A legend says that Archimedes once saved his native town of Syracuse by burning the enemy's fleet with a mirror. Recall that a concave mirror focuses all light coming in parallel to its primary axis down to the focal point. Find the radius of curvature of mirror that Archimedes could have used to burn ships that were 150 m away using parallel light coming into his mirror from the sun. Give an exact answer in m.
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Step 1: Recall that the focal length of a concave mirror is half of its radius of curvature. Show more…
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Sinking ships A legend says that Archimedes once saved his native town of Syracuse by burning the enemy’s fleet with a mirror. Describe quantitatively the type of mirror that Archimedes could have used to burn ships that were 150 m away. Justify your answer.
Suman K.
According to legend Archimedes built a Death Ray using a mirror and reflecting the rays from the sun it onto enemy ships below causing them to burst into flame. The mirror Archimedes would have used would most definitely have been a. concave b. convex c. probably imaginary d. a&c Convex mirrors are great when a. you need to focus light rays to a point b. you need to see a large area through a small surface c. both a&b d. Neither a&b Concave mirrors are great when a. You need to focus light rays to a point b. you need to see a large area through a small surface c. both a&b d. Neither a&b
Adrian O.
32.1 Legend says that Archimedes set the Roman fleet on fire as it was invading Syracuse. Archimedes created a huge ______ mirror, and he focused the Sun's rays on the Roman vessels. a) plane c) parabolic focusing b) parabolic diverging
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