It couldnt have, while they had the concept of steam egines, they lacked the knowledge of composite materials needed to build a large scale enough one that wouldnt just blow up under heavy load
It couldnt have, while they had the concept of steam egines, they lacked the knowledge of composite
The Ancient Greeks did not have the culture that allowed for industrialization. They had cheap labor in the form of slaves, a massive deterrent to technological progress since "why make a machine that does the work of 100 men when you can just hire 100 men for cheaper?" They also had a culture that favored logical argument over empirical evidence while also looking down on practicality. They had a guy who invented a laser using sunlight and he was forced to apologize for making it into a useful weapon to burn enemy ships.
The Ancient Greeks did not have the culture that allowed for industrialization. They had cheap labor
The Aristotle sun laser thing has actually been pretty soundly debunked. A lot of accounts from the era were extremely prone to exaggeration. More likely he just used a mirror array to blind ship crews and allow other ships to sneak up on them.
The Aristotle sun laser thing has actually been pretty soundly debunked. A lot of accounts from the
Could also have been used for signaling. I did see the Mythbusters episode, and IIRC the Mythbusters goofed by using plywood instead of the kind of wood that would have been used at the time
Could also have been used for signaling. I did see the Mythbusters episode, and IIRC the Mythbusters
Designing an efficient steam engine is HARD. You need precision machine tools--when James Watt was designing his first steam engine, John Smeaton reported to the Society of Engineers that "neither the tools nor the workmen existed who could manufacture such a complex machine with sufficient precision"... and he was almost right. In the 1770s. Before that, steam engines were never more than 1% efficient, and were basically never used except to pump water out of coal mines (since fuel efficiency isn't a big deal when the fuel source is RIGHT THERE).
Designing an efficient steam engine is HARD. You need precision machine tools--when James Watt was d
Honestly surprising the Romans didn't take that technology and craft engines of expansion with it. It was kind of their thing. ...or the Persians, for that matter. They were also good at that kind of thing.
Honestly surprising the Romans didn't take that technology and craft engines of expansion with it. I
Didn't have the metallurgy. You need some pretty advanced iron- and brassworking to get a steam engine that produces a useful amount of power without spontaneous unscheduled self-disassembly.
Plus drill/milling tools that have both the strength and precision to work with those materials, powered lathes and cutting bits that can handle iron...
Basically figuring out that steam could be used to generate motion is the easiest part of building a practical steam engine by far.
Didn't have the metallurgy. You need some pretty advanced iron- and brassworking to get a steam engi
All true, but I feel that if given the idea, the Romans would have found a way to make it work for them... as long as they didn't keep getting distracted with trying to kill each other all the time. Rome never met a civil war they didn't love. Really slowed down their industrial efforts.
All true, but I feel that if given the idea, the Romans would have found a way to make it work for t
They had the idea. They knew about those greek toys and understood at least the basics of how they worked. They didn't do anything with it because they realized exactly the same thing the greeks did...it'd never be more than a curiosity unless you went for WAY higher pressures and any attempt to do so would rupture the vessel.
They were at least a thousand years too early to do anything with it. All the technologies needed for it are based on others that are once more base on others and so on. They lacked the tools to make the tools to make the tools to make the tools...
Basically, you can't drop an industrial-era concept into a classical techbase and expect anything to come out of it. Even if you travel back in time and tell them exactly what's needed for which part it'd take centuries to get the prerequisites all into place.
Any piece of modern technology stands at the apex of an unbelievably huge pyramid of technological discoveries, each of which is in itself absolutely essential to the creation of the final product.
They had the idea. They knew about those greek toys and understood at least the basics of how they w
Yes, thank you for stepping on the joke. But I will still imagine a steampunk Roman Empire, because I think it sounds cooler than Victorian/Edwardian England.
Yes, thank you for stepping on the joke. But I will still imagine a steampunk Roman Empire, because
