What intrigues me is how we can fashion microprocessors from stone tools. There is a progression. Stone tools led to copper tools, which led to bronze and iron and parts of increasing refinement. I don't understand how crudity can lead to sophistication. What is the missing ingredient?
2006-10-05 18:10:31 · 7 answers · asked by Gibaudrac D 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
The example of tools you cited made the progress thru the property of, say, hardness. That is just one attribute or one dimension of a tool. As much more attributes are discovered through scientific knowledge, tool making evolved and led to sophistication. Imagine the current progress in nanotechnology that made material that does not exist in the natural world.
Plenty of examples abound that exploits the latest scientific knowledge through engineering creating tools encompassing knowldege and ingenuity in creating tools to solve problems.
2006-10-05 18:23:43 · answer #1 · answered by ele81946 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Leverage, used for fine motion instead of power, tends to help.
1. Stone-age obsidian knives can be as sharp as scalpels. They arent necessarily "crude".
2. The limitation is both the geometry of the tool being used, but the real power comes in the skill of the wielder. A great skill covers a multitude of "crude"'s.
3. Failure properties of one material can be exploited. Diamonds can be made to break along planes of weakness, then used as a tool not along those planes.
4. Microprocessors are made in part by shining powerful lasers through human sized stainless-steel dies that have imprints of the chip cut out of them. Its the power of a converging lens and a the spatial coherence of a laser beam filtered through a large shape to make a small picture with accurate shadows.
2006-10-06 01:21:21 · answer #2 · answered by Curly 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Greed and laziness are two great motivators. Some people invent new things to make money. Others invent new things to make life easier. These are two strong drives that have pushed civilization to where it is today.
2006-10-06 01:20:47 · answer #3 · answered by Lee J 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi. Patience.
2006-10-06 01:14:23 · answer #4 · answered by Cirric 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My hobby is historical metalworking. You would be amazed what people can do with hand-tools, and the accuracy they can achieve. What is missing is your not seeing it happen. Try ABANA.com
2006-10-06 01:19:29 · answer #5 · answered by Clown Knows 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The missing ingredient would have to be ingenuity!
2006-10-06 01:16:33 · answer #6 · answered by Guru 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ingenuity, patience, and persistence
2006-10-06 01:14:54 · answer #7 · answered by Helmut 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋