What is the new Low Tech like?

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

How much to have the manuscript.... illuminated...? *eyebrow waggle*

I strongly suspect you aren't cleared for that.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't believe it. The careful descriptions indicated that there was a solid ceramic partition in between the two different metals. You don't make a battery with a layer of insulator separating the anode and cathode.

It is also completely sealed. I'm not sure how people think they were going to get the electricity OUT of it. All of the modern reconstructions require modifications to the original in order to get it to function as a battery. We can't be certain that it was a scroll container but it definitely wasn't a battery.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

The so-called Bagdad battery definitely won't be in Low Tech. The technology might belong in a book about Fantasy or Speculative tech but the original object definitely was not used to generate electricity.

I hope that there is one day a PDF about speculative tech.

[DanHoward]

LT attempted to squash other myths also, such as ancient harnesses choking the horse, stirrups being responsible for the development of heavy cavalry, and the longbow being invented by the Welsh.

[PK]

Originally Posted by lachimba

I hope that there is one day a PDF about speculative tech.

You're not the only one who hopes that . . .

[Tzeentch]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

LT attempted to squash other myths also, such as ancient harnesses choking the horse, stirrups being responsible for the development of heavy cavalry, and the longbow being invented by the Welsh.

-- Oh god yes. So many books on the subject of ancient technology seem to use sources that don't date past 1984 :) Hell I just read a book that claimed the Romans didn't know about the cogwheel!

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

You're not the only one who hopes that . . .

I'm sure anyone involved in writing or playtesting LT could come up with a long list of suggestions for what might go into such a book.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't believe it. The careful descriptions indicated that there was a solid ceramic partition in between the two different metals. You don't make a battery with a layer of insulator separating the anode and cathode.

Actually you do. Remember the flow you are not insulating against isn't electrons, electrons flow one way in the external circuit, ions flow the other between the two electrolytes. Most of the cells used in electrochemistry have a ceramic frit that separates the two solutions, which you need to keep from mixing freely, but allows some cation flow. The kitchen experiment typically usually uses entirely separate containers connected by something like a cloth dampened in the electrolyte.

Though I do think that the fact they look just like things which are undeniably scroll cases except they've been put into pots does pretty well clinches the identification.

The lack of anciliary finds, like say wires, or anything actually electroplated, is a fairly strong indication against batteries too.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Actually you do. Remember the flow you are not insulating against isn't electrons, electrons flow one way in the external circuit, ions flow the other between the two electrolytes. Most of the cells used in electrochemistry have a ceramic frit that separates the two solutions, which you need to keep from mixing freely, but allows some cation flow. The kitchen experiment typically usually uses entirely separate containers connected by something like a cloth dampened in the electrolyte.

But you don't need two solutions in a battery, do you? You put two different metals into an acid, and the different potentials of the metals generate the current flow. There's no reason you have to have two different acids, and I can't imagine that the ancient Babylonians would have done anything as peculiar as putting, say, vinegar on one side and lemon juice on the other.

Bill Stoddard

[Grouchy Chris]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

LT attempted to squash other myths also, such as ancient harnesses choking the horse

That this is a myth is news to me. All the sources I have at hand present it as fact. Can you give a citation?