A grade eight student from Ontario , Canada has helped to settle a long - stand historic disputation by proving that a so - called “ dying ray of light ” design by the Ancient Greek polymathArchimedescould really have worked . The weapon - which supposedly harnessed the Dominicus ’s light beam so as to burn foeman ship - is report to have been deploy against the Roman Navy with deadly consequences , yet researchers have yet to discern whether the ancient contraption really existed .
To help fix the difference of opinion , 12 - yr - honest-to-goodness Brenden Senerbuilt a scaled - down versionof it , and finally resolve that the concept works and could probably have been used in engagement .
The originaldeath rayis said to have been used against the invading Romans during the Siege of Syracuse , which live from 213 to 212 BCE . As warships advanced on the Hellenistic city - which is located on the island of Sicily - local protector turn over to Archimedes ’ innovation to help keep the enemy at bay .
Among the howling machines rumored to have been used is the famed Claw of Archimedes , which supposedly overturn romish ships out of the H2O before throw off them from a great stature . According to reservoir from the Hellenic historian Lucian , Archimedes also put mirror along the bay of Syracuse for focalize the sun ’s rays onto the foeman ’s ships , causing them to break into flaming .
While some scholars - admit the celebrated French philosopher René Descartes - have send packing the whole mind as fiction , others have undertake to revive theweaponwith reasonable success . In 2005 , for instance , a squad from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) ground that Archimedes ’ design couldset a ship alightin just 11 minute .
With no foe to vanish , Sener settled for a tabletop version of the ancient expiry shaft of light , using a serial of concave mirror and go desk lamps . He find that when using the reflectors to concentre a 50 - watt heat origin onto a patch of composition board , the temperature of the mark could be raised by 2 ° atomic number 6 ( 3.6 ° atomic number 9 ) with each extra mirror , up to a total of three mirrors .
add together a fourth mirror then caused a monolithic temperature jump of 8 ° nose candy ( 14.4 ° F ) .
When he recur the experiment using a 100 - watt lamp , he line up that “ the variety in temperature with each mirror was 4 ° degree Celsius [ 7.2 ° atomic number 9 ] up to 3 mirror and an extra 10 ° light speed [ 18 ° F ] with the 4th mirror . ”
“ Based on my data-based findings , I agree with the MIT group and conceive that with a hard enough heat generator and great , multiple mirror all focused at a perfect slant , combustion could be possible , ” writes the young subject field author .
at last , he close that “ the historical descriptions of the use of the Death Ray in ancient Syracuse is plausible , however no archaeological evidence of the Archimedes Death Ray has been witness besides what is memorialise in the Scripture of Ancient Philosophers . ”
For his efforts , Sener has been awarded the Matthews Hall Annual Science Fair Gold Medal , the Physical Sciences Thames Valley Science and Engineering Fair Gold Medal , and the London Public Library Award for Inspiring Children ’s Interests in Science and Technology .
