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It is a great idea. However I can see certain challenges to be overcome.

You won't easily be able to test this in advance, so careful calculations
will be needed plus accurate predictions of people's behaviour. Either they
won't direct enough light, or they will focus a dazzling mini-sun that melts
the solar panels. Or the majority may decide to aim their mirrors at some
other target. Archimedes is said to have set the Roman fleet on fire in this
way with his army's polished shields. Heaven help the rock band if the
audience dislikes their performance...

Cheap flexible mirrors probably won't be suitable unless you can somehow
make sure they are flat enough, and plexiglass mirrors may work out too
expensive. Maybe print the event programme on stiff, shiny-silvered recycled
card?

You'll have to teach them how to 'aim' their sunbeams using the head of the
person in front as a kind of foresight. 

Instead of relying on people cooperating for any length of time, maybe set
up a giant rotating flower or some other sculpture driven by normal sunlight
on the solar panel, and challenge the audience to try to speed it up
periodically? (Shame on you if you are tempted to fake this!)

Aside from practicality and safety, the most impressive and most popular
demo would be for your crowd to use their mirrors to set fire to something.
It WOULD be cost-effective to issue, say, just a hundred people with
notebook-sized plexiglass mirrors. Look at this YouTube movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDkOaPp_6ug

Promoting public engagement with science
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Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
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Ian Russell 


-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tal Berman
Sent: 20 February 2009 15:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Earth Day

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
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Hallo all
thank you so very much for your fast reply. Although you all really took to
the subject, everyone somehow focused on museum exhibits. The event we are
asked to plan is a mass event for a crowd of around 5000 people- something
more similar to the Albedo event we participated in last year.

An idea that came up we named "Human sun tower". The idea is to put up a
screen made of solar panels, at the southern corner of the parking lot and
to give thousands of high school students that will be present at that time
small mirrors to focus the sun`s rays onto the panels. When we stretched
this idea a bit we thought to have a rock band on scene and have their
amplifier be sensitive to the current from the solar panels so to encourage
the participants to focus the sun`s rays to make sure the amplifier stays
beyond the 85dB. 
Since we are a little acquainted with these teenagers smoking habits we may
be able as a byproduct to explain atmospheric dispersion through smoke. 

Do you see this idea come to live? Is it feasible?
 
thank you for your efforts,
 
Tal

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