The article states that 2200 years ago Greeks used an ingenious weapon, in front of Roman attack, which was called " burning mirror" made by a big mirror to focus the Sun's rays and burned the ships, and provides three reasons of support. However, the professor says that the mentioned reasons in the article are not convincing then she refutes all of them.
Firs, the reading claims that ancient Greeks did not have enough technology to make such a huge mirror with precise parabolic curvature. The professor opposes this point by saying that the weapon was not necessarily one sheet. They had science to make many small pieces of parabolic mirrors and attach them to make a big curved mirror.
Second, the passage asserts that it would have taken a long time to burn a ship with a burning mirror. In an experiment, it took ten minutes to burn a stand wooden object from 30 meters distance, so it was impractical in battle. In contrast, the lecturer says that the ships were made from various materials which took a shorter time to be burned by Sun's rays; like " pitch" that was used to seal the ship from the water.
Third, the text mentions that the Greeks had better weapons like flaming arrows. Therefore, there was no reason to build the burning mirror. On the contrary, the professor states that there were some advantages of using the burning mirror. For example, the Romans were able to see thrown fires of the arrows, but they could not see anything when Greeks used a burning mirror.
The article states that 2200 years ago Greeks
used
an ingenious weapon, in front of Roman attack, which
was called
"
;
burning
mirror"
; made by a
big
mirror to focus the Sun's rays and burned the
ships
, and provides three reasons of support.
However
, the professor says that the mentioned reasons in the article are not convincing then she refutes all of them.
Firs, the reading claims that ancient Greeks did not have
enough
technology to
make
such a huge mirror with precise parabolic curvature. The professor opposes this point by saying that the weapon was not
necessarily
one sheet. They had science to
make
many
small
pieces of parabolic mirrors and attach them to
make
a
big
curved mirror.
Second, the passage asserts that it would have taken a long time to burn a
ship
with a
burning
mirror. In an experiment, it took ten minutes to burn a stand wooden object from 30 meters distance,
so
it was impractical in battle.
In contrast
, the lecturer says that the
ships
were made
from various materials which took a shorter time to
be burned
by Sun's rays; like
"
;
pitch"
; that was
used
to seal the
ship
from the water.
Third, the text mentions that the Greeks had better weapons like flaming arrows.
Therefore
, there was no reason to build the
burning
mirror.
On the contrary
, the professor states that there were
some
advantages of using the
burning
mirror.
For example
, the Romans were able to
see
thrown fires of the arrows,
but
they could not
see
anything when Greeks
used
a
burning
mirror.