The Hangzhou Asian Games flame was successfully collected. You need to know the principle of fire collection using a concave mirror...

On June 15, the flame of the Hangzhou Asian Games was successfully collected at Damaojiao Mountain in the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park in Hangzhou.

At around 9:18 am, 19 torch bearers dressed in white slowly walked up the steps. The number "19" represents the 19th Asian Games.

The fire-collecting messenger holds a fire-collecting stick and walks towards the fire-collecting device. The center of the device is a concave mirror, and the outer ring is in the shape of a Liangzhu jade disk. The fire-collecting messenger extends the fire-collecting stick to the fire-collecting device and successfully lights it. The fire is held high, the music is melodious, and as the fire-collecting messenger team slowly marches, many actors dressed in Liangzhu ancestors' costumes gather from all directions and join them. They symbolize members of the Asian family, bringing peace, friendship, and the belief in a community with a shared future for Asia to participate in the grand event.

▲The fire-collecting messenger is collecting the flame for the 19th Asian Games (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Han)

Afterwards, the flame-collecting messenger came to the ceremony area and lit the fire box with the fire stick. As the fire box was lit, the Asian Games "Digital Torchbearer" online relay activity was simultaneously launched on the "Asian Games One-Stop" platform. Then, the flame guard introduced the flame into the flame lamp, and the Asian Games flame collection ceremony was a complete success.

▲The flame guards introduced the 19th Asian Games Olympic flame into the flame lamp and displayed it (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Han)

After the Asian Games flame collection ceremony, the 19th Asian Games torch lighting and torch relay launching ceremony will be held in Hangzhou West Lake in mid-September. After that, the torch will be fully relayed in 11 cities in Zhejiang. On September 23, the Asian Games flame from the 5,000-year-old Liangzhu civilization will light the main torch at the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Why was Liangzhu chosen to collect the flame for the Asian Games?

In 1951, the first Asian Games was held in New Delhi, India. It inherited the practice of collecting and lighting the Olympic flame, and opened the history of flame collection for the Asian Games.

The 1990 Beijing Asian Games was the first Asian Games held in China. The flame was collected at the foot of Nyainqentanglha Peak, 7,117 meters above sea level, one of the sources of the Yangtze River. The 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games selected the Juyongguan Great Wall in Beijing, known as the "most majestic pass in the world". Both locations bear witness to China's long history and splendid civilization, and embody the Chinese nation's noble character of peace-loving and self-improvement.

In the new era and new journey, the Asian Games flame has been ignited for the third time on the Chinese land, and it should choose a shining and significant cultural coordinate in the long river of history.

The Liangzhu Ruins are a sacred place that verifies the 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization. For a long time, the international academic community believed that Chinese civilization only began in the Shang Dynasty around 3,500 years ago. On July 6, 2019, the 43rd UNESCO World Heritage Committee made the final decision that the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins were approved to be included in the World Heritage List, and the 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization has been recognized by the international community!

Today, the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park and Liangzhu Museum have become important places for global visitors to experience and appreciate China's 5,000-year-old civilization. Here, citizens and tourists can feel the diligence, wisdom and aesthetics of the Liangzhu ancestors from carbonized rice, exquisite jades and stone plows, admire the ingenuity of the artifacts, and use AI and AR technology to enter the life scenes of the ancestors 5,000 years ago. Ignition of the fire with the Liangzhu mark adds a sense of history and cultural atmosphere to the Asian Games, which is also the cultural confidence that the Hangzhou Asian Games conveys to the world.

For the Liangzhu ancient city ruins, the collection and transmission of fire has once again put Chinese civilization under the global spotlight, allowing it to be continued and renewed.

The principle of fire collection and application

So, how is fire collected? What is the principle?

In fact, the process of collecting fire uses the principle of concave mirror reflection imaging. The concave mirror has the function of focusing light, which makes parallel light converge at the focus. That is to say, sunlight passes through the concave mirror, is reflected by the curved mirror surface, and then converges at the center of the concave mirror, reaching a certain temperature, thereby igniting the fire stick.

Concave mirrors can not only make parallel light converge to the focus, but also reflect the light from the focus into parallel light. For example, the most common car headlights in our lives.