The fact that the colour is so sensitive to the position in the furnace suggests that it would have been very difficult for the Romans to control the colour.
It would have required skill to refine the process but himans are great at finding ways to repeat extremely complicated and precise techniques to get consistent results. Sure, it probably took decades to get consistent but after that I’ll bet they could crank out consistently and with intentional variations.
Sure, it probably took decades to get consistent
Then again, let’s remember this is a society before tv, the internet, or readily available books…
They probably had a lot more time on their hands, with a culture where sitting to watch tv was an unavailable form of
avoidanceentertain.I can’t imagine this would be too difficult to figure out. Heat with a consistent supply of fuel should burn at about the same temperature, right? So, if you can create separate chambers where heat must travel through a medium like stone before it can heat the next chamber, you can somewhat control the heat… meaning you’ll have chambers of different temperatures, each decreasing as the chamber gets further from the fire source.
There’s probably ways to test the temperature without a thermometer, too. For example, how long does it take a small cup of water to start boiling? If you touch a weed to the side of the chamber, does it instantly light aflame or simply char? Etc.
I like the little man’s tiny nipples
anyone watching anything on Japanese production will know this is totally doable
processx is a favorite channel of mine on YouTube.
That is actually an advantage. Our massive advantage though is modern analytics and modern industry.
If you’d played kcd youd know it was simply a matter of squeezing the bellows twice, but never three times
it’s magic
Said no scientist ever.
It’s a question of sentiment. Especially in science it is important to find amazement by the wonders you spot in the world. To paraphrase from Pratchett’s ‘The Wee Free Men’:
It doesn’t stop being magic, just because you figure out how it works.
As a scientist, that’s one of my favorite quotes ever. There are so many things that I understand at a deep level and still find that their working is magic. How all the pieces combine just so to make the process smooth and effective… (my personal favorite is the Fourier Transform, the theory behind it took centuries to fully develop, but its usefulness was clear from the get go, then Fast Fourier Transform came and made in the cornerstone of signal processing)
Always upvote Terry Pratchett, especially The Wee Free Men, the best bedtime story ever. (And it doesn’t matter that I mangled the accent, pronouncing Crivens! with a long I. I got the energy right. Besides, Feegles run on Narrativium, free of Roundworld constraints.)
The article refers to the gold and silver particles acting like a rainbow. Rainbows are simple science and yet they’re also magical, every time.
GNU Sir Terry Pratchett <3
I didn’t read the article
- prole(@lemmy.blahaj.zone)
Oh, I expected “We drew a pentagram, sacrificed a goat and prayed to the dark lord and now we have Roman colour changing glass. It’s literally fucking magic.”
nono fucking magic involves getting a big bed, plenty of lube and toys, and is a lot more fun
I feel this sentiment does harm for the perception of science. The idea that scientists have to be mundane, no fun hardasses who don’t appreciate wonder really doesn’t sell STEM fields to people and paints science and scientists as no fun Nancies.
