While many teenagers are content to sit at home playing computer games, this one has set his sights on something a little more ambitious. Eric Jacqmain, from Indiana in the US, covered an ordinary fibreglass satellite dish with 5,800 tiny mirror tiles - and made his very own 'death ray'.
When aligned correctly it can generate a heat spot a couple of centimetres across, with an intensity of 5,000 shining suns, the 19-year-old claims. Look what I made, mum! Teenager builds 'death-ray' which can burn through almost anythingThe American teenager called his invention the R5800 solar 'death ray'.Putting it into context, just the tiny fraction of the Sun's energy that hits the Earth (around a hundredth of a millionth of a percent) is enough to meet all our power needs many times over.
In fact, every minute, enough energy arrives at the Earth to meet our demands for a whole year - if only we could harness it properly. Unfortunately for Jacqmain, his 'death ray' dish met its own grisly end when it was destroyed in a shed fire.
Jacqmain added: 'Yeah. It "committed suicide". It's very likely that it was the cause of the fire. Nothing left of it but half melted wagon parts and the adjustable mount.' If there was ever a case of self-destruction, this was it. But Jacqmain's despair at the death of his 'death ray' has simply spurred him on to develop a yet more powerful alternative.
'Plans already in place for the new one, he added. 'The goal is to use about 32,000 mirrors this time.'
Source: mailonline