Jun 30 2008

Real Geniuses

Posted by: Katie Romans

Focusing light onto a small, special photovoltaic cell that can absorb large concentrations of sunlight -- bring on the giant ball of popcorn kernels.

Not unlike the 1985 classic movie, Real Genius, Discovery News reports that MIT students recently demonstrated their idea of a good time, not by cooking a giant ball of popcorn kernels with a laser, but by vaporizing wood through solar concentration. Cool.

While the means would surely seem to justify the end, these overachievers have loftier applications in mind. Starting the aptly named Raw Solar company to sell their patented dish design, the students plan to focus on boiling water to create 'wet steam' for industrial and commercial applications. In fact, it's estimated that the solar collector could generate temperatures higher than 1,300 degrees C (2,372 F), hot enough to melt steel. Way cool.

Far from the old magnifying glass trick, these real geniuses could bring about a cheaper and more efficient form of solar energy.

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