Smokeless Shock
Smokeless Powder was invented in 1884 by Paul Vieille, French chemist. Unlike gunpowder, this propellant did not obscure the battlefield with, you guessed it, smoke. It also did not give away a concealed shooter's position. It also solved the problems of residue that clogged barrels of the guns.
(Firearms - An Illustrated History)
Rainbow Replica
Did you know that every time you see a rainbow, there is a very slight chance you may see two of them? These are called double rainbows. In order to observe it, you must be standing so that you see a normal rainbow AND be also standing so that you see another set of light coming from the water droplets. This light has to be reflected twice inside the water droplets before it leaves. Because the light reflects a second time to make this second rainbow, the order of the colors are reversed, starting from violet and ending on red.
(Science in the Ancient World)
AC BC?
Before we had BC, (Before Christ) we had AC. That stands for Ante Christum (ALSO Before Christ but in Latin).
(Science in the Ancient World)
Tombstone Terror
We do not know much about the person Diophantus, an anti mathematical character who actually helped mathematics in many ways, but we do know what is on his tombstone, or supposedly was:
-'Here lies Diophantus,' the wonder behold. Through art algebraic, the stone tells how old: 'God gave him his boyhood one-sixth of his life, One twelfth more as youth while whiskers grew rife; And then yet one-seventh ere marriage begun; In five years there came a bouncing new son. Alas, the dear child of master and sage After attaining half the measure of his father's life chill fate took him. After consoling his fate by the science of numbers for four years, he ended his life.’
-How old was Diophantus?
(Algebra to Calculus)
Preposterous Pythagoras
The Pythagoreans are people who followed Pythagoras. These people had very strange rules, some which are quite crazy to us now. Here are some of them:
-No eating beans.
-No eating from a whole loaf.
-No walking on highways.
-When you rise from the bedclothes, roll them together and smooth out the impression of the body.
-When the pot is taken off the fire, no leaving a mark of it in the ashes, but stir them together.
(Algebra to Calculus)
Ruler Rules
If you take two rules and make three dots on each one anywhere you like, then name the dots P1, P2, and P3, and name the others for the other ruler Q1, Q2, Q3, you can drop them both. Now draw straight lines between P1 to Q2 and Q3, P2 to Q1 and Q3, and P3 to Q1 and Q2. Make a line between the points where the lines (P1Q2, Q1P2), (P2Q3, P3Q2), and (P1Q1, P1Q3) cross. It will produce a straight line.
(Algebra to Calculus)
Eternal Flames
At Mount Chimaera om Turkey, there are several fissures in the ground where methane leaks. It burns as it leaks so those parts are always on fire, from the constant fuel of methane.
(Science in the Age of Reason)