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Weighing
in at a near 2.5 tons, the Egyptians had to
pull these massive stones over great
distances to the final destination where the
pyramid were built. But how did they move
such massive stones?
New research shows
adding a small amount of water to sand significantly reduces the sliding friction.
The Egyptians were able to reduce the number
of works by half - adding a little water to
the ground in front of the stones being
pulled as shown in the schematic above
from the tomb of Djehutihotep depicting the transport of a colossal statue.
Notice the person standing on top and in
front of the sled is pouring water over the sand right in front of the sled
Daniel Bonn from the University of Amsterdam
Led an international team. The team tested the sliding friction of dry and wet sand by pulling a weighted sled across the surface.
When experimenting using dry sand, a heap of
sand formed in front of the sled, slowing
its movement significantly. When water added water, the force needed to pull the sled and the amount of friction decreased.
Their experiments revealed that the required pulling force decreased
significantly.
“I was very surprised by the amount the pulling force could be reduced -- by as much as 50 percent -- meaning that the Egyptians needed only half the men to pull over wet sand as compared to dry,”
Bonn tells the Washington
Post.
The answer had been there for a long time. In a wall painting from the tomb of Djehutihotep,
as shown in the schematic above.
Experiment
pictured below:
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