Professional Documents
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Wheels
Wheels
Wheels
By
Acknowledgement to:
Google for the inputs and photographs and Scribd.com for hosting my e-
books.
- Tamarapu Sampath Kumaran
:
Wheel
One may be tempted to think that the wheel is just a humble or even
primitive invention compared to some of the fancy gadgets that we have
today. Nevertheless, the wheel (specifically as a means of transportation)
was invented at a relatively late point of human history. The oldest
known wheel found in an archaeological excavation is from
Mesopotamia, and dates to around 3500 BC. This period was known as
the Bronze Age, which is a relatively late chapter in the story of the
development of human civilisation. By this time, human beings were
already planting crops, herding domesticated animals, and had some
form of social hierarchy.
One of the reasons why the wheel was invented only at this point in
history is since metal tools were needed to chisel fine-fitted holes and
axles. This leads to the next reason the wheel was not just a cylinder
rolling on its edge. It was a cylinder that was connected to a stable,
stationary platform. This wheel-axle concept was a stroke of genius, but
making it was a challenge. The ends of the axle, as well as the holes in
the center of the wheels had to be nearly perfectly smooth and round.
Failing to achieve this would result in too much friction between these
components, and the wheel would not turn. Although the axle had to fit
snugly in the holes of the wheels, they had to have enough room to allow
them to rotate freely. Given the complexity of the wheel-axle
combination, it may be unsurprising that the wheel was not initially
invented for transportation purposes. Instead, it has been claimed that
wheels were first used by potters.
The earliest wheels are believed to have been used for pottery making.
Although the worlds oldest wheel has been found in Mesopotamia, the
earliest images of wheeled carts were found in Poland and elsewhere in
the Eurasian steppes. Some have suggested that due to the immense
challenge that the invention of the wheel posed to mankind, it probably
happened only once, and spread from its place of origin to other parts of
the world. However, others believe it developed independently in
separate parts of the world at around the same time. For example,
Although the wheel has revolutionised the way early human beings
travelled and transported goods from one place to another, the wheel
was not a perfect invention
.
For instance, camels were a much more efficient form of transportation
in the desert environment when compared to the wheel. It has also been
claimed that between the 2 nd and 6 th centuries A.D., the camel
supplanted the wheel as the primary mode of transport in the Middle
East and North Africa. Nevertheless, the wheel was still used for
domestic purposes, such as for irrigation, milling, and pottery making.
The wheel should be viewed as one of the great achievements of human
society.
The English word Wheel comes from the old English word hweol,
hweogol, from Proto-Germanic *hwehwlan, Greek kklos,
and Sanskrit Chakra, the latter both meaning "circle" or "wheel".
Solid wheels on a heavy Temple car, contrasted with the lighter wire
spoked wheels of the bicycles.
The tricky thing about the wheel is not conceiving of a cylinder rolling
on its edge. It's figuring out how to connect a stable, stationary platform
to that cylinder.