Timeline for Can the Aztec Empire learn and reuse Conquistador technology?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17 at 18:04 | comment | added | Questor | @Mark yeah, the discovery that pouring water into the mixture, so that it ground better/combined/wouldn't ignite during the grinding process was a major innovation. | |
| Nov 30, 2018 at 13:25 | vote | accept | Sava | ||
| Nov 28, 2018 at 21:41 | comment | added | David Thornley | A friend of mine kept trying to make black powder when he was in high school, and it never did anything but burn. (When the Gorn episode of Star Trek came on, he was really annoyed at Kirk dumping the ingredients in a hollow tube and shaking them and still having working gunpowder.) While there was no Google back then, this was an intelligent young man with access to lots of books. | |
| Nov 21, 2018 at 11:53 | comment | added | jean | @Yakk Most people can't even recognize those materials even if they step over them adn there's the quality of the material to consider too | |
| Nov 20, 2018 at 1:36 | comment | added | Mark | @Yakk, making gunpowder is more than just "pour 15 cups saltpeter, 3 cups charcoal, and 2 cups sulfur into a large bowl. Stir well." If you try to make gunpowder knowing only the proportions of the ingredients, the likely outcome is somewhere on the range from "blow yourself up" to "make something that emits a cloud of foul smoke" to "produce low-quality serpentine powder" at best. Producing a proper corned powder with a consistent grain size takes quite a bit of specialist knowledge. | |
| Nov 19, 2018 at 21:49 | comment | added | o.m. | @Yakk, could you tell without the internet or reference books how to find and refine saltpeter and sulfur? Or how to grind powder without an explosion in the powder mill? | |
| Nov 19, 2018 at 17:55 | comment | added | Ryan_L | It doesn't have to be secret to be uncommon knowledge. You need to remember they didn't have google back then. | |
| Nov 19, 2018 at 17:54 | comment | added | anon | Maps, sailing, medicine, food preservation. Its pretty much like giving columbus a smartphone and a modern teenager and reinventing the digital age. | |
| Nov 19, 2018 at 14:16 | comment | added | Yakk | Why would gunpowder be a super secret? I mean, basic gunpowder is 15:3:2 saltpeter, charcoal, sulfer. Not exactly complex. | |
| S Nov 19, 2018 at 8:12 | history | suggested | dbkk | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
spelling, grammar
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| Nov 19, 2018 at 7:59 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Nov 19, 2018 at 8:12 | |||||
| Nov 18, 2018 at 20:57 | history | answered | L.Dutch♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |