Will It Lens? Table of Contents
Welcome, all! Here are links to everything in the “Will It Lens?” series.
- Part 1: introduction, melting pennies, dimes, toothpaste, Tylenol, milk, chalk, gourd, can.
- Part 2: equipment upgrades, CDs, disposable silverware, brass penny, burned pennies.
- Part 3 (Food Edition): popcorn, grape, kumquat, Frosted Mini Wheat, jelly beans, Reese’s Pieces.
- Part 4: wood, quarter, soap, dishwasher detergent, bacon, egg, honey, seashell, almonds, gummy bears, M&Ms.
- Part 5 (Temperature Breakthrough): marshmallow, peeps, copper, iron, sand, glass
- More to come
sooneventually!
- Gallery of all pictures: This contains every picture we took. There’s a lot of junk in here; the good pictures are in the blog posts above.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS (updated)
- Can you melt glass?
This surprised us, but yes! Normal glass is more properly called “sodalime glass,” which has a much lower melting point than pure silicon dioxide (which we originally thought glass was made of, and which we haven’t been able to melt yet). However, we have trouble melting clear things because they don’t absorb the sunlight. Nonetheless, we melted a dark brown glass in part 5.
- Can you melt sand?
Kinda. The sand we tried is a mixture of quartz, feldspar, and iron. We can melt the last two, but we haven’t melted quartz yet. Look at part 5 for more details.
- Can you lens electronics?
We probably could, but we don’t want to because the fumes are really noxious. There’s lead and other stuff that’s terrible for your lungs in there.
- Can you use a second lens to focus the light even more?
No, that’s not how optics works. For a slightly more thorough answer, see the Light Sharpener FAQ over at cockeyed.com.
- Where did you get the lens? How much did it cost?
I think we got it from here. When we ordered it, I think it was about $120, plus shipping. If you include the wood for the frame and stand, the welding goggles, and the skillet, we’ve probably spent over $200 on lens-related stuff so far.
- You should lens something that will burst and explode all over the place!
That would be very entertaining, but we need to clean everything up before lunch is over, so we’re not doing anything too messy in the foreseeable future (no unopened pop cans, no aerosols, etc.). If we ever take the lens out to the middle of the desert, we will consider lensing messy things.
- You should lens an iPhone, iPod, or other hip status symbol.
First, see question 3 about electronics. Then, remember that we’re paying for all of this with our own money. We’d prefer not to lens anything that costs more than a couple dollars. Everything we’ve tried so far has cost under $1 each (almost everything is under $0.25 each).
- Isn’t it illegal to destroy money?
Not unless you do it with the intent to defraud someone. Remember the last time you went to the zoo? You probably saw one of those machines that will take your penny, flatten it out, and stamp an image of a penguin or something on it as a souvenir. Melting a penny is no more illegal than one of those machines.
Other articles that link to this series:
Archimedes Death Ray
Can you guys make a mirror out of that, or bounce the light with a mirror to try to burn wood from a distance? See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes#The_Archimedes_Heat_Ray_.E2.80.93_myth_or_reality.3F
and
http://www.google.com/search?q=archimedes+death+ray&btnGNS=Search+youtube.com&oi=navquery_searchbox&sa=X&as_sitesearch=youtube.com&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS319US319
Re: Archimedes Death Ray
Bouncing the light off a mirror won’t work because the light will diverge past the focal point. FMI, see the light sharpener FAQ at cockeyed.com.
Boil Water
I would like to see how quick it will boil water and see you use the steam to power something.
Energy saver?
I’ve always wanted to experiment with one of these. How long does it take to completely boil a liter of water? $200 seems a petty price for something of this potential.
Fresnel Lens
Hallo,
Would you be kind enough to share with us the source where you ordered the fresnel lens. ( I would like to buy a larger lens ). Though i find a lots of chinese source on g**gling, i would like to focus on good quality lenses.
Thanks in advance.
Additional Lens Resource
You can also get these from rear-projection televisions, which can be found fairly cheap. In theory, you should be able to use multiple lenses to gather additional rays, since a Fresnel design gathers non-parallel rays and unifies them, it might be worth trying to increase the amount of light being directed to the object. Think parallel system instead of a series or compound system.
Also, we had some success with our TV Fresnel in scorching sand (common, unrefined) but not in a liquefied sort of way.
Kyle
Cooking Food with a Fresnel Lens
I have a large Fresnel lens which I use to cook food and boil water. When cooking food (mostly meat), I cook on a cast iron griddle, and cover what I’m preparing with a bacon press. This prevents the food from burning and spreads the heat out, which makes for more even cooking.
A few thoughts…
I have a couple of these.
1. Mist from a spray bottle will show the focal point. (The water droplets don’t seem to heat up, but a darker fluid might. Coffee?)
2. Conventional cooking doesn’t use direct flame, you heat a container called a pan, oven, teakettle, grill, etc. that holds the food.
3. Use cast iron. A tight focus will melt a hole in a thin wall teakettle even if full of water!
4. Solar kiln? Steel box surrounded by kiln insulation with a focus spot exposed. Potters use calibrated ceramic cones to measure high heat.
cooool
Ñ Ñ‚Ð¾Ð¶Ðµ так думаю иначе и не возможно!
Too cool (: