Flight
  • Reads 158
  • Votes 35
  • Parts 19
  • Time 1h 43m
  • Reads 158
  • Votes 35
  • Parts 19
  • Time 1h 43m
Complete, First published Apr 29, 2021
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).
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Engineering cover
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The Dark Side of The Imagination {Prinxiety} - Book Two of the Why I Run Series cover
Our Sea cover
steam cover
"Goodbye Curly Head" cover
We Eukaryotes cover
Loving Mr. Cavalier cover
United We Stand, Divided We Fall cover

Engineering

13 parts Complete

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).