The World's Largest Computer in 1951

  • Thread starter wolram
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Computer
In summary, the ENIAC was a massive machine weighing 30 tons, occupying 1,000 square feet of floor space, and containing over 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 18,000 vacuum tubes. It required 150 kilowatts of power to run, which was enough to light a small town. The final machine was less powerful than a $5 pocket calculator. The Russian Ekranoplan, also known as the Caspian Sea Monster, was a ground effect vehicle that could travel over 400 km/h and weighed 540 tons fully loaded. It was used as a high-speed military transport and could transport over 100 tonnes of cargo. The
  • #701
Gokul's turn.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #702
I think googling is ok to confirm what you are guessing, or flesh out the answer, but not to actually look for the answer.

I thought everyone here was so smart and now I am terribly disillusioned. :frown: zoobie... :frown:

Ivan, you google for answers? I idolized you. :cry:

Gokul, please tell me you don't google answers.
 
  • #703
This thread is moving so fast that it left scorch marks on my screen.

What do you think everyone; Google is okay unless otherwise specified?

Also, I like how google is now a verb. :biggrin:
 
  • #704
Evo said:
Ivan, you google for answers? I idolized you. :cry:

I think I probably googled about half of my answers, so could you still idolize my left side? :frown:
 
  • #705
Ivan Seeking said:
I think I probably googled about half of my answers, so could you still idolize my left side? :frown:
But you already "knew" the answer, right? You just googled to confirm your guess? Because that's ok, I do that (and if I do it, it's ok). :tongue:

I guess I could idolize your left side. Is that the side your spare foot is on?
 
  • #706
Ivan Seeking said:
Also, I like how google is now a verb. :biggrin:
I think I've used google as every part of speech possible! :rofl: I'm waiting for the grammar police to knock on my door any minute now. :uhh:
 
  • #707
Evo said:
I thought everyone here was so smart and now I am terribly disillusioned. :frown: zoobie... :frown:
Googling is smart. Wasting your brain storage space with masses of facts you never use is not smart. This is why austistic-savants are basically helpless people who can't take care of themselves, despite being able to remember the date of every day it rained since calendars were invented.
 
  • #708
Moonbear said:
I think I've used google as every part of speech possible! :rofl: I'm waiting for the grammar police to knock on my door any minute now. :uhh:
(ppstt...moonbear...the grammar police don't exist. They're not real Like santa claus or the easter bunny)
 
  • #709
There are definitely questions that a quick google will find. But if worded well, google only helps if you have already figured out part of the answer; say the subject. For example, I was amazed at how quickly I was able to guess the RAT on about page two, in response to Nereid's question. It was a matter of anticipating Nereid as much as following the clue given. No amount of googling alone would have produced the answer. Of course it was a bit of a lucky guess. :biggrin:
 
Last edited:
  • #710
That is true. Often, if you don't have a solid lead, google gets you nowhere.
 
  • #711
It was all of the below ... (Google if you wish; but this is easily Googlable, so...)

-Pauli's last room number
-Schwinger's license plate number
-the source of Arthur Eddington's embarrassment

What was it ?
 
  • #712
zoobyshoe said:
That is true. Often, if you don't have a solid lead, google gets you nowhere.
I'm a master googler.
 
  • #713
Well then, get your gloves on and get going...I'm not going to stick around forever to okay the answer to this one.
 
  • #714
Gokul43201 said:
It was all of the below ... (Google if you wish; but this is easily Googlable, so...)

-Pauli's last room number
-Schwinger's license plate number
-the source of Arthur Eddington's embarrassment

What was it ?
The number 137
 
  • #715
Evo said:
I'm a master googler.
I turned yellow the other night.
 
  • #716
zoobyshoe said:
The number 137
Nice hit ! You're next.

I'll type up an explanation meanwhile.
 
  • #717
This was the largest of its kind ever built at the time. It could produce 1600 horsepower, and was about 20 feet tall. What was it, and where was it first installed? Hint: centenial
 
  • #718
a horse pyramid containing 1600 horses?
 
  • #719
yomamma said:
a horse pyramid containing 1600 horses?
Go to your room. And no desert!
 
  • #720
BUT I WANNA ICECREAMSUNDAE! :cry:
 
  • #721
[tex]\alpha = \frac {e^2}{2 \epsilon _o hc} \approx \frac {1}{137} [/tex]

The following link is not from any reputed scientific source, and hence must be taken as a pop-sci account, with a little glitter thrown in for fun. The historical facts in it, however, are accurate and hence make it very read-worthy.

http://www.137.com/137/
 
  • #722
zoobyshoe said:
This was the largest of its kind ever built at the time. It could produce 1600 horsepower, and was about 20 feet tall. What was it, and where was it first installed? Hint: centenial

Without googling, I would say

The Centennial celebrated American industrial power. Its most famous exhibit was the gigantic 1600-HP Corliss steam engine that powered Machinery Hall. The first piece of the Statue of Liberty -- the hand and torch -- had just arrived from France and was put on exhibit. But it paled against the machinery -- the fruit of American factories, the raw muscle of our industries.
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi205.htm

But it's just a googleless guess. :uhh:
 
  • #723
zoobyshoe said:
This was the largest of its kind ever built at the time. It could produce 1600 horsepower, and was about 20 feet tall. What was it, and where was it first installed? Hint: centenial
If not for the "installed" bit, some WWII bomber might have fit the bill.
 
  • #724
Ivan Seeking said:
Without googling, I would say...
Just a minute while I google the answer...
...

...YES!
 
  • #725
Okay now wait a minute I got distracted... I still need to take a moment to think of a good googleproof question.

Better yet, I'll google for one! :biggrin:
 
  • #727
Discovered in the mid 1800's:

"It is an up-faulted monoclinal gritty conglomerate [about] 5 miles long and 2 miles across..."

Now google that!
 
Last edited:
  • #728
Ivan Seeking said:
Discovered in the mid 1800's:



Now google that!
Just want to double-check. That is really 'monoclinal', not a typo of 'monoclonal', right?

Anyhow, sounds like some kind of volcanic island or reef.
 
  • #729
I added the [about], don't know why. :yuck: I guess its automatic.
 
  • #730
It is "monoclinal".
 
  • #731
Devil's tower
 
  • #732
Not Devil's Tower
 
  • #733
Ayres rock (red rock) Australia.
 
  • #734
'Monoclinal' must be the geogolists' adjectival form of the already happy adjective, 'monoclinic' (which is a crystal lattice structure familiar to physicists and materials scientists). Geologists suck ! :yuck:

<runs to escape barrage of rotten tomatoes, eggs and dolomite chunks>

Ayers Rock sounds like a winner...
 
Last edited:
  • #735
Not Ayers rock.

Yes, I loved the language, which is why I chose to quote it. :biggrin:
 

Similar threads

Is Alan Turing given too much credit when it comes to computers?
    • Programming and Computer Science
Replies
29
Views
3K
How to compute flexure and failure loads of acrylic sheets
    • Materials and Chemical Engineering
Replies
4
Views
13K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top