Episode 95: Melting Stone With the Sun | Peter Forhan LIVE Solar Experiments

<p>Peter Forhan came back for Episode 95 of Questioning Everything, and for the first time we took the show outside, live. It was high noon on a rooftop in Shenzhen, China, and Peter brought a lens that concentrates sunlight a thousand times to show what &quot;sunfire&quot; can do.</p><p><br></p><p>Peter exploded a chunk of pyrite (it made both of us jump), melted pewter into a shot-glass mold and turned it into a little tin &quot;goose,&quot; and heated obsidian until a single tap split it, his case for how the old world could have quarried and shaped stone without lasers. We also covered Prometheus, Roman self-healing concrete and stone worked at the &quot;wax&quot; stage. He showed how a hidden lens can make anyone look like a wizard, and we compared notes on moonlight reading about 4 degrees colder.</p><p><br></p><p>When the clouds rolled in, we moved to Peter&#39;s theory that Rome crossed the Atlantic, the Washington statues, and a one-star flag in the Maryland State House painting. We closed on the Eye of the Sahara: Plato&#39;s ringed Atlantis west of the Pillars of Hercules, and what looks like a flood path running out to the Atlantic.</p><p><br></p><p>The clouds cost us the brick-melting demo, so we&#39;ll have Peter back for round two. The demos are very visual, so watch the full video on YouTube if you&#39;re listening here.</p><p><br></p><p>Having a guest on isn&#39;t an endorsement. Nothing here is medical advice. Never look at the sun or focused sunlight, and don&#39;t try lens experiments without eye protection. Do your own homework.</p><p><br></p><p>⏱️ CHAPTERS</p><p>00:00 Cold open: live at high noon</p><p>01:27 Peter, live from a Shenzhen rooftop</p><p>05:00 Prometheus and the heavenly fire</p><p>07:08 The hidden-lens magic trick</p><p>10:04 How hot is the focal point?</p><p>13:40 How alchemy became a joke</p><p>16:28 Sunlit crystals and wireless power</p><p>22:07 Seawater + sunlight = water, power, salt</p><p>23:56 Demo 1: exploding pyrite</p><p>26:17 Who really invented gunpowder?</p><p>29:36 Demo 2: casting molten pewter</p><p>31:41 Roman self-healing concrete</p><p>36:08 Gilding a man: statues from vapor?</p><p>40:42 The tin goose and sand casting</p><p>45:50 Solar towers and the Pharos</p><p>47:24 Is moonlight colder? The 4-degree test</p><p>53:11 Moonlight through the lens, and sun gazing</p><p>59:00 Demo 3: obsidian</p><p>1:03:24 Heat and tap: splitting stone</p><p>1:08:00 The magician&#39;s assistant</p><p>1:08:54 Dark magicians