7 Ancient Persian Inventions and Ideas That Will Stun You

Not everyone realizes that the Ancient Persian civilization was among the most advanced empires in all of history. This empire was born around 550 BC at a time when the majority of people on Earth were actually illiterate. All the communities during those times were using very ancient methods in their basic daily routines. Needless to say, most any advancement or invention would have made a huge impression at that time in history. The amazing thing about Ancient Persian inventions is that several of them are still in use today. This is what makes them stand out.

Not only this, many of the concepts that have been adopted during modern times were first conceived by the Ancient Persians. This civilization was very adept at applying common sense to the world around them. And it is this frame of mind that allowed several technologies to develop. Let us examine 7 Ancient Persian inventions and ideas that were quite amazing.

Human Rights

The notion of human rights was first addressed by Cyrus the Great, who was a legendary Persian king. Cyrus developed what is referred to as the Cyrus Cylinder. On this cylinder were various declarations about human rights. The declarations on this cylinder are considered to be very first time that human rights were addressed in all of history. In fact, today there are numerous human rights movements that have been influenced by the Cyrus cylinder.

Animation

Another remarkable idea that originated with the Ancient Persians is the field of animation. We all know that animation and the motion picture industry is among the biggest worldwide industries. In some ruins from Iran, an image set was uncovered near an ancient burial site. These images contained a goat that was eating leaves from a tree and jumping. The more they examined the images, they realized were quite related to one another in a unique sequence. What they found was perhaps the very first example of animation and it was thought to be over 5000 years old.

Refrigeration

Believe it or not, the very first refrigerator was created by in Persian civilization. They achieved this by using a unique composite of lime, sand, clay, and white eggs. They discovered that this composite was able to resist high heat for long periods of time. They used it to construct domes that had several compartments with storage. These various sections were designed for specific items like dry foods and ice.

Batteries

The very first battery is another Ancient Persian invention. This original battery was quite simply designed and had a charge of around a couple of volts. Even though this was a very meager charge, it led to many other great inventions. This Persian battery was comprised of three (3) main elements; a pot and two rods. The idea was a very simple one as they put an electrolyte in a pot along with a rod that served as a cell. From this point forward, future civilizations improved upon this initial design.

Water Irrigation System

The Persian also created the very first water irrigation system. This initial system was called Qanat and became part of the Persian’s native language. They designed a water system of pipes and tubes for the purpose of moving water from one location to another location. This water was provided to the Persian people for personal as well as agricultural purposes. Perhaps the most amazing things regarding Qanat is the fact that it’s still currently used in a few cities in the country of Iran.

Postal Delivery Service

The postal service is yet another creation of Ancient Persia. It was several thousand years ago that the Ancient Persians developed a method of delivering messages from one location to another. Their idea was quite simple as they designated a specific area for these postal services. Those who made these deliveries were known as Chapars and horses were used for this task. This concept was originally conceived by Cyrus the Great.

Sulfuric Acid

Throughout history, there have been countless Muslim chemists and scientists who have achieved great things in the fields of physics and chemistry and physics. For starters, they were known for introducing lots of various chemicals, scientific terms, machines, and concepts that are still being used today. A chemist from Persia named Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi explored and worked on many kinds of chemicals, gases, fuels, and substances. He is seen as a significant contributor to science because of his many discoveries and inventions. His creation of Sulfuric acid has long been considered to be among his greatest acheivements.

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5 Interesting Facts About the World

What are the most interesting facts about the world that you have heard about in your lifetime? We have all heard and even learned new amazing facts in this world.

We wonder sometimes just how many of these nuggets of knowledge are actually true. And we go through our lives questioning how some of them can actually be correct – even though we learn them from very reliable sources. These are the amazing world facts that we are listing in this article.

Listed below are five (5) of the most interesting facts about the world that we have come across:

The Earth Actually Has Two Co-Orbital Satellites

As we all know, our Earth has a single moon that we know quite a bit about. There is a ton of information available about the Moon. But very few of us are aware of the two asteroids that are also trapped by Earth’s orbit. They are known as 2002 AA₂₉ and 3753 Cruithne, and they belong to a larger group of asteroids that are referred to as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

3753 Cruithne has a diameter of over three miles and is often referred to as “the second moon of Earth”. It actually has its own synchronized orbit with our planet. It’s unusual orbit appears to be following our planet’s orbit, but it follows its own unique path around the Sun.

On the other hand, 2002 AA₂₉ is just 60 meters across and actually travels along a horseshoe orbit around our planet which brings it very close to the Earth every 95 years or so. In approximately 600 years, it will seem to circle our Earth in a bizarre quasi-satellite orbit. Many scientists believe this will be the best chance for a future space exploration mission.

The Poles of the Earth Routinely Flip

We have all been taught that the North Pole is above Alaska, and the South Pole is located in Antarctica. This might always be the case for the Earth’s geographic poles, but it is not the case for its magnetic poles. Scientists have learned that during the last 20 million years or so, these magnetic poles flip-flopped approximately each several hundred thousand years or so.

While experts know that the molten iron core is what powers the movement of these poles, they are not clear on what causes the actual pole reversals. This entire process is very gradual and takes place every millennium. Presently, the magnetic North Pole of the Earth is slowly creeping north by some 40 miles each year. And when we know that the last time that the pole flipped was only 780,000 years ago, we know that a flip will happen soon.

The Rotation of the Earth is Gradually Slowing Down

The deceleration is the Earth’s rotation is extremely slight and certainly not even noticeable. It is taking place at a rate of around 17 milliseconds for every hundred years, but this rate is not uniform at all. This actually will gradually lengthen our days, but it will take perhaps a 140 million years before our days become 25 hours long.

When our Earth was created some 4.6 billion years ago, the length of its day then was only about six hours long. About 620 million years ago, this day had been increased to around 22 hours. As we know, our days today are around 24 hours long. The reason this is occurring is because of the moon’s influence on the tides taking place on Earth.

The Earth’s Atmosphere Extends to a Distance of 6200 Miles

While our planet’s atmosphere is most dense where it is closest to its surface, but it extends 6200 miles into space from the surface of the Earth. This atmosphere is comprised of five (5) layers. These layers are the Stratosphere, the Troposphere, the Thermosphere, the Mesosphere, and the Exosphere. We know that air density and pressure typically decrease with distance from the planet’s surface.

The majority of the atmosphere is near the surface. Experts claim that 75% of this atmosphere resides within the first 11 km from Earth’s surface. Conversely, the Exosphere, which is the outermost of all the layers, stretches from 430 miles above sea level to 6200 miles. While the exosphere directly borders with outer space, it contains very little atmosphere.

The Largest Mammal Migration Is Actually Airborne

Nature scientists tell us about the migration of thousands of different animals that occurs all over the world. We might think that the 1.3 million wildebeest who migrate from Tanzania to Kenya is the world’s biggest migration of mammals, but this is not even close to the record.

The biggest migration belongs to the millions of giant fruit bats that travel from Zambia’s Kasanka National Park to the Democratic Republic of Congo every year. This number easily exceeds 10 million and is the largest mammal migration that happens on Earth.

Conclusion

As we can see, these facts are most certainly among the most interesting facts about the world that can be found. Hopefully, you will agree and share this article with your friends.

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7 Crazy Military Weapon Ideas That Almost Became Reality

Across military history, we have seen countless examples of where both military leaders and politicians will do almost anything to gain a tactical advantage on the battlefield.  As revealed in this list, we will see that creativity is often a huge gamble and even reeks of desperation. For every great weapon idea, there are literally dozens of very expensive failures.

With this thought in mind, let us examine 7 crazy military weapon ideas that almost became reality.

The Great Panjandrum

The Great Panjandrum was a weapon that consisted of two 10 foot wide rocket-powered wheels which was to deliver a drum that was full of explosives. Under ideal conditions, this weapon was to be used in situations where the British could penetrate heavy German fire in a beach assault and then blow massive holes in enemy lines. This would allow friendly tanks to roll through the enemy lines.

The biggest problem was that the rocket-powered wheels were very unpredictable. The Panjandrum was incredibly unreliable and could not maintain any intended direction. Designers even tried using a third wheel along with steering cables, but those didn’t help. Additionally, when its speed reached 60 mph, its rockets kept flying off.

Nellie

Nellie was a war machine that was intended to resolve an obsolete problem. It was a vehicle covered with armor that would supposedly plow a trench through enemy defensive lines in order for other war machines to subsequently advance through the new trench and further penetrate enemy lines.

It was allegedly a pet project for Winston Churchill. However, it was quickly discovered to not be up to its intended task. For starters, it had a huge turning circle of 1 mile which made it impossible to steer. Secondly, conditions were unbearable inside its cramped cockpit. Finally, with its slow operation and its leaving a long trench trail behind itself, it was a prime target for enemy bombing runs.

The Puckle Gun

The weapon was created in 1718 by a British lawyer named James Puckle. This gun became the very first multi-shot gun that was patented. It was able to fire at three times the rate of a soldier using a standard one shot musket, and yet it could fire with the same range and accuracy as a single shot.

The Puckle Gun could also fire square bullets that were created to induce incredible pain. It is believed that this invention was way ahead of its time. Had it been embraced by a major military, it could have altered warfare at that time. Unfortunately, it proved to be unreliable and too expensive to build as its complexities made impossible to mass produce.

The Bat Bomb

The end result of this weapon idea was to create thousands of fires simultaneously across an area of 40 miles for every bomb that was dropped. This vision was concocted by Pennsylvania dentist Lytle S. Adams, who envisioned Japan getting destroyed by these numerous fires which would be the result of small devices to be dropped using hundreds of bats.

Adams loved to explore caves and was very impressed by bats he had seen at Carlsbad Caverns. After the Japanese torched Pearl Harbor, he took his bat bomb idea to his close friend Eleanor Roosevelt.

Due to his personal connection to the first lady, his zany plan got considered at a much higher level than it probably should have. Incredibly, The National Research Defense Committee considered the idea. It invested over $2 million in “Project X-Ray” to investigate the idea – which was later dropped.

Maus Tank

Of course, the Allies were not alone in creating crazy weapon ideas. Adolf Hitler had always envisioned building a superheavy tank that was indestructible. The Maus was the result of this vision. It was a massive 200-ton tank that was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Unfortunately for them, the Maus suffered countless mechanical issues from the very beginning.

The driveshaft was a huge problem as it suffered from repeated failures. In spite of containing a huge aircraft engine, its top speed could only reach 12 mph. It had armor that was over 9 inches thick, but it did not have even one machine gun to engage in close combat—even though it would’ve probably been in close combat quite often. Although there were plans to manufacture 150 of these Maus tanks, German generals were not convinced it would an effective weapon, so only two prototypes were even made.

The Blue Peacock

The Blue Peacock was to be huge nuclear landmine to be buried by the British in Western Germany. These mines would detonate to prevent a hypothetical invasion by the Soviet Union into Western Europe. Unfortunately, its design had a massive flaw. When it was buried deep in the ground, the landmine would become too cold to set off the intended nuclear explosion.

Nothing could be any stranger than the proposed solution for this problem. Scientists who were running this project actually proposed burying chickens inside the bomb casing with a week’s worth of food. The chickens’ body heat would then allow the device to detonate.

The Gay Bomb

The notion of creating a “gay bomb” is perhaps the most controversial weapon idea on this list. However, as recent as 1994, the Wright Laboratory of the US Air Force requested $7.5 million in order to create a chemical aphrodisiac to be delivered in an explosive device for the purpose of causing homosexual behavior in enemy troops.

As it turns out, this idea became a horrific failure scientifically. To begin with, there’s no known chemical mechanism that will cause heterosexuals to instantly reverse their sexual preference. Secondly, there is also no known aphrodisiac that has ever had any kind of measurable effect on humans, and certainly nothing that would have the desired drastic effect for a gay bomb.

This project was also a functional failure because there is no data or evidence available that any gay activity would really decrease troop readiness. In fact, there are plenty of homosexuals that have proven to be extraordinary soldiers. In the end, funding was never furnished for this project.

 

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