Re: Even without math, ancients engineered sophisticated machines

On Oct 4, 9:11 am, "J.LyonLayden" <JosephLay...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Oct 4, 7:24 am, sprocket <buc...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



Jack Linthicum wrote:
"If someone brings a 100-pound slab of meat to the agora, how do you
weigh it"? Schiefsky asks. "It would be nice to have a 10-pound
counterweight instead of a 100-pound counterweight, but to do so you
need to change the balance point and ostensibly understand the
principle of proportionality between weight and distance from the
fulcrum. Yet, these craftsmen were able to use and calibrate these
devices without understanding the law of the lever."

oops.

It would of couse be easy to make a weight that always balances a 100
pound slab of meat when the arm is positioned "like this", but most
slabs of meat don't weigh exactly 100 pounds, so they must have had some
sort of theory of the lever to measure fractional weights, the steelarm
being (largely) a go- no go measurement. Perhaps they were calibrated at
intervals by doubling the reference mass and marking the new balance point?

JS

Perhaps generations of craftsman used the same exact stone to
calibrate with, and each new "balance" required a new stone and a new
period of trial and error?

Or, like the men who made ships by eye, they were better at estimating
than we currently are. The lack of technology means the users didn't
need the crutch of the exact measurement.

I read people on another ng who insist you have to know of the
existence of neutrons to create a nuclear reaction. Try that on the
people who studied the natural reaction in Gabon.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/early-earth-04n.html

.

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