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.
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Step 1: Given that the ship is 150 m away, we need to use a concave mirror to focus sunlight on the ship in order to burn it. 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 mirrors. Describe quantitatively the type of mirrors that Archimedes could have used to burn ships that were $150 \mathrm{m}$ away. Justify your answer.
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