Not the exact results you might be expecting, but a fun video in experimentation nonetheless – watch:
Tije wondered if it would be possible or even easy to roast with sunlight and a magnifying glass. As a boy he was successful at setting stuff on fire with his magnifying glass, so there might be enough solar energy to collect in a metal, reflective bowl catching the full blast of solar heat on a handful of coffee beans. Add a little shaking device and anyone can roast their beans on a sunny day. It’s grean, sustainable, fun and all. Tije made some tools and came over to try this together with Jan van der Weel and me. We’d like to say that the first results are simply astounding, but alas, they are not. A sunny afternoon went up in smoke. Very little smoke. But we had a great time.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.