theory of magnifying light...???

[harmonicminor]

you could magnify light of a lesser intensity. just get a light meter to make sure you dont burn them. mylar does the same thing by reflecting all the light back to the center.

[WeedCollegeGrad]

Why is flat white paint said to be better that a gloss or semi-gloss pain? Is mylar better than paint .. I mean "Why"?? all things being equal otherwise? I invision a brilliant "Tossel" like affair hanging down and all into the branches!!!! Cool.....

[turtle420]

Why is flat white paint said to be better that a gloss or semi-gloss pain? Is mylar better than paint .. I mean "Why"?? all things being equal otherwise? I invision a brilliant "Tossel" like affair hanging down and all into the branches!!!! Cool.....

Here Grad,

http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=37730
This is a write up by Zandor, with easy math, of why Mylar outperforms white paint (flat, semi-gloss, or gloss), and aluminum foil.

1. Mylar
2. Mylar
3. Mylar
4. White Paint
5. Foil

[WeedCollegeGrad]

Thanks for the response turtle. I fully believe Zandor's paper...but still being a hard head I just wonder where he gets the numbers. He writes that paint reflects 86% of available light, and mylar reflects 96%...is this a universal constant? I sound argumentative...I'm not smart enough about any of this to be a know it all..just askin. I suppose its not even that great of a diff when you get down to it, but painting for me is so much easier and covers so well, as well as being washable and smells pretty. Thanks guys.

[Trichome Creator]

LOAD OF SHITE YOU SOUND LIKE A NOOB DONT POST IN THE ADVANCED SECTION

Yeah okay.

[turtle420]

Thanks for the response turtle. I fully believe Zandor's paper...but still being a hard head I just wonder where he gets the numbers. He writes that paint reflects 86% of available light, and mylar reflects 96%...is this a universal constant?

The 96% reflectivity is, I would guess, written all over in Mylar's adverisement... let me check...

Yeap... from www.BGHydro.com, """Mirror-like mylar is one of the best and most affordable reflective materials made, with over 98% reflectivity."""

As to the 86% figure, I don't think he looked it up in a Materials Handbook... but, I think it's a pretty good estimate. I mean, I would be impressed if a painted surface (white) reflects over 90% of light... I think that even 86% is a high figure... So I guess he just threw in a ballpark figure for the math...

Either way, it gets the point across.

and smells pretty.

Careful... that's what weed is for...

[litespeed]

I worked on the big solar units in calif. you have to get away from the heat, and you have to have some thing to track the sun with. then you have to have some thing to put the sun light where you want it. your talking big money...

[MoonStarer420]

One day i was sitting outside smoking a bowl with a magnifying glass and something came to me. Light is released in a concentrated, brighter beam when it is passed through the glass. I wondered if a custom made glass window with the right curvature, not as convexed as the magnifying glass, could increase the power of a light bulb. This means you can concentrate light directly on your plant. It would recieve almost all the lumens that the light emits. Basically light isnt lost; the plant receives all of it. No reflectors would be needed. Of course, there is a lot of adjustment and percision involved in setup, but it would be worth while. I'm not positive if this would work. Any ideas on this theory???

I don'tknow how to grow weed but I do know the physics.

You can't get any more energy out of the light bulb then what it what it already produces. If you want to conserve energy or increase intensity:
a. get a bulb with a higher :stoned: wattage
b. place plant and bulb in a box lined with tin foil.

if you used a magnifying glass your plant would end up like the stuff in your bowl, ash. That is unless you have it so the focal point of the glass is below the plant so that it dosen't scorch it. So one with a slight curve might work. Also glass will block all UV light.

Keep in mind that your plant is already limited to a certain efficency level so there is a point where increasing the intensity of the light will not make your plant grow any faster.

[MoonStarer420]

b. switch tin foil to mylar I guess

[rodekyll]

I'm new to the board, so High, all!

With regard to the magnification of light:

Those dreaded "hotspots" come mostly when light is concentrated on a given point rather than diffused. If you don't focus the extreme concentration of the lens' cone of light you won't have hotspots and more than you can melt a crayon with the magnifying glass at the wrong distance.

Since an unfocused cone of light is still light, and since light is bent and concentrated as it passes through the lens, it should be possible to find a distance at which there would be an advantage to the increase of light available to the plant, yet no harmful heat effect.

Ever seen a lighthouse? Ever wonder how such a wonderfully intense and columnated beam of light can be produced from a candle? They use lenses called "fresnel lenses" to squeeze as many uselful lumens from a light source as possible. Photographers using the old sheet film cameras also use fresnel lenses. I have one for my 8x10 camera that is 8x10" and increases the light I can see by two stops (400%). A cheap experiment for those of you who care would be to get a fresnel from ebay for a few $$ and play with it. You might find that although it can't increase the number of lumens in your MH bulb, it can gather up a lot of the wasted light and bring more lumens to bear on your crop.

$0.02 . . .