The five-thousand-year history of Chinese civilization shines with many rays of pride, and has also given rise to many world-leading black technologies, which have fascinated countless descendants of China.
For example, the wooden ox and flowing horse invented by Mr. Zhuge Liang can carry 400 kilograms and travel dozens of miles a day to provide food for the Shu Han army of 100,000 people.
For example, the ancestors put charcoal in the container to keep warm in winter, and used an artifact in the quilt? "Quilt Incense Burner".
For example, Grandpa Lu Ban, the ancestor of carpenters, built a wooden kite that could fly in the sky for three days and three nights.
Another example is a high-end incense burner or a large wine jar that can sense and predict earthquakes? "Seismometer".
So many exquisite mechanisms have one common characteristic, that is, none of them have benefited mankind as much as Western inventions. The more magical the more magical they are, the more they have been lost.
Many friends will raise objections here. We have clearly seen seismographs in textbooks, and "there are pictures and there is truth."
The Zhang Heng seismometer you see in the textbook is definitely not the original version handed down by the ancients. It was invented by the scientist Comrade Wang Zhenduo in 1951. The intellectual property rights belong to Lao Wang. The correct name should be Wang. Seismometer?
As the rumors of "Wang's Seismometer" have been swirling, in the first volume of the unified junior high school history textbook for seventh grade that was put into use in 2017, the content about Zhang Heng and Hou Feng's seismometer was quietly withdrawn and could not be found. arrive.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves. Anyway, the two sides exchanged fire in the air, and all kinds of brain-burning questions also came one after another:
Since the "seismometer" is so magical, there is also a large-scale construction project to build a seismological bureau and buy so many What are the expensive instruments for?
The seismometer is so sensitive and has long expired the patent protection period. Why is it not promoted abroad?
Why don’t foreigners imitate seismographs when they have won so many Nobel Prizes for their inventions?
In fact, these questions are just arguments. The function of seismographs is to record earthquakes, not to predict earthquakes. The crux of the problem is that it seems that it even lacks the ability to record earthquakes.
In our memory, the globe in the textbook looks like a big wine jar.
There were eight dragons crawling on the wine jar, each with a round bead in its mouth.
Usually, these dragons are very peaceful, motionless and as quiet as virgins. Once there is a disturbance in a certain direction or an earthquake occurs, the dragon's mouth corresponding to it will slowly open, and the dragon's mouth contains the The beads will also immediately fall into the mouth of the toad below, making a clear and loud sound to warn people.
This great invention is said to have come from the famous astronomer Zhang Heng of the Eastern Han Dynasty in 132 AD.
It is said that in history, it once successfully predicted an earthquake.
On this day, a bead from a dragon's mouth rolled into a toad's mouth. Zhang Heng immediately told everyone excitedly.
No one felt the slightest vibration on the ground, so everyone said that Zhang Heng was a big liar.
A few days later, news came that if an earthquake occurred in Longxi, more than a thousand miles away from Luoyang, the direction would be the direction of the dragon's mouth that triggered the mechanism.
Since then, Zhang Heng has been regarded as a god by everyone, and the seismometer has also been famous for generations.
Why was the seismograph removed from textbooks?
As we all know, Zhang Heng and his seismograph were introduced in detail in previous textbooks published by the People's Education Press.
The text reads:
Scientist Zhang Heng made an instrument that can determine the direction of earthquakes, called a seismograph. This is the earliest seismic instrument recognized in the world.
But in the 2016 ministry textbook and the 2017 unified textbook, you can’t find this content. What’s the reason?
"The Biography of Zhang Heng in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty":
"In the first year of Yangjia, the Houfeng Seismograph was copied. It was made of fine copper, with a diameter of eight feet, a raised lid, and a shape like wine. The statue is decorated with the shapes of turtles, birds and beasts in seal script. There are capital pillars in the middle, eight roads running beside them, and eight dragons on the outside. The head is holding a steel ball, and there is a toad underneath, which is held in the mouth.
The teeth are ingeniously made and are hidden in the statue, covering them tightly and endlessly. If there is an earthquake, Zun will vibrate the dragon, spit out pills, and the toad will hold them. The vibrating sound stimulates the poplars, and those who are waiting are aware of it. Although one dragon is moving, but the seven heads are not moving, if you look for its direction, you will know where the earthquake is. Test it with things, and the harmony is like a god. It has not been recorded since it was recorded in the book. When a dragon's machine appears but the ground doesn't move, the scholars in the capital blame him for not having any action. A few days later, when the post arrived, there was an earthquake in Longxi, so everyone was impressed by its wonderfulness. From then on, historians were ordered to record the origin of the earthquake. "
Like Mr. Zhuge's wooden ox and flowing horse, the No. 1 prototype of the seismograph invented by Zhang Heng has long been lost, and not even the drawings are left.
The seismograph you see in textbooks , was reconstructed by a man named Wang Zhenduo in the early 1950s based on the relevant content in the historical materials and using his imagination.
The photos and introduction text of this seismograph were then transferred. It was in the textbook.
But this imitation seismometer later caused controversy in the academic community because it was just a device for deaf ears and could not be used at all.
And for thousands of years, There are many foreign inventors who have copied it countless times without success.
There was an earthquake enthusiast in Russia who thought hard at home for three months and failed to understand the principle.
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After the reform and opening up, especially after entering the Internet age, information developed and information channels increased. Questions about the seismograph continued to be heard at home and abroad. The relevant departments could not remain calm and continued to ignore it. Therefore, the seismograph was successfully restored by Wang Zhenduo in 1951. The seismometer model was forced to be removed from the textbook.
However, most people feel that the seismometer restored by Wang Zhenduo cannot "work properly". That is a problem of his personal ability, not Zhang Heng's problem. /p>
If there is a problem with Zhang Heng’s seismograph, it is tantamount to denying our country’s long history and wise sages. Denying Wang Zhenduo and countless scholars who have promoted Wang’s seismograph for decades does not mean denying the historical Zhang Heng seismograph. My dear.
Unless the objector brings out the seismometer from more than 1,800 years ago to prove that it cannot work properly, facts speak louder than words, and practice is the only criterion for testing truth.
People misunderstand the seismometer, but there is another mystery that you may not have noticed.
There is a key part in the historical record about the seismograph that has been ignored by later generations:
Part 2 There are capital pillars, eight paths running next to them, and there are eight dragons outside, with steel balls at the top and toads at the bottom.
The key is to study "there are capital pillars in the middle" for a long time." Wang Zhenduo has not fully understood the principle of "Du Zhu", will others be able to figure it out?
In the past 100 years from 1875 to the present, thousands of Chinese and foreign scientists have been working hard to explore this seismograph. . There have been no fewer than a thousand seismometer restoration models, and tens of thousands of experiments have been conducted, but they all ended in failure.
In 1972, Japanese archaeologist Sekino Yuu used calculations to deny the erection of the "Zhongyoudu Pillar". The Rod Principle. The Dutch Sleswijk and the American Savvy also pointed out that Wang's model cannot be established even in theory.
The British scholar Joseph Needham was originally a senior admirer of Zhang Heng, and he was sharp. It was pointed out that the "Wang's seismograph" was inconsistent with historical records.
In 1984, American seismologist Academician Bolt directly fired at the "Wang's seismograph": "The working principle of this seismograph model is vague. The model is crude and crude, and mechanical friction greatly reduces the sensitivity. The response to earthquakes is even lower than human sensitivity. It is not scientific at all to determine the epicenter based on the direction in which copper pellets fall.
Academician Fu Chengyi (the founder of Chinese seismology) from China even confided in his old friend Wang Zhenduo: Even if a piece of meat falls off the beam, it will still be better than that thing (model) of yours!
The principle is very simple. At least the piece of meat on the beam does not sacrifice the friction caused by the machine. The natural sensitivity is much more reliable than the "Wang's seismograph".
Some people lamented that Zhang Heng’s seismograph was a thousand times more difficult than Goldbach’s conjecture.
The ancients were so smart. Lao Wang and Lao Wang, you have discredited Zhang Heng in history. Zhang Heng, Zhang Heng, you have harmed Lao Wang in future generations.