Short stories of scientists’ inventions:
1. Franklin
One day in June 1752, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the United States, there were dark clouds, lightning and thunder. On the broad grass, there were two people, an old man and a young man, flying kites there happily. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning split the clouds and made a "zigzag" in the sky, followed by a thunder and raindrops pouring down. I saw the old man shouting loudly: "William, stand in the thatched house over there and tighten the kite string."
At this time, lightning flashed one after another, and the thunder was louder than the other. Suddenly William shouted: "Dad, look!" The old man looked in the direction his son pointed, and saw the tightened hemp rope, which was originally smooth. Suddenly, he became furious, and the thin fibers stood upright one by one. Get up. He shouted happily: "The lightning has arrived!" While telling his son to be careful, he slowly approached the copper key connected to the hemp rope with his hand.
Suddenly he fell to the ground as if he had been pushed by someone, his whole body numb. Ignoring the pain, he climbed up from the ground and connected the Leyden bottle he brought with him to the copper key. There is indeed electricity in this Leyden bottle, and it also releases sparks. It turns out that electricity from the sky and electricity from the earth are the same!
He and his son took the Leyden bottle home as if they had found a treasure.
The people who captured the sky lightning were Franklin and his son William. Franklin was not only a great scientist, but also an outstanding statesman and diplomat. He was one of the initiators of the Declaration of Independence and the first ambassador of the United States to a foreign country.
2. Archimedes
Archimedes was born in a noble family in Syracuse. His father was an astronomer. Under the influence of his father, Asmid loved learning, was good at thinking, and liked debating since childhood. When he grew up, he traveled across the ocean to study in Alexandria, Egypt. He learned philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, physics and other knowledge from Conon, a student of Euclid, a famous scientist at the time. Finally, he learned about ancient times and the present, and mastered the rich Greek cultural heritage.
While studying in Alexandria, he often went for walks along the Nile River. During the long drought season, he saw farmers struggling to lift buckets of water from the Nile River to irrigate their fields. He invented a spiral water lifter that could lift water from the river through the rotation of the screw, saving farmers a lot of effort. Not only is it still in use today, but it is also the original prototype of all contemporary propellers used in water and air.
3. Pavlov
When he was a child, Pavlov and his brother dug a hole for planting apple trees. The hole had been dug, and his father took a look and said where it should be. No, dig again. The younger brother put down the shovel and stopped working, but Pavlov started digging again, ignoring the blood blisters on his hands. He didn't stop until the pit was dug and the apple tree was planted.
Later, Pavlov became a physiologist and spent all day studying the conditioned responses of dogs in the laboratory.
He often uses his salary to buy dogs for experiments. When dissecting a dog, it takes four or five hours. He very carefully counted the dog's saliva flowing out of the glass tube and recorded it in detail in his notebook. A new assistant counted for a while and then felt monotonous and bored.
But Pavlov solemnly said to him: "If science needs it, give him ten or twenty years!" When Pavlov was eighty-seven years old, he contracted hepatitis. Later he suffered from pneumonia, but he was still doing "scientific hard work". He also regretted that he had not fully fulfilled his obligations to mankind as a scientist.
4. Radar
In the January 1947 issue of the British magazine Endeavor, a scientist published a very funny text explaining to us how bats How does it guide itself to fly in the dark? No matter how dark or how narrow the place, it never hits a wall. What is the reason? How does it know whether there is an obstacle in front?
There are two American biologists on this matter. In 1940, Griffin and Garangbao proved that bats can avoid collisions by using a kind of natural radar, but using sound waves instead of electromagnetic waves, the principle is exactly the same. A very high-frequency sound wave is emitted from the bat's mouth, which is beyond the range of human hearing.
Two scientists used a special electrical device to record the high-frequency sound waves emitted by bats when they flew. This kind of sound wave will inevitably turn back when it hits the wall. Its eardrum can distinguish the distance of the obstacle and fly in the appropriate direction.
The sound waves transmitted by bats are also like radar, they are separated by a very short time and are very regular.
And each bat has its own inherent frequency, so that the bat can distinguish its own sound without causing disturbance. For this reason, when a bat flies, it often opens its mouth. If you close its mouth tightly, it will lose its command function. If you plug its ears, it will hit the wall and be unable to fly. This funny experiment revealed its secret.
5. Nobel
Nobel’s father was a talented inventor who was devoted to chemical research, especially the study of explosives. Influenced by his father, Nobel showed a tenacious and brave character since he was a child. He often went to experiment with explosives with his father. After many years of studying explosives with his father, his interest soon turned to applied chemistry. He began research on nitroglycerin.
This is an arduous journey full of danger and sacrifice. Death was always with him. An explosion occurred during an explosives experiment. The laboratory was blown up without a trace, and all five assistants died. Even his brother was not spared. This shocking explosion dealt a very heavy blow to Nobel's father, and he died not long after.
Out of fear, his neighbors also complained to the government about Nobel. After that, the government did not allow Nobel to conduct experiments in the city. But Nobel was unyielding and moved his laboratory to a boat in a lake on the outskirts of the city to continue his experiments.
After long-term research, he finally discovered a substance that is very easy to cause explosions-mercuric fulminate. He used mercury fulminate to make explosive detonators and successfully solved the problem of detonating explosives. , this is the invention of the detonator. It is a major breakthrough on the road to Nobel science.