Rough Science . Solar Distillation Challenge

Series 1: Mediterranean

Series 3: New Zealand

Series 4: Death Valley

The Challenge: Make distilled water from seawater using solar power

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How can we use this formula to make a parabolic mirror?

To convert this into actual dimensions used to make the wooden frame to carry the mirror we can draw up a table. (We will turn the equation around in terms of x rather than y i.e. x = y² / 4a so by putting in various values of y we can get corresponding values for x). Y is the distance along from the center of the mirror and x is the height above the lowest part of the mirror.

For a mirror with a focus point one-half meter (19.7 in.) above the bottom of the mirror we get the following table:

y (meters)	y²	y² / (4 x a)	height of mirror
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0	0.01 0.04 0.09 0.16 0.25 0.36 0.47 0.64 0.81 1.00	0.005 0.020 0.045 0.080 0.125 0.185 0.235 0.320 0.405 0.500	5mm 2cm 4.5cm 8cm 12.5cm 18.5cm 23.5cm 32cm 40.5cm 50cm

Using these figures we can make a wooden frame made up of vertical wooden supports fixed to a flat board. The height of each vertical support is given in the right hand column of the table for various distances out from the center (y). A thin wooden sheet was then placed on top to form the parabola on which to fix the mirror.

Attaching the mirror

Major funding for Rough Science was provided by the National Science Foundation. Corporate funding was provided by Subaru.