When 2000°F Solar Power Hits a Block of Dry Ice

You don’t really think of melting metal as a typical backyard experiment, but when you have a large fresnel lens and some ideas, you can do just that. I’m going to warn you guys now, this is not to be taken lightly. We are talking about temperatures far higher than your oven is even capable of generating. THIS WILL BURN YOU BADLY IF YOU AREN’T EXTREMELY CAREFUL.

Now that we got that out of the way, I want to know where I can get a Super Solar Scorcher of my very own. If you’ve never heard of a fresnel lens, which is what the Super Solar Scorcher is in technical terms, it’s the same type of lens used in lighthouses to focus the light and project it far out to sea. The series of circular grooves in the lens each bend the light toward a central focal point, bringing the power of the sun – or at least what of it reached the earth – to a small point in space that can reach temperatures of 2000+ degrees Fahrenheit.

If you need any proof of just how hot that is, The King of Random has a few quick experiments that anybody can conduct in their back yard that illustrates perfectly just how intense the temps get. With some dry ice, a few pennies, some lead weights and a steel plate, our host sets up several experiments, first using the lens to blast the dry ice itself to see how much quicker it sublimates – dry ice doesn’t “melt”, it changes straight from solid to gas, or sublimates – under extreme temperatures. As you can see, it does sublimate quicker, but the difference is not as drastic as I thought it would be compared to the control block of dry ice.

Up next, the metal pieces come into play. With he lens focused perfectly on one spot, the pennies are slid into place and melt within seconds, as do the lead fishing weights. Even the steel plate becomes drastically discolored and warps under the extreme temperatures, proving just how ridiculously hot the power of the sun can get when focused correctly.

Check out this video and let us know what you think. If you have a fresnel lens and have done experiments like this, shoot us a link and we’ll check out your videos too!