The wheel, as a disk rotating on the axis, is a propulsion device that allows you to move heavy loads with less effort. This is one of the oldest inventions of mankind, which has survived to this day practically unchanged.
Instructions
Step 1
Archaeologists date the invention of the wheel to the last quarter of the 5th millennium BC. The earliest wheel models were found in Romania and Ukraine. Later finds were made in Poland, Germany, the Northern Black Sea region. In Mesopotamia, by 2700 BC, chariots, which were depicted in drawings and were found in the burials of the Sumerian kings, had already spread.
Step 2
In the Southern Urals in the II millennium BC, an improved model appeared - a spoked wheel. At the same time, in Asia Minor, a wheel with a hub and a curved rim was invented. A thousand years later, the Celts began to use a metal rim around the wheel to increase the strength of their chariots, rubber tires perform this function in modern cars, strollers and bicycles.
Step 3
The wheel was used not only in transport. It found its application in a mill, a potter's wheel, a spinning wheel, and later in various manufacturing machines and in mines. However, its main function remained the transportation of heavy loads over long distances by land. Also, the wheel was used in military affairs. War chariots were ubiquitous throughout the ancient world from the Middle East to the British Isles.
Step 4
The wheel significantly reduces the energy consumption for moving cargo over land. The wheel becomes the simplest mechanism if its center is placed on a fixed or rotating axle. If an axle connects two wheels, then their rotation occurs in such a way as if they were one body. This simple mechanical device is still used today in automobiles.
Step 5
The wheel axle is used to gain a mechanical advantage by increasing the applied force through torque. The grip of the carriage with the ground occurs only along the soles of the wheels, which for the vehicle perform the function of a support system, which significantly reduces the loss of energy during movement.
Step 6
The important role of the wheel in the economic sphere is reflected in its metaphorical deification. In different cultures, it symbolizes the movement of the sun. In Buddhism, it personifies law and truth, perfection and symmetry of the universe, peaceful changes. The winged wheel is a symbol of speed, and the wheel of the war chariot is associated with rule and power. In the mythology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the six-spoke wheel is an attribute of Zeus or (in the Roman version) Jupiter.
