DIY expert Grant Thompson has a use for those heavy old rear-projection televisions that have been collecting dust in your basement—he transforms them into solar-powered death rays! Thompson takes advantage of the convex screens’ ability to condense and direct light, turning the abandoned monitors into sun harvesters that can melt glass and coins, and even burn a hole into concrete.
As flat screen televisions came to prominence and rendered their predecessors obsolete, Thompson wanted to find a way to reuse the heavy, oversized big screen televisions that are endlessly given away on Craigslist. After hauling the hefty tvs home from their donors, Thompson removes their front screens and mounts the glass them to a wooden easel-like frame, giving him control of the focal angle.
Not every used screen makes a perfect lens, so Thompson looks for screens in good condition without discoloration, which allows him to hone the sun into direct beams. Using only the sun, the powerful beams can produce enough heat to exceed a whopping 2000 degrees Fahrenheit! As Thompson’s video demonstrates, the home-made beam can melt ordinary coins, boil beer inside its bottle before (causing a hoppy explosion), melt steel beams and even burn holes into concrete. A shorter duration of a beam can even cook food, transforming the television into a solar kitchen.
With its incredible heating power, the television solar beam is not for the inexperienced, and should only be built and used by capable adults.
+ King of Random
Via Daily Mail
