In this video I'm making a solar death ray using an old satellite dish.
The concept is similar to using a magnifying glass on the sun, concentrating solar energy
to a point to create heat using nothing more than the sun's rays.
Several youtube channels document how to do this, like green power science and Eric Jacqmain.
Some call it a death ray, others a parabolic mirror.
The links to their videos are in the descriptions below.
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First things first, I knew I had an old satellite dish outside.
The question is where, under the snow.
My dogs, Willow and Chunky, helped me find it.
Then I dug it out and brought it into the house to thaw out so I could begin work on it.
Step one is remove the mounting bracket.
Step 2 is sand the surface to rough so the tape will stick.
Vinegar and paper towels to do the final cleaning.
This was advertised on Home Depo's website as mylar reflective foil tape.
So we're going to try and use it and see if it works.
Ok
There's a little bit of heat there.
but not enough to cause a fire or anything.
Maybe enough to cook an egg, that's about it.
Just
FAIL
So why did this fail?
There's a few possible reasons but the main one is reflectivity.
I think the foil tape isn't reflective enough and I need a special mirror tape like green
power science used or 500 tiny mirrors glued to the dish like Eric Jacqmain did.
There are two other possibilities.
Maybe the dish doesn't have the proper curve.
I don't really believe that though.
And possibly the dish itself needs to be larger, but watching other videos on youtube that
don't seem to be the issue with them.
So please comment on why you don't think this worked.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and I'll make a followup video later trying to fix the problem.
Result - don't use foil duct tape to make a reflective parabolic death ray.