Engineering
- Reads 205
- Votes 18
- Parts 13
Complete Sun, May 2, 20211h 7m
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).
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steam
On a 10 weeks sea trial in 1761, J.Harrison's chronometer was in error by less than 5 seconds. In 1758, Dr E.Darwin replaced the ancient front axle design with two stub axles, pivoting near the wheel; now a feature of all vehicles. F.G. Koenig used his steam driven press, to print an edition of The Times newspaper, in 1814. The Rocket locomotive won the 1829 Rainhill Trials with a top speed of 30 miles per hour. A steamship, from New York City took 115 days to reach to San Francisco in 1848. In 1851, all telegraph stations in the USA were connected and by 1940 there were 40 telegraph lines across the Atlantic. Corrugated paper was invented in 1856, to stiffen tall hats and, in 1874, Oliver Long inventing corrugated board. In 1861, waterwheel powered air compressors and pneumatic drills, cut construction time by 16 years for a tunnel in Switzerland. Fritz Haber's discovered a process to make ammonia fertilizer in 1914. In 1887, Nicola Tesla invented the first AC motor. In 1903, an automatic machine was able to make 2,500 bottles an hour. 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).Complete
Invention
In 1885 a Pennsylvanian oil field produced 77 % of the world's oil supply. By 1889, J.Maxwell's equations for electro-magnetism and H.R. Hertz's, proof inspired Einstein's theory of relativity. By 1841, W.Talbot and J. Herschel had fixed photographic images on silver iodide coated paper. Kodachrome film captured red, green, and blue colours in three layers of emulsion in 1936. J.M. Spangler developed the first successful portable 'Electric Suction Sweeper' in 1908. In 1851, I. Singer added a foot treadle drive to his sewing machines and, by 1900, a shirt could be made in one hour. In 1885, John Starley and William Sutton invented the modern safety bicycle. S. Morse sent his first telegraph message in 1844 and 32 years later, Alexander Graham Bell made the first long-distance telephone call. The rotary Strowger switch allowed connections without an operator in 1891. Banks of these later provided 13,200 voice channels on one coaxial cable. Marconi's spark gap radio of 1896 was crucial during the 1912 Titanic disaster. 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).Complete
Atoms & Light
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).Complete
Combustion
N.Otto was selling 634, 3 hp piston engines a year by 1875 and, between 1908 and 1927, Ford sold over 4 million Model T automobiles. In 1903 the Wright Brother's engine produced 1 horsepower for each 17 pounds of engine weight. In 1943, the Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engine developed 2,000 hp; 1.2 hp for each pound. W.von Braun developed the V-2 long-range rocket used in 1943. Also during World War 2, A.Franz, mass-produced the Jumo 004 turbojet for German aircraft. In 1945, the V-1 cruise missile was powered by a pulsejet engine with virtually no moving parts. The Lockheed "Blackbird" was the fastest manned ramjet; capable of Mach 2 to 4 supersonic speeds. On October 4, 1957 the satellite Sputnik 1 proved that the Soviets were capable of reaching any point in the USA with nuclear weapons. The Syncom 3 communication satellite was placed in geostationary orbits over the Pacific on August 19, 1964. In July 1969 N.Armstrong and B.Aldrin landed a Lunar Module on the moon. 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).Complete
Migration
The Roman Empire began to decline after Germanic tribes crossed the river Rhine in 406 CE. When Constantine III recalled the legions from Britain, three years later, the Angles and Saxons invaded and Britain became known as Angleland. The Visigoths sacked Rome in 410. The Vandals invaded north Africa in 429 and conquered Carthage before crossing the Mediterranean to sack Rome in 455 CE. Meanwhile, Christianity grew from a minor Hebrew religious cult to dominate much of Europe. With the continual violence, people reverted to a poorer lifestyle. However, the metal workers, glass blowers, carpenters, leather workers, rope makers, weavers, potters and farmers developed more efficient horse drawn plows, improved crop yields, build better boats and the first engineers designed water wheels to irrigate crops, grind seeds and saw wood. They invented wooden barrels, wagon wheels and windmills as the Chinese invented paper and printing. Meanwhile, the Indians revolutionized mathematics and Moslems discovered chemistry. 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).Complete
We Eukaryotes
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).Complete
Health
The human population increased from 1 billion to 7.8 billion between 1800 and 2020 because of sewage treatment, clean drinking water, vitamins, vaccines and antibiotics. In the USA in 1800, 46% of babies died before their fifth birthday; in 2020 less than 1% died. (Breastfeeding babies up to 12 months should be given 400 IU of vitamin D per day; 600 IU thereafter). In 1536, Jacques Cartier's crew were cured of scurvy with a tea made from the arbor vitae tree's needles (which have 50 mg of vitamin C per 100g). In 1796, Dr.E.Jenner developed a smallpox vaccine from cowpox. In 1812, When Napoleon invaded Russia only 40,000 soldiers survived a typhus epidemic; over 400,000 died. Between1848 and 1870, life expectancy in Liverpool, England, increased from 19 years to 40 years because of the new sewage system. In 1854, Dr. J. Snow identified a public well as the source of a cholera outbreak in London. In 1865, J.Lister applied a carbolic acid solution, to a boy's broken leg and was amazed when the leg bones fused back together without gangrene. 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).Complete
Our Sea
The arms race began in Mesopotamia with the invention of composite bows, light chariots and crossbows. The Persian (Iranian) emperor tried to conquer Athens in 480 BCE but was delayed by the Spartans at Thermopylae while Greek warships destroyed the Persian fleet. The Macedonian ruler, Alexander the Great, completely destroyed the Persian armies by 326 BCE and established the Greek empire. Then, between 600 and 200 BCE, a few hundred Greeks revolutionized science, mathematics, medicine, engineering, history, law and philosophy. Meanwhile, Greeks settlers in Sicily were in conflict with Rome and, by first century BCE, Romans had conquered Greece, Egypt, Carthage and the old Persian empire. Roman traders made large profits using the Silk Road between Rome, China and India and which created higher incomes though out the Roman empire. Roman engineers built more than 80,000 km of roads throughout the empire and 800 km of aqueducts in Rome delivered a million cubic metres of water each day. 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).Complete
Nuclear
H.Becquerel found uranium emitted radiation and, in1898, M.Curie extracted minute traces of radium from ore. J.Maxwell predicted electro-magnetic radiation in 1855 and Einstein formulated special relativity; mass could be converted into energy. In 1905, E.Rutherford found radon gas emitted helium nuclei. In 1919, F.Aston identified 212 naturally occurring isotopes. But why was the atomic weight of helium exactly 4.000 and not 4.032? In 1925, Rutherford transmuted nitrogen into an isotope of oxygen. By 1934, J.Chadwick had found neutrons emitted by polonium and E.Fermi had transmuted uranium into plutonium. Fermi's research reactor went critical in 1942. The 235-uranium was extracted at Oak Ridge, while plutonium was produced in Washington state and the first atom bomb exploded in New Mexico in 1945. Two more atom bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending the war with Japan. The first practical nuclear power plant was developed for submarines and, by 2021, 442 fission reactors supplied about 10% of the world's electricity. 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).Complete
Neolithic
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).Complete
On a 10 weeks sea trial in 1761, J.Harrison's chronometer was in error by less than 5 seconds. In 1758, Dr E.Darwin replaced the ancient front axle design with two stub axles, pivoting near the wheel; now a feature of all vehicles. F.G. Koenig used his steam driven press, to print an edition of The Times newspaper, in 1814. The Rocket locomotive won the 1829 Rainhill Trials with a top speed of 30 miles per hour. A steamship, from New York City took 115 days to reach to San Francisco in 1848. In 1851, all telegraph stations in the USA were connected and by 1940 there were 40 telegraph lines across the Atlantic. Corrugated paper was invented in 1856, to stiffen tall hats and, in 1874, Oliver Long inventing corrugated board. In 1861, waterwheel powered air compressors and pneumatic drills, cut construction time by 16 years for a tunnel in Switzerland. Fritz Haber's discovered a process to make ammonia fertilizer in 1914. In 1887, Nicola Tesla invented the first AC motor. In 1903, an automatic machine was able to make 2,500 bottles an hour. 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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