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** emulated ancient Egyptian pharaonic practices | ** emulated ancient Egyptian pharaonic practices | ||
=== Pyramid building & engineering === | === Pyramid building & engineering === | ||
[[File:Great Pyramid of Giza edge.jpg| | [[File:Great Pyramid of Giza edge.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Great Pyramid of Giza edge: Average core blocks of the Great Pyramid weigh about 1.5 tons each, and the granite blocks used to roof the burial chambers are estimated to weigh up to 80 tons each. (wiki)]] | ||
* materials | * materials | ||
** Old Kingdom pyramids were built of stone | ** Old Kingdom pyramids were built of stone | ||
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* construction | * construction | ||
** Ancient Egyptians were expert rope builders | ** Ancient Egyptians were expert rope builders | ||
[[File:Colosse-djéhoutihétep2.jpg|Colosse-djéhoutihétep2|400px|right|thumb|Drawing showing transportation of a colossus. The water poured in the path of the sledge, long dismissed by Egyptologists as ritual, but now confirmed as feasible, served to increase the stiffness of the sand, and likely reduced by 50% the force needed to move the statue.]] | |||
*** they understood the utility of tension and leverage | *** they understood the utility of tension and leverage | ||
*** they understood that an incline, or a ramp, spreads the force required to lift a heavy object across the distance of the incline | *** they understood that an incline, or a ramp, spreads the force required to lift a heavy object across the distance of the incline | ||
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:50%"> | <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:50%"> | ||
An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. | <pre>An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six classical simple machines defined by Renaissance scientists. Inclined planes are widely used to move heavy loads over vertical obstacles; examples vary from a ramp used to load goods into a truck, to a person walking up a pedestrian ramp, to an automobile or railroad train climbing a grade. | ||
Moving an object up an inclined plane requires less force than lifting it straight up, at a cost of an increase in the distance moved. | Moving an object up an inclined plane requires less force than lifting it straight up, at a cost of an increase in the distance moved. The mechanical advantage of an inclined plane, the factor by which the force is reduced, is equal to the ratio of the length of the sloped surface to the height it spans. Due to conservation of energy, the same amount of mechanical energy (work) is required to lift a given object by a given vertical distance, disregarding losses from friction, but the inclined plane allows the same work to be done with a smaller force exerted over a greater distance.</pre> | ||
* Source: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclined_plane Inclined Plane (wiki)]] | * Source: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclined_plane Inclined Plane (wiki)]] | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
* '''click EXPAND for | * '''click EXPAND for excerpt from wikipedia entry on how an incline helps to life heavy objects''' | ||