, but I wonder if in history (if it isn't just a made up legend) that a couple of actual events have become conflated due to lack of knowledge by the witnesses? Perhaps there were a bunch of soldiers with mirrored shields, and they did shine their shields to "blind" the incoming ships. Then archers shot flaming arrows against the ships... ...and the legend of mirrored shields setting fire to a ship was born?
    - sqeaky 9y ago
      This seems highly plausible to me. The polishing wouldn't even need to be intentional, just a bunch of people taking good care of their equipment could create the effect.

5 ms·

I believe that mythbusters had an episode disproving the Archimedes heat ray

by camiller 9y ago

I believe that mythbusters had an episode disproving the Archimedes heat ray

dacohenii 9y ago
They tried and failed three times (episodes 16, 46, and 157). Here's an interesting write-up about the team of MIT students that worked with them on the second try: http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/deathray/10_Mythbusters.html http://web.mit.edu/2.009/www/experiments/deathray/10_Mythbus...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
djmips 9y ago
Yeah, like Mythbusters is definitive science. I'll half ass this with my high school level of education and TV budget and deadline and fail and declare it definitively busted!
- sqeaky 9y ago
  No science is definitive. Even Isaac Newton was overturned. As near as I can tell they have put the most effort into duplicating Archimedes Heat Ray. They attempted it three times with large budgets and demonstrated why it was possible, but entirely impractical. After they showed that just being wet was enough to save the boat (when would a boat ever be wet?!) they then offered a replacement explanation and had an example of a flaming arrow. It took one archer and required a fraction of the cost, could be reliably duplicated thousands of times (in battle) and had better range than a team of guys with mirrors.
  - cr0sh 9y ago
    I haven't seen the episodes, but I wonder if in history (if it isn't just a made up legend) that a couple of actual events have become conflated due to lack of knowledge by the witnesses? Perhaps there were a bunch of soldiers with mirrored shields, and they did shine their shields to "blind" the incoming ships. Then archers shot flaming arrows against the ships... ...and the legend of mirrored shields setting fire to a ship was born?
    - sqeaky 9y ago
      This seems highly plausible to me. The polishing wouldn't even need to be intentional, just a bunch of people taking good care of their equipment could create the effect.