Re: Pyramidiocy (was Re: Strange Maths)

Peter Metcalfe (P.Metcalfe@student.canterbury.ac.nz)
28 Jul 95 11:16:14 +1200

In article <medved.806788896@access5>, medved@access5.digex.net (Ted Holden)
writes:
:
: 100-ton blocks were being used for the pyramids. That's 200,000 lbs.
: Assuming any one slave might could pull 50 lbs of that across sand,
: that's 4000 guys, minimum, and with the inefficiencies of ropes and
: everything else figured in, probably 6000 - 8000. That can't be done.
: For starters, you couldn't get that many guys to pull in a reasonable
: manner or organize such an effort at all. Any sort of saplings you tried
: to put under such a block as rollers would be sawdust after the first 5".
: Then there's the problem of pulling such a block across sand in the
: desert; it'd be exactly like trying to pull a filing cabinet across a
: carpet. Unless you could figure a way to have the ropes lift and pull at
: the same time (200,000 geese instead of the 6000 guys...), you'd just
: pull the nose of the block down into the sand and the process would stop.
: And don't forget the problem of having 6000 guys pull in a straight line
: on the higher levels of the pyramid; there'd be no room for it. Further,
: trying to set up a pole and pull around the pole would lose too much force
: from the pull, even assuming you could set up such a pole and have it
: stay there which, in all likelihood, is not a good assumption.
:
: The only two assumptions which help anything are 1. that the Etyptians
: had advanced machinery at an early age, for which we've no evidence, or
: 2. That they did not experience gravity as we do. Believe it or not,
: there is evidence for that possibility.

Let's see. If the gravity was reduced, then the surely workers would be
weaker since they won't have to fight so hard against the harsh oppresive
gravity. (cf how puny the Cosmonauts and Astronauts are when they return
to earth after extended periods of time in zero-g).

So you would be still looking at 6000 guys pulling a block of stone. And
thus by your calculations (truely awe-inspiring in their simplicity) we
know that can't be done.

My money is on the Landfolk(tm) architects. They not only built the damn
things but buried their advanced tools in the sand to preserve their
monopoly on building pyramids.

--Peter Metcalfe