Timeline for How far could a society technologically advance without using iron?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 2, 2021 at 18:28 | comment | added | MolbOrg | @John point more, let's add hard section too, for fairness | |
| Feb 2, 2021 at 18:27 | history | edited | MolbOrg | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
clarification
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| Feb 2, 2021 at 18:05 | comment | added | MolbOrg | @John "requires drilling holes" true, I guess one more obstacle to overcome, iron bits are not the only way to drill holes in the stone(abrasive means). "LOT slower" yeah, more incentive to mechanize it from the start, more incentives to have steam working so things may roll even faster, lol, because they gain a lot almost immediately. Here how it looks like, 1kk and it yours. 29million cubic m, u just need one in a country to kickstart power. sure there will be some changes, plenty of those. | |
| Feb 2, 2021 at 17:22 | comment | added | John | gunpowder mining requires drilling holes first which you guessed it requires iron bits, drilling can be done without it, the Egyptians proved that, but it is a LOT slower, and we still are not sure exactly how they did it. As I said it does not prevent mining but it is a lot more expensive becasue tools wear out MUCH faster and are generally more labor intensive, that is what I mean by expensive, that you can't use our mining as a good model, for instance stone castles will likely be much less common. | |
| Feb 2, 2021 at 17:09 | comment | added | MolbOrg | @John true, mining will be more challenging for a while, but the gun powder was known for a long time. rocks u can collect them on mountains, plenty of places where it is in open mines as mix sand rock pieces. in op's framework, it does not get more expensive, there is no second option. few times less efficient - the whole era of steam shows that it is not a problem as long as it brings a path of gradual improvements. if other solutions do better, then good, as usual. Sure they will have a lot of challenges and from our perspective their life will be harder but they do not know other reality. | |
| Feb 2, 2021 at 16:49 | comment | added | John | note mining stone gets much more difficult without hardened steel and iron chisels. an unhardened iron chisel will not even survive a day of work. without iron all mining gets more expensive. also keep in mind the melting point of basalt is lower than iron but higher than any other metal they have access to. so basalt casting will require disposable molds and crucibles. | |
| Feb 2, 2021 at 12:35 | history | edited | MolbOrg | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
clarification
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| Feb 1, 2021 at 22:18 | history | edited | MolbOrg | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
fix grammar, spelling
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| Feb 1, 2021 at 22:01 | history | answered | MolbOrg | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
