Parabola
- Thread starter Chasper
- Start date
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ldb2000
Member
Gerry , If you couple that dish with a sterling engine you could run a generator and power your house .
thewishman
Member
Gee Teacher, my homework ate my homework.
ngeb528
Member
Yeah, but does it get HBO?
ahoiberg
Member
holy crap, that is cool. i bet your kid got the "did you dad help you with this?" treatment.
GouletPens
Member
Boy, just think of the ants you can fry with that thing....
markgum
Member
mickr
Member
which end has the nib????
rwyoung
Member
Never made the parabola type but I did make one heck of an ant-burner using a frensel lens once. Rollie-pollies (sow bugs) are kinda like popcorn.
PenTurnerfromMaine
Member
I never had that much fun with homework
M
Mudder
Guest
Yea, but can it pop popcorn?
IPD_Mrs
Member
Can you put Cav's avitar in it?
LizardSpit
Member
Will you share the plans?
randyrls
Member
Are Jamie and Adam hiding around the corner????
Looks like something they would cook up!
Who Ya Gonna Call..... Mythbusters!!!
Looks like something they would cook up!
Who Ya Gonna Call..... Mythbusters!!!
CSue
Local Chapter Leader
My algebra homework never looked like that!
Here you go: Ax² + By² + Cx + Dy + E = 0 (if you really need to know what that means I'll have to ask my kids) Once you determine the y you want to use you graft it life size.
We started by turning a very shallow but thick bowl (8" diameter X 4" thick with less than 1/2' bowl indention) and cutting 16 notches in it around the edges; it looks like a big gear. Then we used the life sized graph cut out to cut 16 ribs out of thin plywood; the ribs are about 30 inches long and they curve up 12 inches, each rib plus the radius of the hub combine to the radius of the parabols, about 33" in this case. The bowl is covered with thin sheet aluminum and it is covered with mylar.
The algebra is in the quadratic equation to get the curve right so the heat reflection all goes to one spot in the center directly at the bottom of the cooking vessel. http://www.mathwarehouse.com/quadratic/parabola/interactive-parabola.php go here for more info.
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TribalRR
Member
Nice!!! A miniature Archimedes death ray!
How far out is the focal point?
How far out is the focal point?
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jleiwig
Member
look up tracking solar concentrator on google. There are plans out there. Makes one hell of a water heater! It was a green solution developed back when being green wasn't cool like it is today.
artistwood
Member
ok.......so is a jet, toolcraft, grizzley or what...........seriously, very cool........er......i mean hot!
btboone
Member
I had made one about 6 feet across when I was in school. I cut a couple thousand mirror sections and glued them to a steel sheetmetal frame. It worked well and would melt lead.
LizardSpit
Member
Thanks!!! Now who will translate? My kids have all graduated and left the house (mixed blessing 
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