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Q. What is the maximum temperature at the focal point?

A. I don't know. More than 500 Degrees. The best thermometer I had available was a meat thermometer which was only able to measure up to 500 Degrees F. (260 C). The thermometer reached that temperature in about 30 seconds and wasn't showing any sign of slowing.

I melted part of an aluminum can, which is supposed to happen at about 1700-2200 degrees F., but I had difficulty melting zinc (787 F), and copper (1984 F) pennies.

Q. Can you mount a secondary mirror at the focal point and redirect the awesome power of the dish to destroy a nearby object?

A. Although this phenomenon is frequently portrayed on stage and screen, (The Death Star, the Space Dish in Diamonds are Forever) the many reflections of the sun do not coalesce into one unified beam when they intersect at the focal point. If I did mount a secondary mirror to reflect the 800 beams of light, the light would bounce off of it in 800 different directions. A curved secondary mirror would be able to reflect the many beams of light to a position on the dish itself.

Q. Can you mount a magnifying glass at the focal point, to concentrate that power into a teeny-tiny beam of unfathomable strength?

A. I can mount a magnifying glass, but it would act on the incoming light, not as a unified beam, but as hundreds of separate beams. The result of putting a magnifying glass between the dish and a target would be a whole bunch of bright little dots next to each other on the target. It would not improve the performance of the solar bombardment.

Q. C'mon! Try the magnifying glass.

A. Imagine you are hanging out on Darth Vader's home planet, Tatooine. If you used a magnifying glass there, in an attempt to burn ants, you would make two dots of light, one for each of the two suns. You could probably burn two ants at the same time, but there would be no way to point both dots at one ant. The same thing would happen with the light sharpener. I would get hundreds of separate dots.

Q. What about a fresnel lens? Please don't answer this question with references to a fictitious planet with completely imaginary physics.

A. That wouldn't work. Point two flashlights at a magnifying glass. What comes out? Two dots.

Q. Were you inspired by the album cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon?

A. What? No.

Q. The Mythbusters already did this. They did it a lot more realistically.

A. I feel like there is a hierarchy of achievement, which categorizes and grades accomplishments according to who did it first, who did it best, and who did it biggest. The Mythbusters touch on many, many different subjects, but they could never fully explore every avenue of research they peek into. The light sharpener is not the first, the biggest or the best parabolic solar concentrator. I am very proud of having made it, and it is really fun to have around, and I've learned quite a bit from it.

Q. Can you harness this energy somehow, Like by using a Sterling Engine.

A. I will try that. Unfortunately, The construction of this dish represents the near-peak of my engineering skill, so I would not count on my sterling engine working anytime soon. Frankly, it would probably catch fire.

Q. What about a steam engine? Can you hook up a steam engine?

A. Yeah, that would be cool too, but I don't have one.

Q. How come your FAQs always seem to devolve into confrontational conversations?

A. Enough! This FAQ is over!

Q. Wait, wait, How about mounting a copper pipe through the focal point, and pumping water through, to heat it? You could save a lot on hot water.

A. That definitely sounds more my speed. I'll try it!

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