Is it feasible to make a giant crystal ball 20m in diameter a.k.a. magnifier glass to concentrate sunlight and increase the efficiency of solar power gain? Will the glass break under its own weight easily? How do you determine the mass to volume limit? What would be the hypothetical price of such project?
Responses (1)
I have no information about whether it would be possible, but your idea has nothing to do with collecting solar power.
Imagine a solar clothes drier. It's a rope! Imagine solar cooling. It's a tree! You, like most people, need to get a clear understanding of just what "solar power" is. There is no "efficiency of solar power gain", only efficiency of conversion and use. A city in California carefully considered solar power schemes and utility bills and concluded that what the city needed was all houses to be built with the longest dimension lying east-west. A certain university studied solar refrigeration for two years and concluded "The most important thing we have learned is that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west." A builder tested his idea to build houses with basements so they would be cooled by ground temperature, but he eventually figured out that good insulation was a much better investment than digging a hole.
You have a lot of studying to do to get up to date in this business. The only reason solar power is so popular is that the government allows tax credits so it might cost the buyer nothing or very little.