Why did people come up with a wheel for so long

Today, spoiled by computers and gadgets, it seems to us that the wheel is a primitive mechanism. But in reality it is so brilliant that mankind invented the first wheels only in 3,500 years. BC. But by that time, people were already casting metal alloys, building channels and designed complex musical instruments.

Why did it take so long to invent the wheel?

When came up with the wheel

The first wheel images date back to 5000 years. BC, but it was then used not for transport purposes, but in ceramics.

Wheels as part of a vehicle appear around the 4th millennium BC. Apparently, they were the first to be invented either in the territory of Mesopotamia or in the territory of modern Eastern Europe.

What was the complexity of the invention?

The catch is not to invent a cylinder that rolls. But to connect a stable platform to this cylinder is to create the concept of an axis - a wheel, which at that time was extremely difficult to invent.

For the manufacture of a fixed axis with rotating wheels, the ends of the axis must be extremely smooth and round. Like the holes in the center of the wheels. Otherwise, the friction between them would not allow the wheels to rotate. In addition, the axle should fit snugly enough to the holes, but at the same time one should not overdo it either: the wheels should rotate freely.

Pair of wheels

The efficiency of the whole structure was extremely sensitive to the size of the axis. The thick axis will create too much friction, while the narrow axis will reduce it, but it will not be able to withstand the load. a solution was found when people designed the first carts narrow so that the axles in this design were short and not thick.

The sensitivity of this entire wheel-axle system to the above factors means that the development did not occur at all in several stages. It was an all-or-nothing scheme.

To come up with and invent a mechanism, it was necessary, firstly, to get wide, thick wooden trunks to cut large round wheels. Secondly, metal tools were needed to chisel precisely fitted holes and axes. According to some scholars, it was the carpentry that probably delayed the invention of the design until 3500 BC. or so. Because only around 4000 BC casting of copper bits has become common in the Middle East.

In addition, the purpose of the wheel was needed: the transportation of heavy things on the ground. It is interesting, for example, that the wheel was not known to the civilizations of pre-Columbian America, the natives of Australia and South Africa before the Europeans arrived there, since they dragged goods in a different way.

What makes a wheel unique?

The invention of the wheel was so complicated that it probably only happened once, in one place. However, from there it seems to have spread so quickly throughout Eurasia and the Middle East that scientists still cannot tell exactly where it was invented. The earliest images of wheeled carts were found in Poland and elsewhere in the steppes of Eurasia. And this region is "fighting" with Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) for the title of the most likely place for the "birth" of the wheel.

The uniqueness of the wheel is that this invention is exclusively a figment of man’s imagination and observation. Unlike many other inventions of that time, wheels had no analogues in nature. That is why it made such a sensation: a surge in the development of science and technology began with it.

So it is with the invention of the wheel that modern civilization is born.

Watch the video: Why Did I Wait So Long To Try PITA WHEEL??? (March 2024).

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