Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Hydromechanics" to "Ichnography"

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Hydromechanics" to "Ichnography" - Volume 14, Slice 2

HYDROMECHANICS (), the science of the mechanics of water and fluids in general, including hydrostatics or the mathematical theory of fluids in equilibrium, and hydromechanics, the theory of fluids in motion. The practical application of hydromechanics forms the province of hydraulics (q.v.). Historical.The fundamental principles of hydrostatics were first given by Archimedes in his work , or De iis quae vehuntur in humido, about 250 B.C., and were afterwards applied to experiments by Marino Ghetaldi (1566-1627) in his Promotus Archimedes (1603). Archimedes maintained that each particle of a fluid mass, when in equilibrium, is equally pressed in every direction; and he inquired into the conditions according to which a solid body floating in a fluid should assume and preserve a position of equilibrium. In the Greek school at Alexandria, which flourished under the auspices of the Ptolemies, the first attempts were made at the construction of hydraulic machinery, and about 120 B.C. the fountain of compression, the siphon, and the forcing-pump were invented by Ctesibius and Hero. The siphon is a simple instrument; but the forcing-pump is a complicated invention, which could scarcely have been expected in the infancy of hydraulics. It was probably suggested to Ctesibius by the Egyptian Wheel or Noria, which was common at that time, and which was a kind of chain pump, consisting of a number of earthen pots carried round by a wheel. In some of these machines the pots have a valve in the bottom which enables them to descend without much resistance, and diminishes greatly the load upon the wheel; and, if we suppose that this valve was introduced so early as the time of Ctesibius, it is not difficult to perceive how such a machine might have led to the invention of the forcing-pump. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 40370
Author: Various
Release Date: Jul 29, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English