what can I do with a big sheet of fresnel magnifier plexiglass?

my neighbor through out his old rear-projection television, and I salvaged the pane of  plexiglass with ridges in concentric circles used to magnify? or focus? the image.  I am sure I could figure out how to solar heat something with it.. but I thought you all would like to know that I am open to suggestions.

Comments

[skippyconsuelo]

so far, the boy and I have done the very obvious.. burn the lawn, burn paper, and boil water.. all in the late afternoon sun. At midday, that thing will be instantaneously hot.. I think I could weld with it!

[seandogue]

There's quite a bit of heat in that thar sunlight.

When you think about condensing a 3x5 panel (~15sqft) area of sunlight down to a 1/2" dia focal point, the energy density is nice and juicy.

Roughly speaking, an energy multiplier (at the working end) of well over 3000

Well there you go. Make yourself a solar furnace for melting down beer and pop cans. Then you can sell the ingots.

[caarntedd]

I guess that eliminates my idea of a new windshield for the car.

[seandogue]

lol...um, yeah. ;-)

[skippyconsuelo]

hmmm... OBJECTS IN WINDSHEILD MAY APPEAR CLOSER THAN.. stops the urge to tailgate insantly

[rickharris]

Offer it for sale - These large lenses are often used by flight Sim builders to put in front of their monitor to increase the sense of depth.

[skippyconsuelo]

thats a good idea, and I may do that, just as soon as I finish trying to melt pennies

[Evilthingamabober]

I heard that you can melt pennies with those... Also, wear eye protection- burning out your retinas tends to be a bad idea.

[skippyconsuelo]

hey, thanks for the heads up on retina protection.. your a little late though. It was not as bad as an arc, or magnesium, or an eclipse, but it was worse than a 100 watt bulb. we realized it was damage after the first test, and we are all safe now.

[Re-design]

Super charged solar cell. (Or burnt out solar cell.)

[seandogue]

recently used to produce the most efficient solar conversion, as I recall from a webblurb AP pseudo-science story I ran across a few months back.

[seandogue]

Solar ovens are the way many use them. Can be used to power a Stirling engine quite effectively. Or just use it to be an "artist" and give momma earth a tattoo.

[lemonie]

"Fry" a giant-ant?

L

[Burf]

Fire ants, beware!  If I can ever get my hands on a fresnel lens that large, I'm going to build something like this:

www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/fresnel-lens-solar-grill.html