We all know, and most of us have done, that old trick of frying ants using a magnifying lens to focus the Sun on them. Could this be done using moonlight, which is just reflected sunlight?
Obviously, it would require a large enough magnifier to collect enough moonlight to have the same energy as sunlight, but, leaving aside imperfections in the lens, could it be done? Also, how would I calculate the size of lens necessary?
Magnifying Moonlight
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darthbob88
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Magnifying Moonlight
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Any views expressed herein are my own unless otherwise noted, and very likely wrong.
I shave with Occam's Razor.
Any views expressed herein are my own unless otherwise noted, and very likely wrong.
I shave with Occam's Razor.
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darthbob88
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I'll take that as a "Yes, provided you had a large enough lens." Thank you kindly.Destructionator XIII wrote:I'd have to be huge: the sun appears to be about 400,000 times brighter than the full moon, so to get the same amount of energy, your lens would have to focus that much more light to the point (a guesstimate-calculation would be to calculate a proportional area for your lens).
Note that this is a very rough number based on apparent magnitudes, which ignores non-visible wavelengths, but it should be in the ballpark you are looking for.
This message approved by the sages Anon and Ibid.
Any views expressed herein are my own unless otherwise noted, and very likely wrong.
I shave with Occam's Razor.
Any views expressed herein are my own unless otherwise noted, and very likely wrong.
I shave with Occam's Razor.