Can a Building Be a Sun-Death Ray? @ Wired Science via Waxy.
Vdara hotel Death Ray. Basically, a curved shiny building makes a hot spot. You have to read the story, but how about some back-of-the-envelope calculations? In particular, would this building be able to melt some plastic bags and stuff?
From the pages of MAKE:
Made on Earth. MAKE 03 – page 16. Reports from the world of backyard technology, including a shopping cart go-kart, the “Solar Death Ray,” a demolished house sculpture, a gas tank bass instrument, and some seriously big speakers.
I remember a science fiction story in which a building was designed with moveable reflective windows to maximize energy efficiency. The window positions were controlled by a central computer. The trick was that the building was used as a murder weapon when the designer programmed the windows to focus sunlight onto an office across the street, killing his business partner.
A variant of this idea could be used to focus sunlight onto a suspected car bomb before it gets close enough to be a threat. The perfect accessory to any embassy.