Before the invention of the compass, human beings often lost their way when sailing in the vast sea, causing unimaginable consequences. It was the Chinese who invented the compass, which gave human beings a direction for navigation.
China invented two methods of artificial magnetization during the Northern Song Dynasty: one is the method of rubbing steel needles with natural magnets as mentioned by Shen Kuo, and the other is to use the effect of the earth's magnetic field to magnetize steel.
People put a magnetized steel needle through a few lamp grasses and put it in a bowl filled with water, and it would float on the water to indicate the direction of the ship. This was the earliest indicator in the world. The instrument of direction - the compass.
2 Gunpowder
Gunpowder is one of the four great inventions in ancient my country. Because it was made from a mixture of three substances: saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. At that time, people used these three substances as medicines to treat diseases, so it was named "gunpowder", which means "fire medicine".
During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a clever technician, Ma Jun, who made "firecrackers" for entertainment by wrapping gunpowder in paper, pioneering the application of gunpowder.
In the late Tang Dynasty, gunpowder began to be used in military applications. People use trebuchets that throw stones to ignite the gunpowder packets and then throw them out to burn the enemy. This is the most primitive artillery. Later, people wrapped spherical gunpowder near the arrow shaft head, lit the fuse, and then used bows and arrows to shoot the gunpowder out to burn the enemy. There are also gunpowder, poison, plus some bitumen, tung oil, etc., pounded together to make a poison ball. After lighting it, shoot it with a bow and arrow, killing the enemy and becoming a "ten thousand enemies". In the Song Dynasty, people filled gunpowder into bamboo tubes, with small "directional rods" tied behind the gunpowder. They ignited the gunpowder on the fire tube, causing the gunpowder in the tube to burn rapidly and generate forward thrust, causing it to fly toward the enemy and explode. , this is the world's first gunpowder rocket.
3 Papermaking
The invention of papermaking technology is one of the contributions of the Chinese nation to world civilization.
About 3,500 years ago during the Shang Dynasty, my country had characters carved on tortoise shells and animal bones, called oracle bone inscriptions. In the Spring and Autumn Period, bamboo and wood chips were used to replace tortoise shells and animal bones, which were called bamboo slips and wooden slips. Oracle bones and slips are both heavy and heavy. During the Warring States Period, when the thinker Hui Shi went out to give lectures, he took five carts of slips with him, so there is an allusion to the saying that he was rich in learning. In the Western Han Dynasty, the court nobles also used silk or tissue paper to write. Silk is a general term for fine silk and silk fabrics. When writing on silk, silk is easy to write on. Not only can you write more than bamboo slips, but you can also draw on it. However, it is expensive and can only be used by a few royal nobles. Paper already existed in the early Western Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC.
In the first year of Yuanxing (AD 105), Emperor He of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun, based on summarizing the experience of his predecessors in making silk crystals, invented the method of making silk crystals using bark, broken fish nets, rags, hemp heads, etc. The raw materials were used to create plant fiber paper suitable for writing, making paper a commonly used writing material.
Papermaking was introduced to Japan through the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the 7th century. It spread to the United Arab Emirates in the mid-8th century. It was not until the 12th century that Europe followed China's example and began to set up factories to make paper.
4 Printing
Printing is one of the four great inventions in ancient China. It began with block printing in the Sui Dynasty, and was developed and perfected by Bi Sheng during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. Movable type printing was produced and spread to Europe by the Mongols, so later generations called Bi Sheng the ancestor of printing. Chinese printing is the forerunner of modern human civilization, creating conditions for the widespread dissemination and exchange of knowledge.
Block printing is to use a knife to carve protruding reverse writing on a piece of wood, and then add ink and print it on the paper. Every time a new book is printed, the board has to be carved from scratch, which is very slow. If there is an error in engraving, you have to start over again, and you can imagine the hard work.
Between 1004 and 1048 AD, Bi Sheng, an engraving worker in the Northern Song Dynasty, used fine and sticky clay to make long square cylinders, and carved single characters written in reverse on them. One character and one seal were placed in an earthen kiln and hardened with fire to form movable type. Then according to the content of the article, the words are arranged in order, placed on iron frames to make printing plates, and then heated and flattened on the fire, and then it can be printed. After printing, remove the movable type so it can be reused next time.
Although this printing method is primitive and simple, it has the same principle as modern typesetting, bringing printing technology into a new era.
Later, Wang Zhen, a famous agriculturist and mechanist in the Yuan Dynasty, invented wooden movable type and created a relatively simple rotary typesetting method suitable for the complex characteristics of Chinese characters. Later, he invented metal movable type, making movable type more popular. Printing has been improved. The engravings of the Tang Dynasty were spread to Japan, and in the late 8th century Japan completed the wooden board "Dharani Sutra". Later, it was spread to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Eastern Europe. In the 15th century, the Germans learned to use alloys to cast objects. Since then, Bi Sheng's movable type printing was popularized throughout Europe.
View all 11 answers
Compass stock software, 2020 official free download
Official genuine Compass stock software free download, 3-point efficient stock picking, intraday trading Tips on buying and selling points, free download of professional stock software; A-share listed company, stock code 300803, authorized securities and futures business licensing agency, Level2 data service provider
Beijing Compass Technology Development... Advertisement?
Use the Great Wisdom APP for mobile stock trading, download the official version for free
The 2020 Great Smart Phone Stock Trading APP has been fully upgraded, with a simple and convenient operation interface. It can automatically keep an eye on the market at all times, filter large orders, and monitor the buying and selling queue. Seize the critical opportunity, market upgrades, assist decision-making, enter the official website to download for free.
Shanghai Great Wisdom Co., Ltd. advertising?
All related questions
The story of the four great inventions? "
Four Great Inventions: The compass is a simple instrument used to determine directions. Its predecessor was Sinan. The main component is a magnetic needle (commonly known as a magnet) that is mounted on a shaft and can rotate freely. The magnetic needle is on the ground Under the influence of a magnetic field, it can be kept in the tangent direction of the magnetic meridian. The north pole of the magnetic needle points to the geographical south pole. This property can be used to identify directions. Papermaking is one of China's four great inventions. 1. An outstanding invention in the history of human civilization. China was the first country in the world to raise silkworms and weave silk. The ancients used the remaining cocoons and diseased cocoons to make silk floss. After bleaching, there will be some residual wadding left on the bamboo mat. When the wadding is repeated more times, the residual wadding on the bamboo mat will accumulate into a layer of fiber sheets, which can be peeled off after drying and can be used for writing. The number of by-products is not large, and it is called heyang or square wadding in ancient books. This shows that the origin of Chinese papermaking is related to silk wadding. Gunpowder is a black or brown explosive made of potassium nitrate and charcoal. It is mechanically mixed with sulfur and is initially made into powder. Later, it is generally made into granules of different sizes for different purposes. Before the use of smokeless gunpowder, it was used as the only military propellant. The invention of movable type is a great technological revolution in the history of printing. The method of printing with movable type is to first make a positive character mold of the single character, then select the single characters according to the manuscript, arrange them in the type plate, apply ink and print, and then print them. The typeface was removed and left for reuse during the next printing. Bi Sheng (? - about 1051) of China during the Qingli period of the Northern Song Dynasty invented the clay type to mark the birth of movable type printing. He was the first invention in the world. /p>
47 Views 23902016-12-02
Stories of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient Times
1 Compass Before the invention of the compass, humans often lost their way when sailing in the vast sea. , which caused unimaginable consequences, it was the Chinese who invented the compass, which gave human beings navigation a direction. China invented two methods of artificial magnetization during the Northern Song Dynasty: one is the method of rubbing steel needles with natural magnets as mentioned by Shen Kuo. The other is to use the effect of the earth's magnetic field to magnetize steel. People pass a magnetized steel needle through a few lamp grasses and put it in a bowl filled with water, so that it can float on the water and point the direction of the ship. It is the compass, the earliest instrument used to indicate direction in the world. 2 Gunpowder Gunpowder is one of the four great inventions in ancient my country because it is made from a mixture of three substances: saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal. At that time, people used these three substances. The thing was grown as a medicine for treating diseases, so it was named "gunpowder", which means "fire medicine". During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a clever technician Ma Jun who made "firecrackers" by wrapping gunpowder in paper. It pioneered the application of gunpowder. In the late Tang Dynasty, gunpowder began to be used in military applications. People used trebuchets to throw stones, and then ignited the gunpowder package and threw it out to burn the enemy. This was the most primitive artillery.
Later, people wrapped spherical gunpowder near the arrow shaft head, lit the fuse, and then used bows and arrows to shoot the gunpowder out to burn the enemy. There are also gunpowder, poison, plus some bitumen, tung oil, etc., pounded together to make a poison ball. After lighting it, shoot it with a bow and arrow, killing the enemy and becoming a "ten thousand enemies". In the Song Dynasty, people filled gunpowder into bamboo tubes, with small "directional rods" tied behind the gunpowder. They ignited the gunpowder on the fire tube, causing the gunpowder in the tube to burn rapidly and generate forward thrust, causing it to fly toward the enemy and explode. , this is the world's first gunpowder rocket. 3 Papermaking The invention of papermaking technology is one of the contributions of the Chinese nation to world civilization. About 3,500 years ago during the Shang Dynasty, my country had characters carved on tortoise shells and animal bones, called oracle bone inscriptions. In the Spring and Autumn Period, bamboo and wood chips were used to replace tortoise shells and animal bones, which were called bamboo slips and wooden slips. Oracle bones and slips are both heavy and heavy. During the Warring States Period, when the thinker Hui Shi went out to give lectures, he took five carts of slips with him, so there is an allusion to the saying that he was rich in learning. In the Western Han Dynasty, the court nobles also used silk or tissue paper to write. Silk is a general term for fine silk and silk fabrics. When writing on silk, silk is easy to write on. Not only can you write more than bamboo slips, but you can also draw on it. However, it is expensive and can only be used by a few royal nobles. Paper already existed in the early Western Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC. In the first year of Yuanxing of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 105), Cai Lun, based on summarizing the experience of his predecessors in making silk crystals, invented the method of using bark, broken fishnets, rags, hemp heads, etc. as raw materials to make a silk crystal suitable for writing. Plant fiber paper makes paper a commonly used writing material. Papermaking was introduced to Japan through the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the 7th century. It spread to the United Arab Emirates in the mid-8th century. It was not until the 12th century that Europe followed China's example and began to set up factories to make paper. 4. Printing Printing is one of the four great inventions of ancient China. It began with block printing in the Sui Dynasty, and was developed and perfected by Bi Sheng during the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty. Movable type printing was produced and spread to Europe by the Mongols, so later generations called Bi Sheng the ancestor of printing. Chinese printing is the forerunner of modern human civilization, creating conditions for the widespread dissemination and exchange of knowledge. Block printing is to use a knife to carve protruding reverse writing on a piece of wood, and then add ink and print it on the paper. Every time a new book is printed, the board has to be carved from scratch, which is very slow. If there is an error in engraving, you have to start over again, and you can imagine the hard work. Between 1004 and 1048 AD, Bi Sheng, an engraving worker in the Northern Song Dynasty, used fine and sticky clay to make long square cylinders, on which he carved single characters written backwards, one character at a time, and placed them on the They were hardened with fire in an earthen kiln to form movable type. Then according to the content of the article, the words are arranged in order, placed on iron frames to make printing plates, and then heated and flattened on the fire, and then it can be printed. After printing, remove the movable type so it can be reused next time. Although this printing method is primitive and simple, it has the same principle as modern typesetting, bringing printing technology into a new era. Later, Wang Zhen, a famous agriculturist and mechanist in the Yuan Dynasty, invented wooden movable type and created a relatively simple rotary disk typesetting method suitable for the complex characteristics of Chinese characters. Later, he invented metal movable type, which improved movable type printing. The engravings of the Tang Dynasty were spread to Japan, and in the late 8th century Japan completed the wooden board "Dharani Sutra". Later, it was spread to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Eastern Europe. In the 15th century, the Germans learned to use alloys to cast objects. Since then, Bi Sheng's movable type printing was popularized throughout Europe.
57 views 6372016-12-11
Stories related to China’s four great inventions are short
China was the first to discover the polarity of magnets and use it The country in which pointing instruments are made. As early as the Warring States Period more than 2,000 years ago, a magnet guide instrument called "Sinan" was invented. The compass had already appeared before the middle of the 11th century at the latest. In the "Fuyuan Zonglu", a Feng Shui book written in 1041, there is a passage about determining the orientation. After analysis, it was found that the compass was used and the magnetic angle of the earth was discovered. The earliest document that clearly describes the compass is "Mengxi Bi Tan" (written around 1090) written by Shen Kuo, a great scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty. The book writes: "The Fang family uses magnets to sharpen the needles, and it can guide the needle. However, it is often slightly eastward and not completely south." It is clearly pointed out that the compass was invented by the Fang family (Mr. Feng Shui) and used magnets to grind the needles. The compass is made of the artificial magnetization method of the front, and its normal deviation to the east is due to the effect of the earth's magnetic declination. Printing, known as the "Mother of Civilization", is one of the four great inventions in ancient China.
Ancient printing technology was divided into two categories: engraving printing and movable type printing. Block printing appeared first, and movable type printing was invented in the process of seeking to improve block printing. Block printing came into being around the early Tang Dynasty in the first half of the 7th century. Until the beginning of this century, woodblock printing had been the main printing method for Chinese documents and illustrations. Over the course of more than 1,000 years, woodblock printing has been continuously developed and improved. In addition to wooden boards, the materials for carving boards include stone slabs and copper plates; in addition to single-color printing, there are also color overprints; printed products have evolved from the early days of single-page pictures and text, and small books, to the printing of large-scale books. During the Qingli period of the Northern Song Dynasty (104l-1048), folk inventor Bi Sheng finally invented clay movable type and successfully carried out movable type printing. In the early Yuan Dynasty, scientist Wang Zhen invented wooden movable type and adapted it to movable type printing. Clamp each line of characters, and then plug them tightly with sawdust when they are full, which saves Bi Sheng the inconvenience of fixing and removing the characters. Regarding the invention of papermaking, people often believe that papermaking was invented by Cai Lun some time ago in 105 AD. However, in many archaeological excavations in recent decades, hemp paper from the Western Han Dynasty has been discovered. The earliest one was in the early Western Han Dynasty, which shows that more than 100 years before Cai Lun, China had already produced paper using hemp as raw material. This paper-making tool The invention of technology has been greatly pushed forward. Although Cai Lun was not the original inventor of papermaking, he developed new raw materials for papermaking, using bark, discarded linen and fishnets to make paper. He also improved the papermaking process and created high-quality paper suitable for writing (called "Cai Hou" at the time). "Paper"), which enabled the rapid spread of paper, and its great achievements are still worthy of praise. The invention of gunpowder should be attributed to the alchemists, and its advent went through a long gestation process. In the alchemy activities of ancient alchemists, sulfur and nitrate were commonly used drugs. Sulfur is regarded as a "wonderful object that can transform gold, silver, copper and iron", and saltpeter is considered to be able to "lighten one's body by taking it for a long time". Their flammability has also been recognized by alchemists during refining activities. By the middle of the Tang Dynasty in the 9th century, alchemists discovered that mixing sulfur, nitrate and charcoal would deflagrate and cause fires, burning people's hands and burning down houses. thus. People called the medicine prepared with sulfur, nitrate and charcoal as the main ingredients gunpowder. After a period of exploration, gunpowder began to be put into practical use.
38 Views 11602016-09-13
Four Great Invention Stories
Four Great Inventions - Papermaking Papermaking is an important chemical process. The invention is a very valuable contribution made by China in the spread and development of human culture and a major achievement in the history of Chinese chemistry. Before the invention of paper, oracle bones, bamboo slips and silk were the materials used for writing and recording in ancient times. However, due to the rapid economic and cultural development in the Western Han Dynasty, oracle bones and bamboo slips could not meet the needs of development, which prompted the improvement of writing tools. At that time, people had begun to use paper made of small pieces of silk floss, because archaeologists discovered an ancient paper in Luobu Nur, Xinqiang in 1933. It was "hemp, white, made of square sheets, incomplete around, and long." About 40 centimeters, about 100 centimeters wide. The quality is very rough and uneven. There are still hemp tendons on the paper surface. It was made when the paper was first made, so it is not fine. Because the paper in the ancient Han Dynasty was made of hemp strands and silk floss, plus The production method is rough, so the quality of the paper is not very good. Both hemp thread and silk floss have their own functions. If they are to be used as raw materials for papermaking, they will inevitably be greatly restricted and it will be difficult to develop rapidly. To meet the requirements for paper in cultural life, the emergence of Cai Lun brought new breakthroughs to papermaking. It is recorded in the second volume of "Guan Ji of the Eastern Han Dynasty": "Cai Lun is talented and knowledgeable, loyal and prudent." , every time I take a break, I close the door to exclude guests and expose my body to the fields. The classic work is based on Fang Fang, who uses tree bark, old cloth, and fish nets to make paper. It was reported in the first year of Yuanxing that the emperor was good at what he could do, so he used it all, and the world called him Cai Houzhi. From the above, it seems that Cai Lun made paper from tree bark, rags, and fishing nets. Although paper existed before Cai Lun, the raw materials had great limitations. Cai Lun's discovery of new raw materials solved this problem. Because rags and fish nets have long ended their own tasks and become waste and are used as raw materials, they have greatly promoted the paper industry. The use of new raw materials inevitably requires new technologies. However, due to the loss of classics, there is no record of the actual operation and it is impossible to know. However, it is probably that the cloth or net is torn or cut first, and then soaked in water for a long time. time and needs to be pounded to make pulp.
Making paper from bark is more difficult. In addition to the initial cutting and pounding, the meat also needs to be cooked in the middle and added with rottening agents such as lime slurry. The picture below shows the ancient Chinese papermaking engineering (pressure curtain covering) and (dry baking and fire baking). Four Great Inventions - Gunpowder Gunpowder is one of China's four great inventions. Gunpowder, as the name suggests, is (the medicine that catches fire). Its origin is closely related to alchemy. It was accidentally prepared by ancient alchemists while making alchemy. The picture on the left shows a Yuan Dynasty copper fire gun. It is a mixture of sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal, and the first two were listed as important medicinal materials in China's first pharmacological classic (Shen Nong's Materia Medica) written in the Han Dynasty. Even gunpowder itself is classified as medicine. According to Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty, gunpowder can cure sores and tinea, kill insects, and ward off dampness and plague. The invention of gunpowder is the result of people's long-term practice of alchemy and medicine, and has a history of more than a thousand years. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder had been used in military affairs. In the first year of Tianyou's reign (904), Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Yang Xingmi's army besieged Yuzhang, and his general Zheng Fan (who sent his troops to fly fire, burned the Dragon Salmon, and led the warriors to break into the city first, burning his body). The (flying fire) mentioned here refers to (artillery), (rocket) and the like. (Artillery) is to make gunpowder into a ring, light the hanging wire and then throw it out with a trebuchet; (Rocket) is to tie the gunpowder ball under the arrowhead, light the hanging wire and then shoot it with a bow. In the Song Dynasty, wars continued one after another, which promoted the accelerated development of gunpowder weapons. The Beiwei government established a gunpowder workshop and successively manufactured weapons with combustion properties such as gunpowder arrows and artillery, as well as highly explosive weapons such as thunder cannons and thunderbolts. In 1259, Nanwei created a gun with a giant bamboo tube and gunpowder inside. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was a copper-cast fire system, which was called (Bronze General). These are weapons powered by the explosion of gunpowder, showing unprecedented power in the war. The picture on the right shows the Nanweitu musket. In the 12th and 13th centuries, gunpowder was first introduced to Arab countries, and then to Greece, Europe and even all over the world. It has played a role in promoting the progress of civilization in human society and the development of economy, science and culture. There were no records of the use of gunpowder and firearms in the United States and France until the mid-fourteenth century. The picture on the left shows the Kitami gunpowder arrow. The Four Great Inventions—Printing: Seals, rubbings, printing and dyeing, and woodblock printing. Seals existed in the pre-Qin period. They usually only had a few words, indicating name, official position or organization. The seals are all engraved in reverse script, with Yin and Yang characters being distinguished. Before the advent of paper, official documents or letters were written on slips. After they were written, they were tied with ropes, a sticky mud seal was placed at the knot, and the seal was stamped on the mud. It was called a mud seal. The mud seal was Printing on clay was a means of keeping secrets at that time. After the emergence of paper, clay seals evolved into paper seals, which were stamped at the seams of several pieces of official paper or the seals of official paper bags. According to records, during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577 AD), someone made the seal used for sealing official documents very large, much like a small engraving plate. Bronze seal from the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC). Ge Hong (AD 284~363), a famous alchemist in the Jin Dynasty, mentioned in his book "Baopuzi" that Taoism had already used a large wooden seal four inches square (13.5×13.5) with 120 characters. This is already a small engraving. In order to make Buddhist scriptures more vivid, Buddhists often print Buddha images on the front pages of Buddhist scriptures. This kind of hand-made wood printing is much easier than hand-painting. The stone rubbing technology was very inspiring for the invention of woodblock printing technology. The invention of stone carving has a very early history. In the early Tang Dynasty, ten stone drums were discovered in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province. They are stone carvings from the Qin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period in the 8th century BC. Qin Shihuang went on tour and carved stones in important places 7 times. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, stone tablets became popular. In the fourth year of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty (AD 175), Cai Yong suggested that the imperial court should erect "The Book of Songs", "Shangshu", "Book of Changes", "Book of Rites", "Spring and Autumn", "Gongyang Zhuan" and "The Analects of Confucius" in front of Taixue Gate. "" and other seven Confucian classics, with a total of 209,000 words, inscribed on 46 stone tablets. Each tablet is 175 meters high, 90 meters wide, and 20 centimeters thick, with 5,000 characters in it. Both sides of the tablet are inscribed. It took 8 years to complete. It became a classic for readers at that time. Many people rushed to copy. Later, especially during the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, some people took advantage of the lax supervision or unattended to use paper to make rubbings of scriptures for their own use or for sale. As a result, it became widely circulated. The ancients found that they covered the stone tablet with a piece of slightly moist paper and tapped it with a soft mallet to make the paper sink into the recessed area of ??the text on the tablet. After the paper was dry, they wrapped it with cotton in a cloth, dipped it in ink, and patted it gently on the paper. , there will be writing on the paper with white characters on the black ground that is exactly the same as the stone tablet. This method is simpler and more reliable than hand copying. So rubbings appeared.
Rubbing is one of the important conditions for the production of printing technology. Printing and dyeing technology also has a great inspiration for woodblock printing. Printing and dyeing is to carve patterns on wooden boards and print them on cloth with dyes. There are two types of printing boards in China: embossed boards and hollow boards. Two pieces of printed yarn unearthed from Han Tomb No. 1 in Mawangdui (around 165 BC) in Changsha, Hunan in 1972 were printed with relief plates. This technology may be as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, and can be traced back to the Warring States Period. After the invention of paper, this technology could be used in printing. As long as the cloth was changed into paper and the dye was changed into ink, the printed things would become engraving prints. In the Dunhuang stone chambers there are Buddha statues printed on raised panels and hollow boards from the Tang Dynasty. Seals, rubbings, and printing and dyeing technologies inspire and integrate each other. Coupled with the experience and wisdom of our people, woodblock printing technology came into being. Compass During the Warring States Period, our people used magnets to create a tool for indicating direction, called "Sinan". "Si Nan" means guide. The shape of Sinan is completely different from the current compass. It is made according to the shape of an ancient Chinese spoon, much like the spoon we use now. How is Sinan made? There is a lack of detailed records in ancient books, and there is no physical object left, so we have no way of knowing its exact shape. According to the research of experts, Sinan roughly shaped a whole piece of natural magnet into the shape of a spoon, and shaped its S pole into a long handle, so that the center of gravity falls in the middle of the round and smooth bottom. Rubbing is one of the important conditions for the production of printing technology.
258 Views 75472017-09-02
The origins of China’s four great inventions
Papermaking was invented by Cai Lun as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD to 220 AD) Before "Cai Hou Paper", the prototype of paper had already appeared in China. Paper from the early Western Han Dynasty (206 BC to AD 23) unearthed from the Fangmatan Han Tomb in Tianshui, Gansu Province, China is the earliest paper ever discovered. In addition, ancient paper from the Western Han Dynasty has been unearthed in places such as Lop Nur in Xinjiang and Baqiao in Xi'an. But these papers are relatively rough, and the raw materials are hemp or silk wadding. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, in AD 105, the eunuch Cai Lun summarized the papermaking technology since the Western Han Dynasty and improved it. He created a paper-making paper using bark, rags, hemp heads, and fish nets as raw materials, and a set of techniques of retting, pounding, and copying. Plant fiber paper that has reached the practical level of writing is called "Caihou paper". From then on, paper gradually replaced bamboo tubes and silk as the main writing material. Papermaking began to spread eastward to Korea and Japan in the early 7th century AD (late Sui Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty); in the 8th century, it spread to the west to Samarkand, which later became Arabia; and then to Baghdad; in the 10th century, it reached Damascus and Cairo; in the 11th century It was introduced to Morocco; it was introduced to India in the 13th century; it was introduced to Italy in the 14th century. Paper mills were built in many cities in Italy, becoming an important base for the spread of papermaking in Europe. From there, it was spread to Germany and the United Kingdom; it was introduced to Russia and the Netherlands in the 16th century; It was introduced to Britain in the 17th century and to Canada in the 19th century. The invention and dissemination of paper made the cost of writing carriers significantly reduced, and the popularization of knowledge among civilians was realized, thus greatly promoting the development of world science and technology and economy. The invention of papermaking was not only a great revolution in book production materials, but also had epoch-making significance in the history of human civilization. Gunpowder The invention of gunpowder is closely related to the developed smelting technology in ancient China. In the process of smelting metals, people constantly summed up their experience, gradually came into contact with and became familiar with the properties of many minerals, and accumulated rich chemical knowledge. Since the Warring States Period (403 BC to 221 BC), some people have applied metallurgical technology to refining mineral medicines, dreaming of refining elixirs of immortality, while others want to refine gold and silver from minerals. . Although no elixir of immortality or gold or silver was produced, the alchemy craftsmen discovered during the process that saltpeter, sulfur and carbonaceous substances would undergo a violent chemical reaction when heated together. In the explosions one after another, people gradually realized that the mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal in a certain proportion would make explosive gunpowder. The specific age of the invention of gunpowder cannot be determined, but based on the data, it can be inferred that the invention of gunpowder should be before the Tang Dynasty (618 AD to 907 AD). Because the color of this gunpowder is black, it is called "black powder". In the late Tang Dynasty, gunpowder began to be used in military affairs. The earliest gunpowder weapon was the "flying fire", or rocket. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties (960 AD to 1368 AD), gunpowder was widely used in military affairs, and many gunpowder weapons appeared, including rockets, blunderbuss, muskets, artillery, etc.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD to 1644 AD), trigger mines controlled by gears and timed mines controlled by incense appeared. During the Yuan Dynasty (1279 AD to 1368 AD), gunpowder was introduced to Europe, which caused a series of important changes in weapons manufacturing and strategy and tactics, and had an important impact on the social and economic fields of Europe. Compass As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (722 BC to 221 BC) in China, people discovered magnets when searching for iron ore and learned about their special properties. During the Warring States Period (403 B.C. to 221 B.C.), people began to use magnets to make directional tools called Sinan. Sinan is made into a spoon shape. When using it, place it in the middle of a smooth, horizontal base, and turn its handle by hand to make it rotate; when it stops, the handle of the spoon points to the south and the mouth of the spoon points to the north. In the early Northern Song Dynasty (960 AD to 1127 AD), people discovered the artificial magnetization method, using natural magnets to rub steel needles to make magnetic needles. This kind of magnetized steel needle is officially called a compass (because the magnetic needle axis is affected by the earth's magnetic poles, and the geomagnetic axis has an intersection angle of more than 11 degrees with the earth's rotation axis, the north and south directions indicated by the magnetic needle are actually the earth's magnetic poles. north-south direction). Compasses are made in various ways, some float the magnet on water, some place it on the edge of a bowl, some place it on a fingernail, and some hang it in the air with a thread. But the more accurate compass is to install a magnetic needle on a compass with directions engraved on it, so the compass is also called a compass needle. Compasses were installed on ships during the Song Dynasty (960 AD to 1279 AD) and later on. At the end of the 12th century, the compass was introduced to Europe via the Arabs, providing important conditions for later European navigators to open new routes. Printing: Block printing - around the 3rd century AD in the Jin Dynasty (265 AD to 420 AD), with the emergence of paper and ink, seals also became popular. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the 4th century AD, rubbings on stone tablets were developed. It combined seals and rubbings, then expanded the seal into a layout, dipped it in ink, and imitated the rubbing method, spreading paper on the block for printing. The prototype of woodblock printing. Around the early 7th century AD, the world's earliest woodblock printing technology was born in the Tang Dynasty (618 AD to 907 AD). Engraving printing requires first writing text on paper according to the required specifications, then pasting it on a planed wooden board, and then carving out Yangwen and reverse characters according to the text, so that the engraving is completed. Then apply ink on the plate, lay paper, print with a brown brush, and then lift the paper to become the printed product. Engraving the layout requires a lot of labor and materials, but once the engraving is completed and printed, it shows the advantages of high efficiency and large printing volume. The earliest woodblock printing object we can see now is the Tang Dynasty woodblock printing "Diamond Sutra" found in Dunhuang and printed in 868 AD. The printing process
312 Views 90112017-10-12< /p>
3 Comments
189 Flowers Fall and Fly in the Wind 5
Tai Changding
Enthusiastic Netizen 3
Good (?▽?)
Enthusiastic netizens like it
Good
Comment a few sentences