The World's Largest Computer in 1951

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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
  • #1,051
Magnetic stir bar/stir plate?
 
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  • #1,052
dextercioby said:
No offense,but the fire extinguisher didn't quite revolutionize chemistry.:rofl:

Daniel.
But every chemistry lab has one (I hope)! I'm running out of ideas. Can you tell us whether it was an idea or a physical object?
 
  • #1,053
Both.The significance of that gesture/act was so great,that it changed everything in the world right now.Just like Faraday's 1831 electromagnetic induction discovery.

Daniel.
 
  • #1,054
Any of Newton's ideas should be well-known, so that doesn't fit... Robert Boyle founding The Royal Society of London? Oh, that doesn't work either.
 
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  • #1,055
Oh, or what's that rotating thingamabob that spins the round bottom flasks when you evaporate solvents off your product? Is it simply called a rotating evaporator...something like that anyway.
 
  • #1,056
Moonbear,as i said,it's not a technical question.You needn't be a chemist,or a math girl :wink: to answer it correctly.

Daniel.
 
  • #1,057
I keep coming back to Cavendish. Was it his discovery of the constituents of water? His hydrogen generator?
 
  • #1,058
dextercioby said:
Moonbear,as i said,it's not a technical question.You needn't be a chemist,or a math girl :wink: to answer it correctly.

Daniel.

Well, that's why I started my guessing with a stir plate! :rofl:

How about the periodic table of elements? (Not sure if that has already been guessed; I skimmed through the two pages of guesses.)
 
  • #1,059
Cavendish?I thought it was Priestley,but maybe it's just me...

Nope,Zoobyshoe,it's much easier than that.

Daniel.
 
  • #1,060
safety goggles?
 
  • #1,061
dextercioby said:
They hadn't discovered corrosive substances,nor dangerous gases which might blow up.Daguerre was not born.:wink: And Gutenberg had already died.
This clue bothers me. Both lye and acid were in use pre-Gutenberg. The Chinese had also invented gunpowder well before Gutenberg
 
  • #1,062
Okay, it revolutionized chemistry, isn't a chemical substance nor technical instrument but an act/gesture, is in every chemistry lab, happened between ~1463-1789, and the author and date may be difficult to find.

The publication of the first scientific journal?
 
  • #1,063
zoobyshoe said:
This clue bothers me. Both lye and acid were in use pre-Gutenberg. The Chinese had also invented gunpowder well before Gutenberg

Me too, I was a bit confused about the explosive gases thing.
 
  • #1,064
microscope? airpump?
 
  • #1,065
Nope, I already guessed safety goggles and microscope. And air pump.
 
  • #1,066
brewnog said:
Me too, I was a bit confused about the explosive gases thing.
I think we may have a clue-writing impaired person on our hands.
 
  • #1,067
It would be very Dex to give a load of cryptic random clues which don't actually lead anywhere, and see how long it takes for us to realize. :smile:
 
  • #1,068
It's an object and this guy though of using it in his chemistry experiments.The gesture would be using it to ****** the g******* (curse) things...

Daniel.
 
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  • #1,069
He said it was an object.

Here are his hints -

They hadn't discovered corrosive substances,nor dangerous gases which might blow up.Daguerre was not born. And Gutenberg had already died.

Chemists would be dead without a ***************** in their lab.

I'm asking for the object,which should be the easy part,then the guy who did it and the year (with approximation) in which it happened.

Chemists would be dead without a ***************** in their lab.

It's really essential.You won't believe that simple it is. :wink:

"Revolutionized chemistry=It literally changed the way chemistry was (being) done".

It's not a chemical substance,but an object,INSTRUMENT,if u prefer.
 
  • #1,070
zoobyshoe said:
I think we may have a clue-writing impaired person on our hands.

Hold on,that was not a clue. :rolleyes: Need i spell:CLUE everytime i want to write something...? :tongue2:

Daniel.
 
  • #1,071
Analytical balance?
 
  • #1,072
dextercioby said:
Hold on,that was not a clue. :rolleyes: Need i spell:CLUE everytime i want to write something...?
That settles that. We do have a clue-writting impaired person on our hands
 
  • #1,073
dextercioby said:
It's an object and this guy though of using it in his chemistry experiments.The gesture would be using it to ****** the g******* (curse) things...
Cork bottle stopper?
 
  • #1,074
Moonbear said:
Analytical balance?

YES. :approve: Not "analytical",a simple balance to weigh the substances.Can anyone provide a name and an approximate year for it...?

Need i say the importance of having a balance in a chemistry lab...? :rolleyes:

MOONBEAR wins round one. :tongue2:

Daniel.
 
  • #1,075
Joseph Black 1754
 
  • #1,076
Yes.The Scottish guy did it.:approve: Where & how did you find it?

Daniel.
 
  • #1,077
Moonbear's a Scottish guy?!

That explains a lot!
 
  • #1,078
dextercioby said:
Yes.The Scottish guy did it.:approve: Where & how did you find it?

Daniel.
I googled it.
 
  • #1,079
The clue about revolutionizing chemistry made me think immediately of Lavoisier, who was executed during the French Revolution. But I can't think of any object he invented...

Following the object line of reasoning led me to Celsius (who likely fits the timeline) but was really an astronomer...

Galvani was a bio guy, and I can't think of anything he invented...

Ummm...nothing else comes to mind...
 
  • #1,080
Oops...Black, it was , eh ? Nevermind. Moonbear's up.

PS : Thought of the physical balance, but imagined that was there before medieval times...
 
  • #1,081
Hmmm...are you sure about the invention of balances?

I found this site http://www1.fis.uc.pt/museu/mecclsing.htm that says this:
Balances had been constructed long before the theory of levers was completely understood. The balance with a pointer on arms of equal length and weights (instruments 14 to 16) comes from ancient times. From the third century BC it competed with the "Roman" balance which had a sliding pointer on a graduated shaft (instruments 18 and 19). The two kinds are known as drop-pan balances since the pans are below the pointer. It was Gilles Personne de Roberval who, in 1669, devised a balance with raised pans, kept horizontal by an articulated parallelogram. It was not until the 19th century, however, that Roberval's balance became widely used in shops and homes.
 
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  • #1,082
Gokul43201 said:
Oops...Black, it was , eh ? Nevermind. Evo's up.
No Moonbear guessed what it was. MB, take it away.

Good one Dex!
 
  • #1,083
Evo said:
Joseph Black 1754
Evo, if you have a clue ready, you can take this one.
 
  • #1,084
Moonbear said:
Hmmm...are you sure about the invention of balances?

I found this site http://www1.fis.uc.pt/museu/mecclsing.htm that says this:
I had thrown scales & balances out as an answer because they've been around long before BC, but Dex is correct as far as being revolutionary to chemistry.
 
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  • #1,085
This thread sure moves fast. Three posts before I could correct myself !
 

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