Posted on 05/04/2014 3:06:03 PM PDT by JoeProBono
The question of just how an ancient civilization—without the help of modern technology—moved the 2.5 ton stones that made up their famed pyramids has long plagued Egyptologists and mechanical engineers alike. But now, a team from the University of Amsterdam believes they've figured it out, even though the solution was staring them in the face all along.
It all comes down to friction. See, the ancient Egyptians would transport their rocky cargo across the desert sands, from quarry to monument site with large sleds. Pretty basic sleds, basically just large slabs with upturned edges. Now, when you try to pull a large slab with upturned edges carrying a 2.5 ton load, it tends to dig into the sand ahead of it, building up a sand berm that must then be regularly cleared before it can become an even bigger obstacle.
Wet sand, however, doesn't do this. In sand with just the right amount of dampness, capillary bridges—essentially microdroplets of water that bind grains of sand to one another through capillary action—form across the grains, which doubles the material's relative stiffness. This prevents the sand from berming in front of the sled and cuts the force required to drag the sled in half. In half.
As a UvA press release explains,
The physicists placed a laboratory version of the Egyptian sledge in a tray of sand. They determined both the required pulling force and the stiffness of the sand as a function of the quantity of water in the sand. To determine the stiffness they used a rheometer, which shows how much force is needed to deform a certain volume of sand.
Experiments revealed that the required pulling force decreased proportional to the stiffness of the sand...A sledge glides far more easily over firm desert sand simply because the sand does not pile up in front of the sledge as it does in the case of dry sand.
These experiments served to confirm what the Egyptians clearly already knew, and what we probably already should have. Artwork within the tomb of Djehutihotep, which was discovered in the Victorian Era, depicts a scene of slaves hauling a colossal statue of the Middle Kingdom ruler and in it, a guy at the front of the sled is shown pouring liquid into the sand. You can see it in the image above, just to the right of the statue's foot.
We can now finally put this scientific snipe hunt to rest and focus on how the hell Stonehenge got that way.
Artwork within the tomb of Djehutihotep, which was discovered in the Victorian Era, depicts a scene of slaves hauling a colossal statue of the Middle Kingdom ruler and in it, a guy at the front of the sled is shown pouring liquid into the sand. You can see it in the image above, just to the right of the statue's foot.
“It all comes down to friction.”
A lot of good stuff boils down to “friction!”,,,,, Er,,,,, Never mind!
Only the smallest blocks are a measley 2.5 tons. The bottom courses of the Great Pyramid are in excess of 200 tons - nice try though. 200 tons is the weight of a locomotive engine - FReegards
But who built Nan Madol?
Mel Brooks solved this mystery years ago. They used a bunch of Jews and a lot of rope.
This explains why they paid the workers in BEER!
Big stones (megaliths), some nicely decorated, were a part of the culture of the island of Nias off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. There were big stone statues, stone seats for the chieftains and stone tables where justice was done. There were also big stones needed to commemorate of important deceased people. When such a stone was erected, a ritual feast was to be given. All this to enable a nobleman to join his godly ancestors in the afterlife. On the photo such a stone is hauled upwards. The story has it that it took 525 people three days to erect this stone in the village of Bawemataloeo. (P. Boomgaard, 2001)
In other words they were showing us how they did it all along?
Dang.
I’d always pictured Michelle Obama hip-bumping them blocks into place.
Nan Madol
Lovely place.
Also thanks for the olde-fashioned pix of the quaint and colorful natives. Nowadays, people like this who should have remained forever enshrined on the pages of National Geographic, are multi-registered Democrats living in Sec. 8 Apts. Near you.
Calculating the weight of monoliths
In the cases of the smaller monoliths it may be possible to weigh them. However in most cases the monoliths were too large or they may have been part of an ancient structure so this method could not be used. The weight of a stone can be calculated by multiplying its volume and density. The density of most stones is between two and three tons per cubic meter. The average weight of granite is about 2.75 metric tons per cubic meter, limestone 2.3 metric tons per cubic meter, sandstone or marble 2.5 tons per cubic meter. Some softer stones may be lighter than 2 tons per cubic meter like volcanic tuff or basalt which weighs about 1.9 tons per cubic meter. Since the density of most of these stones fluctuates it is necessary to know the source for the stone and volume to obtain accurate measurements
Caterpillar tractors.
Organized by the guys with whips
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