Sun Furnace May Vaporize Diamonds (Aug, 1931)
Sun Furnace May Vaporize Diamonds
A HEAT of 4500 degrees centigrade, intense enough to turn a diamond into vapor and to melt any known substance, is expected to be generated in an amazing new solar furnace which derives its heat directly from the sun. Eighty per cent of the sun’s heat is expected to be captured by the furnace, which has been designed by scientists of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. It consists of a mounting similar to that of a telescope which always follows the sun, upon which are 19 lenses which focus the sun’s rays on a central spot within the apparatus.
“Eighty per cent of the sun’s heat”
You mean world wide or just the amount hitting the lens?
Comment by Mike — October 13, 2008 @ 10:22 am
Unfortunately, there was not a lot of call for turning diamonds into vapor.
Comment by slim — October 13, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
This sounds liket a James Bond 007 movie weapon.
Comment by Michael Patrick — October 13, 2008 @ 4:51 pm
Honey, where’s my ring? Have you seen it? Honey? Honey?
Comment by beagledad — October 13, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
Great for getting rid of those giant ants from the Movie “Them”
Comment by carlm — October 14, 2008 @ 7:36 am
Interesting – but Humphrey Davy vaporized diamonds via a solar furnace (to prove they were made of carbon) back in 1813, so I’m not sure how this was news…
http://www.jstor.org/stable/228364 or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond
Comment by Zyzzyva — December 14, 2009 @ 11:02 pm