Burning mirrors: solar rays on flat and concave mirrors
How reflected rays converge, and why a concave mirror heats more than a flat one
The sheet studies the reflection of the sun's rays by mirrors: a flat mirror that returns every ray to the sun, and a concave mirror whose reflected rays multiply the heat wherever they intersect. A large arc diagram traces individual rays (a b, g c, m d) rebounding point to point across a concave surface, arguing that heat grows as the mirror approaches a hemisphere. Below the optical diagrams the page also carries drawn mechanical devices with wheels and a note labelled 'front of a cart' that the given transcription does not otherwise describe.
On this page
A flat mirror returns every ray to the sun
For a flat mirror set against the sun, Leonardo states that every line of light arriving from the sun is reflected straight back to it. The reflection is symmetrical, sending each ray back along its incoming direction toward the source.
Heat multiplied where reflected rays intersect
For the concave mirror labelled b d c an, a ray makes more rebounds the nearer it strikes the mirror's edges. Where the reflected rays cross one another the degrees of heat are multiplied as many times as there are intersecting rays.
The concave mirror heats more than the flat, traced ray by ray
Solar rays heat a concave mirror more than a flat one, and the concave heats the more the closer it comes to a half-sphere. The argument is confirmed by tracing rays: m d rebounds only to q or to point K, g c goes from c to h and on to n or r, and a b passes b to c to d to e to f and so throughout the mirror.
Front of a cart and mechanical devices
At the upper left the label reads 'front of a cart'. The lower part of the sheet carries drawn mechanisms with wheels and geared elements that the given transcription does not describe in words.
