Death ray not fully functional

[woolymonkey]

Spidermonkey now has his own userpic.  Since I still haven't had time to upload pictures of his artwork for the school production of Hair, here's what he told me about his day yesterday.

"M [spider's dangerously bright friend] built a death ray at break time, but it didn't work." 

Apparently, if you rub the bottom of a Coke can with chocolate (which is - again apparently - a weak alkali) for three hours, you get a concave shiny surface capable of focusing the sun's rays into a deadly beam.

The break-time death ray was scuppered by insufficient chocolate-rubbing time and the sun going behind a cloud, but M allegedly built a working one at home. 
"How did he know it worked?" I asked nervously. 
"He tried it on a leaf."

Has anyone heard of this before?  Is it based on any kind of reality at all?

Comments

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

This in NOT something they learned at school, but M's dad is some kind of engineering prof. The lad has built a working gun out of k*nex for chrissakes! It shoots holes through their garden fence.

England currently much too soggy for incineration. Death ray might be handy for drying us out although, as you say, probably better to eat the chocolate.

Blergh! I just realised M and spidermonkey would probably be happy to eat the chocolate after they've rubbed it around the bottom of a Coke can for 3 hours.