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Often referred to as the father of mathematics, Archimedes was one of ancient Greece’s most famous inventors, and some of his ideas and principles are still used today.
But one legendary device has caused scientists to speculate about its existence for hundreds of years: the death ray. Now a middle school student may have some answers.
Brenden Sener, 13, of London, Ontario, won two gold medals and a London Public Library award for his tiny version of the contraption, a so-called combat weapon consisting of multiple mirrors designed to focus and direct sunlight on a target. It resembles a ship and causes combustion, according to an article published in the January issue of the Canadian Science Fair Journal.
The Greek polymath has fascinated Şener ever since he learned of the inventor’s existence when he went to Greece during a family vacation. Şener recreated the Archimedes screw, which helps raise and move water, for his 2022 science project. But he didn’t stop there.
Şener found the death ray, sometimes referred to as the heat ray, to be one of the most intriguing devices. Historical writings suggest that Archimedes used “burning mirrors” to set fire to anchored ships during the siege of Syracuse from 214 to 212 BC.
“Archimedes was far ahead of his time with his inventions. And it really revolutionized technology at the time because Archimedes was thinking of things that no one had before,” Şener said. “(The death ray) is such a great idea that no one would have thought of it at the time.”
As Şener points out in his article, there is no archaeological evidence that the mechanism exists, but many people have tried to recreate the mechanism to see if the ancient invention is possible.
miniature death ray
In an attempt to capture the beam, Sener set up a heating lamp facing four small concave mirrors, each tilted to direct the light towards a piece of cardboard marked with an X at its focal point. In this project he designed for the 2023 Matthews Hall Annual Science Fair, Şener assumed that the temperature of the target would increase with each mirror added because the mirrors focused the light energy on the cardboard.
In his experiment, Şener conducted three experiments with two different bulb wattages: 50 watts and 100 watts. He found that each additional mirror increased the temperature significantly.
“I wasn’t exactly sure how the results would show up since there are so many different outcomes on this topic, but I expected there would be increases in temperature, but it wasn’t as drastic as I found when I actually did the experiment,” Sener said.
With only the heating lamp and 100-watt bulb and no mirrors, the temperature of the cardboard was approximately 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27.2 degrees Celsius). After waiting for the cardboard to cool, Şener tested it again by adding a mirror. He found that the temperature of the focal point rose to almost 95 F (34.9 C).
The biggest increase occurred with the addition of the fourth mirror. The temperature of three mirrors aimed at the target was almost 110 F (43.4 C), but adding a fourth mirror increased the temperature by approximately 18 F (10 C) to 128 F (53.5 C).
Writing in the paper, Şener said these results were “quite remarkable because they suggest that light travels in all directions and the shape of the concave mirror focuses the light waves into a single point.”
Cliff Ho, senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories, praised Şener for his insights into Archimedes’ death ray and said the project was “an excellent assessment of fundamental processes.” The facility is an engineering and science laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Ho said that although the experiment “does not present anything significantly new in the scientific literature… its findings nicely confirm the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy or heat can be transferred.” The scientist proposed holding a conference on the death ray in 2014 and concluded that the idea was possible but would be difficult for Archimedes to achieve.
Şener said that he did not try to light anything on fire because “the heating lamp does not produce enough heat as the sun does.” However, he believes that with the use of sunlight and a larger mirror, “the temperature will increase even more fiercely and faster” and “easily cause burning.”
More theories about the death ray
The Olympic flame is lit every two years using a curved parabolic mirror that concentrates sunlight on a single point. When the torch is placed at this focal point, the sun’s rays ignite the torch. It is not widely believed that Archimedes used a single parabolic mirror because it could not be aimed like a flat mirror.
Archimedes’ death ray is thought to be more of a series of several mirrors or polished shields. However, this theory is often invalidated due to the idea that ships will move during battle. Thomas Chondros, a retired associate professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics at the University of Patras in Greece, said that in order for ships to catch fire from the heat produced by the mirrors, they had to be stable and anchored close to the shore. Chondros studied Archimedes and his inventions.
The Discovery Channel series “MythBusters” featured episodes testing so-called death ray scenarios in 2004, 2006 and 2010, but was ultimately declared a myth after each test failed to set a wooden boat on fire. In 2005, a class of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, inspired by the first episode of the series, managed to fire a wooden boat on a larger scale with a technique similar to Şener’s, but failed on the second attempt.
Şener said that if we combine MIT’s findings with his own, he believes the data could suggest that the death ray is plausible, and that Archimedes could probably have caused burning by using the sun’s rays with large mirrors. However, he added in his article that the technology may not work in cold weather or cloudy weather, and the effect of the sea on the movement of ships affects the practicality of this device.
Despite the limitations regarding the practicality of the death ray, Chondros said he found Şener’s project “interesting and well-documented” and that the teenager’s experimental setup “could form the basis of a discussion for young students, even college students.” .
Şener’s mother, Melanie, was not surprised that her son chose the science project. “He has always been fascinated by history, science and nature. … He always had a thirst for all kinds of education and knowledge,” he said.
Şener said that one day he could see himself as a scientist in engineering, bioengineering or medicine.
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