I envisage a mirror/lense combination atop a tower that re directs sun light.

The tower or towers would be placed east and west of a large conurbation with the aim of extending day light hours.

The Optical system would 'bend' the light from the sun round the curvature of the earth to make dawn earlier and dusk later in the target location.

Another possible application would be where a town's day light is cut short because of a mountain or other geographical feature. The system could be placed atop the obstruction.

Obviously security would be paramount, you wouldn't want an evil genius substituting a focusing lens!
-- rambling_sid, Dec 07 2004

Eliminate Night Eliminate_20Night
by snarfyguy. Same notion, grander scale. [calum, Dec 07 2004]

I don't know if anyone has pointed out to you the funny glass sphere dangling from the ceiling? It's called an 'electric light'. If you operate the switch on the wall in the corner of the room, the 'electric light' shines brightly, illuminating the room EVEN THOUGH THE SUN HAS SET!! This might seem unlikely but I assure you it is true!!
-- Belfry, Dec 07 2004


Ooh no that new fangled electric, its the devils work, and be fore you ask I am typing this on a water powered Babbage 3000 differential engine
-- rambling_sid, Dec 07 2004


[r_s] Sunsets and sunrises travel at about 500 meters per second where I live. To get just one extra minute of daylight, your tower would have to be thirty kilometers away..... to get your 'mirror - lens' assembly more than a fraction of a degree above the horizon, at that distance....it would have to be taller than the current tallest man made structure. Perhaps the whole thing would be better handled with tethered dirigibles.
-- ConsulFlaminicus, Dec 07 2004


[Tabs] Is 463 not 'about' 500? ..though I do accept the correction. Yes speeds are slower as one moves away from the equator, but the basic physical engineering of the idea is still magical.
-- ConsulFlaminicus, Dec 07 2004


[Tabs] At your latitudes, don't you sick of daylight in summer? I don't actually live near the equator, but have spent most of my life in the tropics, so that's why i mentally identify the tropics as my 'home'.

Seasonality absolutely fascinates me - 'Grass is Greener' symptom I suppose!
-- ConsulFlaminicus, Dec 08 2004


Daylight savings time is evil....give the kids flashlights to walk to school with. I despise it getting dark before I leave the office.[+]
-- normzone, Dec 08 2004



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