Chapter 1478
Zhang Heng left a great legacy to the world.
The most famous thing is its"invention".
A seismometer and an armillary sphere.
In 132 AD, Zhang Heng invented the earliest seismograph, called the Houfeng seismograph, during his tenure as Taishi Ling.
According to the"Book of the Later Han·Zhang Heng Biography": The seismometer is made of fine copper, with a diameter of eight feet, a protruding top cover, shaped like a wine bottle, and decorated with images of turtles, birds and beasts in seal script. There is a big pillar in the middle, with eight paths running beside it, which is used to shut down the engine. It has eight directions, and in each direction there is a dragon with a copper bead in its mouth. Under each dragon there is a toad corresponding to it. If an earthquake occurs in any direction, the copper beads contained in the dragon's mouth in that direction will fall into the toad's mouth, and the direction of the earthquake can be determined from this.
After testing, it was in accordance with the established system, and it was as good as God. This has never happened since there were records in books.
Once upon a time, when a dragon's message came out, the earth did not move, and the scholars in Luoyang blamed it for not believing it. A few days later, the messenger came, and sure enough, an earthquake occurred in Longxi, and everyone was convinced of its miracle.
From then on, the imperial court ordered historians to record the places where earthquakes occurred.
Houfeng seismograph is the ancestor of seismographs in the world. Although its function is still limited to measuring the approximate location of the epicenter, it surpasses the development of world science and technology by about 1800 years.
In addition, based on the armillary sphere invented by Geng Shouchang of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng created an"armillary sphere" that was much more accurate and comprehensive than before, based on his own theory of armillary sky.
The leaking water-turned-armillary sphere is a water-transported muddy phenomenon.
Use a copper ball with a diameter of more than four feet. The ball is engraved with the twenty-eight constellations, Chinese and foreign star officials, the ecliptic equator, the north and south poles, the twenty-four solar terms, the permanent display circle, the permanent hidden circle, etc., to form a complete image, and then use a set of rotating machinery , combining the Hunyianxiang and the Clepsydra. The clepsydra water is used to control the muddy image so that it rotates synchronously with the celestial sphere to show the diurnal movements of the starry sky, such as the emergence and emergence of stars and the midheaven.
It also has an affiliated mechanism, the Rui Lun Ming Cai, which is a mechanical calendar connected by a transmission device and the Universal Image. From the beginning of each month, one leaf grows every day; after half a month, one leaf falls every day.
The two-stage clepsydra it uses is the earliest known record of a two-stage clepsydra.
Zhang Heng once wrote an article after creating the armillary sphere. The full text of this article has been lost.
The Ruilun Pod is an automatic calendar created by Zhang Heng. It imitates the characteristics of the pod of a strange tree in mythology. It relies on the action of running water. Starting from the first day of each month, one leaf appears a day, and by the full moon, 15 leaves appear, and then another leaf is collected every day. , until the end of the month, cycle opening and closing.
This myth tortuously reflects the progress of the astronomical calendar during the reign of Emperor Yao. Zhang Heng's mechanical device was inspired by this myth.
It is said that"it waxes and wanes with the moon, rises and falls according to the calendar", and its function is equivalent to the date display in today's clocks.
In addition, there are also guide cars, gili drum cars, single-flying wood carvings, topographic maps and so on.
None of them are simple.
The compass car is based on the compass car from the Huangdi period.
Lu Yan also has this thing.
Placed in the Strange Object Pavilion.
The Ji Li Drum Cart is a machine used to calculate mileage, and Du Fei's wood carvings are what Lu Yan values the most.
This thing is similar to Luban's flying kite.
But even more outstanding than Fei Yuan.
You can fly higher and farther.
Zhang Heng made Solo Wooden Sculptures, which imitate the gliding wing design of birds soaring high in the sky, allowing them to glide in the air.
Why Zhang Heng is said to be a scientist is precisely because of his inventions and creations.
Many of them benefit all people.
In addition, Zhang Heng also produced a calendar.
Zhang Heng once participated in a major calendar discussion in the second year of Emperor Yanguang of the Han Dynasty. According to the"Book of the Later Han·Lü Li Zhi", Zhang Heng was the minister at that time.
The reason for this great discussion was that some people criticized the more scientific"Four Points Calendar" of the Eastern Han Dynasty that was in use at the time based on superstitious concepts such as prophecies and disasters, and proposed that the"Jiayin Yuan Calendar" which was suitable for prophecies should be used instead.
Some people started from the view that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty"repelled the barbarians and expanded the territory and enjoyed the country for a long time" and believed that we should go back and adopt the"Taichu Calendar".
Zhang Heng and another minister, Zhou Xing, criticized and challenged the above two opinions, leaving the proposers of these two wrong opinions either speechless or wrong in their answers, thus contributing to preventing the retrogression of the calendar.
During the discussion, Zhang Heng and Zhou Xing also studied many years of astronomical observation records, compared them with the theoretical calculations of various calendars, and came up with an appraisal. They believed that the"Nine Ways of Law" was the most precise and recommended that it be used
《The numerical values of the length of the tropical year and the length of the synodic moon in the Jiudao Method are more precise than those in the Taichu Calendar and the Eastern Han Dynasty's Four Points Calendar.
Moreover, the"Nine Ways of Law" admitted that the speed of the moon is uneven, while other calendars at that time only calculated based on the uniform speed of the moon.
Therefore, the conjunction and lunar calendar calculated by the"Nine Ways of Law" are more consistent with astronomical reality than other calendars at that time.
However, if calculated according to the"Nine Ways of Law", it is possible that there will be three consecutive 30-day big months, or two consecutive 29-day small moons, etc. According to the calendar arrangement that people have been accustomed to for thousands of years, the big and small months have always been connected. At most, two big months have been connected once every 17 months, and there have never been three big months connected, let alone two small months. connected phenomena.
Therefore, the phenomenon of connecting three big months or two small months brought about by the"Nine Ways of Law" is difficult for people with conservative habits to accept.
Therefore, the propositions of the two people failed to pass in this great discussion, which is a loss in the history of history.
The adoption of uneven monthly movements into the calendar was delayed for more than half a century. It was not until Liu Hong's"Qianxiang Calendar" that it was officially adopted for the first time.
Zhang Heng believes that the universe is infinite and the movements of celestial bodies are regular; moonlight is the reflection of sunlight, lunar eclipses are caused by the earth covering the sun, and the moon orbits the earth and rises and falls. He recognized certain laws of the sun's movement and correctly explained the causes of long nights in winter, short nights in summer, and the causes of day and night at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.
He pointed out that there were 2,500 stars that could be seen in the Central Plains, which was slightly closer to what people know today. After observing the movement of certain celestial bodies, he came to the conclusion that the length of a day is 365 degrees and one quarter, which is consistent with the measured value of the earth's orbit around the sun in modern times: 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. Almost the same.
