Every post-80s and post-90s who went to middle school will be very familiar with the geodynamic instrument, and its inventor Zhang Heng is also a well-known scientist in the Eastern Han Dynasty. There is a text in the textbook that describes in detail Zhang Heng and his invention of the geodynamic instrument, but the content related to this has been removed from the textbook today.
Nowadays, the structural principle of the geodynamic instrument has not been scientifically verified, which is why it has been removed from the textbook. An expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences once commented on the geodynamic instrument: "The meat hanging on the beam of the house is stronger than it." Is this expert deliberately sensationalizing, or is he sharply pointing out the truth to the world?
In the southern suburbs of Luoyang City during the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a building called Lingtai, which was the office location of the successive Taishi Ling of the Han Dynasty. Taishi Ling is the Eastern Han Dynasty in charge of the astronomical calendar of the full-time, Lingtai is a subordinate institution of Taishi Ling, where there are a variety of instruments for observing celestial phenomena, and the successive Taishi Ling studied astronomy and observed meteorology here.
Since the first year of Yangjia, there has been an additional thing called the geodynamic instrument here, and its inventor is Zhang Heng, the Taishi Ling at that time.
Zhang Heng's invention of the geodynamic instrument is golden, shaped like a wine bottle, and there is a copper pillar inside, which is connected to the outside by an exquisite mechanism. There are eight golden dragons on the outside of the geodynamic instrument, corresponding to eight directions, and the dragon's mouth contains copper beads. Below the golden dragon there is also a corresponding golden open-mouthed toad.
Once a certain direction occurs, the geodynamic instrument will sense the **wave in the corresponding direction, and the golden dragon in the corresponding direction will spit out copper beads, and the copper beads will fall into the toad, and the capital will be able to quickly know the ** direction and prepare for disaster relief in advance.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Luoyang, Chang'an and other places frequently occurred**. In ancient times, the productive forces were backward, and the way of information exchange was very limited, so it was difficult for the imperial court to grasp the disaster situation at the first time. With the ground motion instrument, you can quickly know the direction and improve the efficiency.
In the third year of Yangjia, the golden dragon corresponding to the northwest direction on the geodynamic instrument spit out copper beads from its mouth, and Zhang Heng immediately notified Emperor Han Shun after observing this anomaly.
Emperor Shun of Han and the ministers of the court all expressed their disbelief, because at this time Luoyang did not feel any earthquake. A few days later, a messenger came to the capital in a hurry and informed the emperor: Longxi in the northwest is **! In the following years, the geodynamic instrument has sensed many times, and there are no errors.
But unfortunately, the spiritual platform where the geodynamic instrument was stored was burned down by Dong Zhuo at the end of the Han Dynasty, and the true structure of the geodynamic instrument was lost.
More than 2,000 years later, in 1951, the historian of science and technology Wang Zhenduo successfully restored the historical geodynamic instrument according to ancient books. In 1952, the People's ** published two articles successively, describing the internal structure and principle of the geodynamic instrument in detail with a large amount of space.
After that, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a commemorative stamp of the geodynamic instrument, and the image of the geodynamic instrument also drifted to all corners of the world along with a letter.
In addition, the model of the geodynamic instrument has been exhibited in foreign countries many times as a landmark carrier to show Chinese civilization, and presented to foreign friends in the form of national gifts. It can be said that for a long time, the geokinetic instrument, like the four major inventions, is a technology that countless Chinese are extremely proud of.
However, as Wang's geodynamic instrument becomes more and more well-known, many problems of Wang's geodynamic instrument have gradually been exposed, and people have begun to question its authenticity.
In 1976, there was a ** incident in Tangshan, and Wang's geodynamic instrument far away in Beijing did not have any reaction. In 1988, Wang's geodynamic instrument was exhibited in Nara, Japan, and visitors hoped that the Chinese docent could demonstrate the instrument on the spot, but the Chinese docent did not know how to verify it, and finally had to use a wooden stick to pluck the copper beads in the mouth of the golden dragon of the geodynamic instrument.
Since then, more and more scholars have begun to question the authenticity of the geodynamic instrument, doubting whether it can be accurately sensed as recorded in history**.
After entering the new century, the Internet has gradually become popular, and people have more and more doubts about the ground motion instrument. Fu Chengyi, a research expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said bluntly: The pieces of meat on the beams are stronger than it. In fact, the expert is not denying the geodynamic instrument invented by Zhang Heng, but questioning the modern restoration of Wang's geokinetic instrument.
In fact, Wang's geodynamic instrument is a fake copied in modern times, which is different from the real geokinetic instrument in history. The inside of Wang's geodynamic instrument is mainly composed of an upright pole, and the ** of the model has a thick pillar at the top and thin at the bottom, and when there is a vibration, the pole will fall over and trigger the mechanism, so that the golden dragon spits out copper beads.
However, there are still many flaws in the logical structure of Wang's geodynamic instrument model, which cannot accurately perceive the first wave, nor can it accurately distinguish whether it is an ordinary vibration of the ground or a wave from afar, and it is impossible to use it to judge the first direction.
In fact, in addition to Wang Zhenduo, many first-class experts have studied the geodynamic model of the upright rod structure, but in the end they all failed. The failures again and again make people more and more suspicious whether the ground motion instrument invented by Zhang Heng has really invented a ground motion instrument that can sense the best, otherwise why it is impossible to restore an ancient invention by relying on modern technology.
In 2003, an eight-person geodynamic instrument expert group led by Feng Rui, a leading expert, set off again for the restoration of geodynamic instrument. Feng Rui did not use the upright rod structure that had failed many times, but only used the pendulum structure.
The so-called hanging pendulum structure is the hanging meat of the house beam in Fu Chengyi's mouth, because any hanging structure can be regarded as a kind of seismic detector. When this happens, the shear of the rock formation causes the ground to move horizontally violently, and the hanging objects swing with it.
In 2005, a new generation of ground motion instrument with the principle of hanging pendulum was successfully developed under the leadership of Feng Rui, and after countless experiments, it has been proved that it can accurately sense.
However, the textbook still removes the content of the ground motion instrument, although the new model designed by Feng Rui can accurately sense**,However, it does not match the description in the history books, and for the sake of scientific rigor, the geokinetic instrument still left the textbook gloomily.
Zhang Heng's greatness transcends the times. In the Han Dynasty, where superstition was induced by heaven and man, Zhang Heng used wisdom and exploration to benefit the country and the people, and at the same time strongly attacked the idea of feudal superstition.
Zhang Heng has been immortal for thousands of years, but his pioneering spirit of exploring science and nature has been passed on to future generations forever. Whether or not the geodynamic instrument can be successfully restored in the end, it will not affect his shining position in history.
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