quote:
Originally posted by Align:
<STRONG>Yes. It's hot, but not hot enough to melt rock.</STRONG>
Theoretically you could heat something to ~6000C with solar power, which is plenty to melt rocks :p. Realistically, you won't ever get that thanks to atmospheric absorption and other effects, but I imagine with a good lens you could probably heat something up to at least 1600C (which happens to be the hottest temperature magma gets). It would be impractical to use solar power to make magma though, you would need a HUGE lens to make any significant amount and it would all cool off every night anyway.
However you don't really need to make magma, you could just build a solar furnace and use that. Modern solar furnaces can get as high as 3000C which is plenty hot enough for anything the dwarves can make now. Even if the dwarves can only get half that, it's still basically the same temp as the magma we have and we make steel with that (even though you really shouldn't be able to).
Anyway, a more 'fantasy' idea (even though I *like* the thought of dwarven solar furnaces) in icewind dale, the dwarves who live in dorn's deep use portals to the elemental plain of fire to make magma and forge things - that could be neat once magic gets put in (plus has the added bonus of maybe having fire creatures invade through them sometimes).