Did you know the Space Shuttles SRBs dimensions were based on horses a*ses?

Question

Does the statement, "We've always done it that way" ring any bells?

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet,
8.5 inches That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English
expatriates built the US Railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the
pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools
that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would
break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's
the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England)
for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to
match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made
for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing..

The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is
derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot!!
And bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's
*** came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman
army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two
war horses.

Now the twist to the story

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big
booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are
solid rocket boosters or SRBs.

The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who
designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the
SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad
line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel.
The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad
track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's
most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand
years ago by the width of a horse's ***.

Answer 1

Why reinvent technology?
The computer you are using probably has a DOS Editor. Count the 80 characters on a line. It is the same as a Hollerith (IBM) 80 column punch card invented in 1895 for unit record equipment. It was made that size so they could use a lot of the same equipment that was used to deal with the old size American dollar bills.
You and I are using the Roman alphabet right now to communicate.

Answer 2

They are things that can only be discovered after hundreds and hundreds of trials. And of course, strict restriction needs to be in place. However, because the basis of science is always changing due to new discoveries, we need to also have sympathy to the drug company as well. They are not miracle makers, they only try to make profits by selling something that they "think" might help other people. Imagine the world without antibiotics and other medication, how many people would have to die? If we agree that science can be changed, the drug company might not have an excuse of increasing medication prices because of law suit.Also if we look at any other area that has used the socialist system it has bogged down and failed to live up to its Utopian promise. No system is perfect but open and free market is the best out there.

Answer 3

Entertaining bit of engineering myth, that has been around for nearly as long as the horse. Every time I hear it I lament the passing of Brunel's broad gauge railway. It might even be true.

Answer 4

Are you asking a question here, or just using an opportunity to show off some new knowledge that most readers heard about many years ago ?

Anyway, a nice bit of cutting and pasting.
Check out here the more informed view of this anecdote...
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.htm

Got any actual Astronomy & Space questions ?
.

Answer 5

Well, by the width of Two horeses asses. Great. 100 out of 100 from me.

Answer 6

nice one

Answer 7

Nice One !-)

Answer 8

Wow, I havn't seen this one in YEARS....

Where did you get it?

Answer 9

horse sh!t. lol