PULLING STRINGS TO BUILD PYRAMIDS

No one knows exactly how- the pyramids were built. Marcus Chown reckons the answer could be ‘hanging in the air’

Không ai biết chính xác cách các kim tự tháp được xây dựng như thế nào. Marcus Chown cho rằng câu trả lời có thể là ‘chưa biết được chắc chắn’.

The pyramids of Egypt were built more than three thousand years ago, and no one knows how. The conventional picture is that tens .of thousands of slaves dragged stones on sledges. But there is no evidence to back this up. Now a Californian software consultant called Maureen Clemmons has suggested that kites might have been- involved. While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures. They were holding what looked like ropes that led, via some kind of mechanical system, to a giant bird in the sky. She wondered if perhaps the bird was actually a giant kite, and the men were using it to lift a heavy object.

kim tự tháp của Ai Cập đã được xây dựng cách đây hơn ba ngàn năm, và không ai biết làm thế nào. Hình ảnh thông thường là hàng chục ngàn người nô lệ kéo những tảng đá trên những con trượt. Nhưng không có bằng chứng nào cho thấy điều này. Giờ đây, một chuyên gia tư vấn phần mềm của California gọi là Maureen Clemmons đã đề xuất rằng diều có thể đã được tham gia vào. Trong khi đọc về một cuốn sách viết về các lăng mộ của Ai Cập, cô nhận thấy một chữ tượng hình diễn tả một hàng người đàn ông đứng trong tư thế kỳ lạ. Họ đang cầm cái gì trông giống như những sợi dây dẫn qua một số hệ thống cơ khí tới một con chim khổng lồ trên bầu trời. Cô tự hỏi có lẽ con chim đó thực sự là một con diều khổng lồ, và những người đàn ông đang sử dụng nó để nâng một vật nặng.

Intrigued, Clemmons contacted Morteza Gharib, aeronautics professor at the California Institute of Technology. He was fascinated by the idea. ‘Coming from Iran, I have a keen interest in Middle Eastern science/ he says. He too was puzzled by the picture that had sparked Clemmons’s interest. The object in the sky apparently had wings far too short and wide for a bird ‘The possibility certainly existed that it was a kite/ he says. And since he needed a summer project for his student Emilio Graff, investigating the possibility of using kites as heavy lifters seemed like a good idea.

Ngạc nhiên, Clemmons liên hệ với Morteza Gharib, giáo sư hàng không tại Học viện công nghệ California. Ông đã bị mê hoặc bởi ý tưởng. Đến từ Iran, tôi có một mối quan tâm đến khoa học Trung Đông- ông nói. Anh ta cũng bối rối vì bức tranh đã gây ra sự quan tâm của Clemmons. Vật thể trên bầu trời dường như có đôi cánh quá ngắn và rộng cho một con chim. Khả năng chắc chắn tồn tại rằng đó là một diều / ông nói. Và vì ông cần một dự án mùa hè cho sinh viên Emilio Graff của mình, việc khảo sát khả năng sử dụng diều nâng những vật nặng dường như là một ý tưởng hay.

Gharib and Graff set themselves the task of raising a 4.5-metre stone column from horizontal to vertical, using no source of energy except the wind. Their initial calculations and scale-model wind-tunnel experiments convinced them they wouldn’t need a strong wind to lift the 33.5-tonne column. Even a modest force, if sustained over a long lime, rose, the base would roll across the ground on a trolley.

Gharib và Graff tự đặt ra nhiệm vụ nâng một cột đá dài 4,5 mét từ ngang lên thẳng đứng, không sử dụng nguồn năng lượng trừ gió. Các tính toán ban đầu của họ và mô hình thí nghiệm ống gió thu nhỏ thuyết phục họ rằng họ sẽ không cần một cơn gió mạnh để nâng cột 33,5 tấn. Ngay cả một lực vừa phải, nếu duy trì trong một thời gian dài, sẽ làm được. Then chốt là sử dụng một hệ thống ròng rọc có thể phóng đại lực tác dụng. Vì vậy, họ dựng lên một giàn giáo có hình cái lều ngay trên đỉnh của cột ngang, với các ròng rọc được treo lên từ đỉnh của giàn giáo. Ý tưởng là khi một đầu của cột nâng lên, trụ sẽ lăn trên mặt đất trên một xe đẩy.

Earlier this year, the team put Clemmons’s unlikely theory to the test, using a 40-square- meter rectangular nylon sail. The kite lifted the column clean off the ground. ‘We were absolutely stunned/ Gharib says. The instant the sail opened into the wind, a huge force was generated and the column was raised to the vertical in a mere 40 seconds.’

Đầu năm nay, nhóm nghiên cứu đưa lý thuyết không khả của Clemmons vào thử nghiệm, sử dụng cách buồm nylon hình chữ nhật 40 mét vuông. Diều đã nâng cột rời hẳn khỏi mặt đất. Gharib nói: “Chúng tôi đã hoàn toàn bị kinh ngạc”. Ngay khi cánh buồm được buông gió, một lực rất lớn đã được tạo ra và cột đã được nâng lên thẳng đứng chỉ trong vòng 40 giây.

The wind was blowing at a gentle 16 to 20 kilometers an hour, little more than half what they thought would be needed. What they had failed to reckon with was what happened when the kite was opened. There was a huge initial force – five times larger than the steady state force/ Gharib says. This jerk meant that kites could lift huge weights, Gharib realised. Even a 300-tonne column could have been lifted to the vertical with 40 or so men and four or five sails. So Clemmons was right: the pyramid builders could have used kites to lift massive stones into place. ‘Whether they actually did is another matter,’ Gharib says. There are no pictures showing the construction of the pyramids, so there is no way to tell what really happened. The evidence for using kites to move large stones is no better or worse than the evidence for the brute force method/ Gharib says.

Gió thổi vào khoảng 16-20 ki lô mét mỗi giờ, ít hơn một nửa mà họ nghĩ sẽ cần. Những gì họ không nghĩ đến là những gì đã xảy ra khi diều được mở ra. Có một lực ban đầu rất lớn, gấp năm lần so với lực ở trạng thái ổn định, “Gharib nói. Điều này có nghĩa là diều có thể nâng vật trọng lượng lớn, Gharib đã nhận ra. Ngay cả một cột 300 tấn có thể đã được nâng lên theo phương đứng với 40 người đàn ông và bốn hoặc năm cánh buồm. Vì vậy, Clemmons đã đúng: kim tự tháp, nhà xây dựng có thể đã sử dụng diều để nâng đá khổng lồ đến nơi. Gharib nói: “họ có thực sự làm như vậy hay không lại là một vấn đề khác”. Không có hình ảnh (để lại) cho thấy việc xây dựng các kim tự tháp, do đó, không có cách nào để nói những gì thực sự xảy ra. Bằng chứng cho việc sử dụng diều để di chuyển những tảng lớn không tốt hơn hay tồi tệ hơn bằng chứng cho phương pháp hợp lực “, Gharib nói.

Indeed, the experiments triage left many specialists unconvinced. The evidence for kite- lifting is non-existent/ says Wallace Wendrich, an associate professor of Egyptology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Thật vậy, các thí nghiệm đã để lại những điều chưa thuyết phục đối với nhiều chuyên gia. Theo Willeke Wendrich, phó giáo sư về Ai Cập học tại Đại học California, Los Angeles, bằng chứng về sự nâng bằng diều không tồn tại.

Other feel there is more of a case for the theory. Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians. And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of stone. In addition, there is some physical evidence that the ancient Egyptians were interested in flight. A wooden artifact found on the step pyramid at Saqqara looks uncannily like a modern glider. Although it dates from several hundred years after the building of the pyramids, its sophistication suggests that the Egyptians might have been developing ideas of flight for a long time. And other ancient civilisations certainly knew about kites; as early as 1250 BC, the Chinese were using them to deliver messages and dump flaming debris on their foes.

Những người khác cho là có nhiều hơn một trường hợp cho lý thuyết này. Việc khai thác gió sẽ không phải là vấn đề đối với thủy thủ lành nghề như những người người Ai Cập. Và họ đã biết sử dụng ròng rọc bằng gỗ, có thể đã được làm đủ để đỡ được khối lượng khối đá khổng lồ. Ngoài ra, có một số bằng chứng vật lý mà người Ai Cập cổ đại đã quan tâm đến việc bay. Một đồ tạo tác bằng gỗ tìm thấy trên kim tự tháp bậc thang ở Saqqara trông giống một cách kỳ lạ một chiếc tàu lượn hiện đại. Mặc dù nó có từ vài trăm năm sau khi xây dựng các kim tự tháp, sự tinh vi của nó cho thấy rằng người Ai Cập có thể đã phát triển ý tưởng cho việc bay trong một thời gian dài. Và các nền văn minh cổ khác chắc chắn biết về diều; Vào khoảng năm 1250 TCN, người Trung Hoa đã sử dụng chúng để đưa tin và thả các mảnh vụn nóng lên kẻ thù của họ.

The experiments might even have practical uses nowadays. There are plenty of places around the globe where people have no access to heavy machinery, but do know how to deal with, wind, sailing and basic mechanical principles. Gharib has already been contacted by a civil engineer in Nicaragua, who wants to put up buildings with adobe roofs supported by concrete arches on a site that heavy equipment can’t reach. His idea is to build the arches horizontally, then lift them into place using kites. ‘We’ve given him some design hints/ says Gharib. ‘We’re just waiting for him to report back.’ So whether they were actually used to build the pyramids or not, it seems that kites may make sensible construction tools in the 21st century AD.

Các thí nghiệm thậm chí có thể ứng dụng thực tế vào ngày nay. Có rất nhiều nơi trên toàn cầu, nơi mọi người không có máy móc hạng nặng, nhưng biết làm thế nào để đối phó với gió, thuyền buồm và các nguyên tắc cơ bản của cơ học. Gharib đã được một kỹ sư xây dựng dân dụng ở Nicaragua liên lạc, người này muốn xây dựng cac tòa nhà với mái vòm bằng gạch phơi nắng được hỗ trợ bởi các vòm bê tông trên một địa điểm mà thiết bị nặng không thể tiếp cận. Ý tưởng của ông là để xây dựng các vòm cung theo chiều ngang, sau đó nâng chúng vào vị trí bằng cách sử dụng diều. Gharib nói: “Chúng tôi đã đưa cho ông một vài gợi ý thiết kế”. Chúng tôi chỉ đang chờ ông ấy báo cáo lại. Vì vậy, cho dù họ đã thực sự được sử dụng để xây dựng các kim tự tháp hay không, có vẻ như diều có thể làm cho công cụ xây dựng hợp lý trong thế kỷ 21.

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