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Hertz, showing the difference between science and engineering (lemmynsfw.com)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

It's not always immediately obvious to what end you can use a new innovation. For instance, the Romans discovered and built a steam engine. But nobody connected the dots that it could be used to power a train.

To me, it showcases the main reason why we need to collaborate. Only together, we can exponentially increase the potential of everything we build.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Herons steam "engine" had no power whatsoever and was not scalable. And even if it would have been scalable, they had had no fuel to drive it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

I thought they did invent a steam engine at some point. I'm sure I read that somewhere.

The thing is they were never going to invent the steam engine because they didn't have the technology to produce steel to the quality and strength that would be needed to build rails. And for that matter they didn't really have the metallurgy necessary to construct reliable boilers either.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

No fuel? All you need is something that makes a fire. And it is not like crude oil wasn't know to people back then.

If the invention had been further explored it is entirely reasonable to assume people could have invented a "practical" steam engine 2.000 years ago. All it would have needed is fixing the steam exhaust and have it drive a shoveled wheel.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Still, going from a stream powered spinning toy to locomotive is a few orders of magnitude. Heron's "engine" was a little jet engine. Heated water pushed it's way out of pipes. It's a far cry from building steam pressure in a tank, using that pressure to drive a crank shaft, and pushing along a vehicle of any kind.

There are a number of industrial era inventions required before you can even start putting something like a train together.

The Romans didn't even have replaceable parts yet. Every nail was custom made.

If you haven't seen it, watch Clickspring's series on the antikithra mechanism. It'll give you an idea of how hard it was to produce complicated machinery was at the time.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago

Imagine industrial revolution Roman Empire, thank fuck they didn't connect the dots.