Atoms & Light
  • Reads 70
  • Votes 17
  • Parts 12
  • Time 1h 18m
  • Reads 70
  • Votes 17
  • Parts 12
  • Time 1h 18m
Complete, First published Jan 24, 2021
In 1657, Otto von Guericke pumped the air from two hemispheres and eight horses could not pull them apart. 

Amontons found a volume of air shrank as the temperature fell and realized that it would become zero.

In 1774, Joseph Priestley isolated oxygen while Lavoisier released hydrogen and burned this with oxygen to make water. 

In 1832, Michael Faraday built the first electric motor and generator. 

John Newlands noticed similar chemical properties in a list of elements demonstrating the existence of unknown elements.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek invented a microscope with 300 times magnification allowing him to see bacteria, spermatozoa and red blood cells.

In 1605, Kepler concluded that all the planets moved in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus of the ellipse.

Galileo reported that the orbital periods of Jupiter's moons permitted accurate determination of longitude on Earth. 

Newton and Leibniz independently invented calculus, used extensively in mathematics, science, engineering and economics. 



WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization.  

Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago.  This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity.  The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity.

It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade.  The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned  how to destroy wealth.  Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas.

Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).
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Undercover - Steam Power - Book 5 by ziffdion
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Denny, Licia, Miguel and I had been kidnapped by a press gang and forced aboard His Majesty's Ship Curious, a 20 gun sailing frigate. (Book 4 Undercover Curiousers). When the ship ran aground, we escaped, but, in 1778, the British Royal Navy hung deserters. The only way we could avoid this fate was to find work in the copper and tin mines at the far south west of England. These mines were essential to the war against the French navy and employees were exempt from military service. On the way west, we fought off some highway men and joined up with the famous British engineer James Watt. He was heading for one of the mines to repair a steam engines used to prevent the mine from flooding. Our carriage driver got lost along the way and we discovered that the locals were suspicious of all foreigners and not at all helpful. While Denny was helping Mr Watt to repair his steam engine at the Ting Tang mine, Licia, Miguel and I found out that the local mechanic had been sabotaging the engine. The local coal merchants feared the loss of sales (because Mr Watt's engine was more efficient) and were paying him to make the engine burn more coal. We tricked the saboteurs to prevent them damaging the engine and Mr Watt successfully demonstrated that the engine rapidly lowered the water level in the mine and, as a by-product, supplied more water to drive the waterwheel and trip hammers used to process the tin ore. Dr Zhang found us and we returned to Plymouth narrowly avoiding a troop of red-coats searching for highway men and . . . deserters. Back in Ottawa we discovered someone had destroyed Oppy's software and were trying to bomb the electric bookcase.
We Eukaryotes by duncmacphun
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About 1.5 billion years ago, the single-celled eukaryotes became the common ancestors of all multicellular plants, animals, and fungi. Fish evolved a primitive lung sac and four limbs, 350 million years ago, so they could crawl between fresh water swamps. About 250 million years ago, the ancestors of all mammals, were tiny nocturnal insectivores and, about 6 million years ago, we began walking on two legs. The most recent Ice Age (2.6 million to 12,000 years ago), severely reduced rainfall in Africa, where Homo habilis was evolving. In Homo erectus (1.9 to 0.5 million years ago), cranial capacity increased to between 850 and 1000 cm3 implying the phenomenal increase of 125,000 more neurons with each generation. Between 70 and 50 thousand years ago, Homo sapiens spread out from east Africa. Then, about 20,000 years ago, evolution made a sharp change in direction. After 250 million years, we ceased to be hunter gatherers. The Neolithic Revolution meant we could never go back. WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization. Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity. It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade. The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned how to destroy wealth. Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas. Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).
Flight by duncmacphun
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The Orville and Wilbur Wright flew under power in 1903. The first flight travelled only 120 feet but Wilbur flew 24.5 miles in 38 minutes in August 1904. More powerful aircraft engines were developed during WW-1 but airframes were too fragile for aerial fighting. H.Focke's transverse twin-rotor helicopter, broke all helicopter world records in 1937. After WW-1, designers used duralumin airframes and smaller, monoplane wings for fighter aircraft like the Supermarine Spitfire. At Midway, in 1942, American dive-bombers sank three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers. I.Sikorsky developed the first practical single rotor helicopter with a single tail boom rotor and produced over 400 helicopters in WW-2. The Messerschmitt Me 262 was the first jet fighter in action in 1944. For maximum efficiency most jet aircraft need to cruise at about Mach 0.8 (610 mph) and at altitudes above 30,000 ft. In 2021, with battery powered, contra-rotating propellers spinning at 2500 rpm, NASA's Dragonfly helicopter lifted off from the surface of Mars. It weighed only 2 pound. WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization. Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity. It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade. The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned how to destroy wealth. Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas. Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).
Engineering by duncmacphun
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Denis Papin built the first steam engine in 1705 and, by 1800, Boulton and Watt had built 451steam engines. In 1870, the British produced 4 million tons of coke for iron and steel production and locomotive and industrial engines. Axel Cronstedt identified tungsten in 1757. Tungsten carbide, proved almost as hard as diamond making it invaluable for cutting tools. Li Chun's Zhaozhou Bridge, in China, was finished in 605 CE and it is still in use. The Kap Shui Mun Bridge, Hong Kong, completed in 1997, has a main span of 430 metres (1,410 ft). In 1886, P.Héroult and C.Hall both dissolved alumina in cryolite, to make pure aluminum by electrolysis. E.Fouché and C.Picard developed oxygen-acetylene torches for welding and cutting steel in 1903. Henry Wickham smuggled 70,000 rubber tree seeds from Brazil, in 1876. Charles Goodyear developed vulcanization in 1840 and by 2017 the world produced 28 million tons of rubber; more than half of which was synthetic. WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization. Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity. It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade. The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned how to destroy wealth. Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas. Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).
Neolithic by duncmacphun
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The first agricultural revolutions began about 10,000 BCE in Egypt, China and Mesopotamia (Iraq). Trading require counting and the first written language; in general use by 2600 BCE. The first epic poem, Gilgamesh, was written in cuneiform. The first alphabet assigned Semitic characters to Egyptian hieroglyphs about 2000 BCE. It was adopted by the Greeks about 800 BCE and later modified for the Roman Latin alphabet. The Chinese built the first blast furnaces (using piston-bellows driven by waterwheels) and cast iron farm tools and weapons were common by 500 BCE. Austronesians sailed outrigger canoes over 6,000 kilometers from Taiwan to reach New Zealand from about 3000 BCE. About 100 BCE the Malays of Indonesia traded between China, India and Africa in sailing ships carrying 1000 people and a 260 ton cargo. The Greek navigator, Pytheas, sailed to the north Atlantic about 325 BCE where he recorded polar ice, the Midnight Sun and lunar tides. The Roman Prefect of Egypt (26-24 BCE), Aelius Gallus, noted 120 trading ships leaving Myos Hormos for India. WHO THE HELL ARE WE? is a series of short books and videos describing the evolution of civilization. Almost everyone on the planet is five times wealthier than their ancestors only 50 years ago. This astonishing phenomenon has also improved health, education, and longevity. The cause; an explosive growth in ideas and productivity. It began when we learned to control fire, evolved articulate speech and stumbled onto the way to create infinite wealth; free trade. The discovery of agriculture made us richer but we also learned how to destroy wealth. Great civilization grew up but then disappeared leaving only incredible ruins and ideas. Later books detail some of the ideas and developments that increased the average life span from about 40 years to more than 80 and the average world income from less than $3 to more than $33 per person per day (and to $140 per day in some countries).
Invention by duncmacphun
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(Mature) 𝚃𝚘 𝙱𝚎 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚕𝚢 (mxm) by Bubblegum_NickNelson
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the dark light by magic_is_somewhere
11 parts Ongoing Mature
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Slide 1 of 10
Undercover - Steam Power - Book 5 cover
We Eukaryotes cover
Flight cover
Engineering cover
Neolithic cover
Invention cover
All I Ever Wanted cover
steam cover
(Mature) 𝚃𝚘 𝙱𝚎 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚕𝚢 (mxm) cover
the dark light cover

Undercover - Steam Power - Book 5

25 parts Complete

Denny, Licia, Miguel and I had been kidnapped by a press gang and forced aboard His Majesty's Ship Curious, a 20 gun sailing frigate. (Book 4 Undercover Curiousers). When the ship ran aground, we escaped, but, in 1778, the British Royal Navy hung deserters. The only way we could avoid this fate was to find work in the copper and tin mines at the far south west of England. These mines were essential to the war against the French navy and employees were exempt from military service. On the way west, we fought off some highway men and joined up with the famous British engineer James Watt. He was heading for one of the mines to repair a steam engines used to prevent the mine from flooding. Our carriage driver got lost along the way and we discovered that the locals were suspicious of all foreigners and not at all helpful. While Denny was helping Mr Watt to repair his steam engine at the Ting Tang mine, Licia, Miguel and I found out that the local mechanic had been sabotaging the engine. The local coal merchants feared the loss of sales (because Mr Watt's engine was more efficient) and were paying him to make the engine burn more coal. We tricked the saboteurs to prevent them damaging the engine and Mr Watt successfully demonstrated that the engine rapidly lowered the water level in the mine and, as a by-product, supplied more water to drive the waterwheel and trip hammers used to process the tin ore. Dr Zhang found us and we returned to Plymouth narrowly avoiding a troop of red-coats searching for highway men and . . . deserters. Back in Ottawa we discovered someone had destroyed Oppy's software and were trying to bomb the electric bookcase.