Archimedes' Death Ray
Hmm... just watched the Mythbusters repeat where they debunk Archimedes' Death Ray. All well and good. Except that MIT recently pulled it off.
Yes, if you want a Roman trireme set on fire, with pictures, call in the engineering students. All they needed was 127 mirrors and ten minutes of uninterrupted sunshine.
2 comments:
Ten minutes! They be on you long before then. Not to mention the dozens of ships they had to set on fire.
Well, one wooden ship going up in flames could theoretically threaten its neighboring ships, especially if they're all anchored reasonably close together in the bay. Even if it didn't do much damage, it'd bring War's good buddies, Terror and Panic, onto the scene. One would be enough.
It's highly doubtful the Death Ray was really effective as an actual ultimate weapon - too expensive and impractical for too little real gain. But as a propaganda piece, or something to keep your enemies guessing about...
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