In order to stimulate children's interest in science, there will always be all kinds of science stories in primary school textbooks, Newton is because he was hit on the head by an apple, a flash of inspiration, the law of universal gravitation blurted out; Archimedes found the law of buoyancy while enjoying the bubble bath, etc., but has anyone ever thought about the authenticity of these stories?
Hello everyone, I am a brain-opening TT, today we come to talk about a very interesting topic: are the science stories in textbooks all deceitful?
Let's take one of the most impressive examples in the country, Bats and Radar.
This text has appeared in various versions of the textbook, the general content is that scientists found that the bat even if it is blindfolded does not delay it to prey on insects, but once its ears or mouth is blocked, then they begin to bump everywhere and can not prey, after research scientists have come to the bat is by echo positioning way to perceive the surrounding environment, and later in the development of the aircraft, it borrowed the bat's predatory skills, and installed radar on the aircraft, that is, the radar on the aircraft now, Its design inspiration is actually derived from bats.
How naïve I was in elementary school, I hadn't started to learn physics yet, so naturally I believed it
When I learned physics in junior high school, I knew that the way radar and bats worked was to actively emit some kind of penetrating wave outward, and then continuously measure its spatial position and volume through the echo reflected by the object, so that it was more certain that the relationship between bats and radar was as written in the textbook
But is that really the case?
Time back to 1793, at this time there was a big brother in Italy who studied bats, his name was Lazaro Spalanzani, he blindfolded the eyes of the bat and found that the bat was still unaffected, so he firmly believed that the bat relied on "a certain feeling", here we have to pay attention, he does not know what it feels, anyway, it does not rely on the eyes, this is a bit like the girlfriend said to you when arguing with you: I don't know where you are wrong but you are wrong, somewhat unreasonable, So at that time, his conclusion became a joke in the academic community at that time. But Switzerland's Louis Jurin took it seriously, and after a series of experiments, he excitedly told the world: "My brother Luo is right! Bats really don't rely on eyes but on hearing! "It's just that at that time, ultrasonic this thing has not been discovered by humans, even if you know that bats rely on hearing is not much use, there is no way to continue to study in depth, until 1938, after humans have ultrasonic detection technology, they understand the principle of bats catching flies by hearing, and use the term "echolocation" to express this phenomenon.
Biologists have spent more than a hundred years from discovery to solution to bat problems, and the physics community next door is one step ahead of them and has built radar
In 1888, Heinrich Hertz created electromagnetic waves based on the formula for electromagnetic pottery derived by the British physicist Maxwell. In 1904, Christian Hosmer invented an electric mirror that could detect the position of distant ships through electromagnetic waves on the basis of Hertz, which was the prototype of radar. Later, when World War I broke out, the military scientific and technological strength of various countries increased by leaps and bounds, and the emergence of military aircraft greatly changed the way of combat, so air supremacy became particularly important
So they thought, ah, can we also build something like an electric mirror that can detect the location of the aircraft?
In 1935, the United Kingdom deliberately established an air defense scientific investigation committee in order to study the new radar, just at this time, a British scientist who specialized in electromagnetic waves, Watt, invented the magnetron, and also found that electromagnetic waves can be reflected in the process of propagation, encountering obstacles. At this time, the head of the committee, Iron Plug, found Watt, and in the conversation, they thought of the characteristic that electromagnetic waves can be reflected, that is, whether it is possible to design a device to receive the reflected electromagnetic waves, determine the direction and distance of the target, and the size, so that the enemy's aircraft can be determined from a distance. After repeated experiments, they finally built a radar in 1935 that could detect enemy aircraft 16 kilometers away.
Everyone pay attention to this time, at this time we have not yet understood the principle of bats using ultrasonic waves to locate, so there is no necessary connection between bats and the invention of radar
So why is there such a text in a textbook? At this time, I have to talk about another discipline - bionics
In the 1950s, the study of human science was getting deeper and deeper, and then there was an urgent need for some new ideas and changes, so they thought that in ancient times, people invented and created things based on various creatures in nature as a reference, so can it be operated in this way now? Thus came a discipline that combined biology and engineering technology. However, after the proposal of biomimicry, people will begin to subconsciously look for what is the invention of imitation animals in life, such as the shape of the aircraft is made with reference to the shape of birds, but the military equipment such as radar has always been relatively confidential, the outside world does not know much, until the British know that their country has created the radar is already after knowing the echo positioning of bats, plus the principle of the two is very similar, so there is such an illusion.
Before humans understand the principle of bats judging the position of flies through hearing, the principle of echolocation has been used more maturely, that is, sonar systems
In May 1912, the British meteorologist Richardson designed the world's earliest air echo ranging device and underwater echo ranging device, here to draw the point, this underwater echo ranging device, can detect underwater reefs or icebergs, if Richardson invented this earlier, then the Titanic would not have crashed into the iceberg shipwreck, Jack and the flesh can also be full of children and grandchildren instead of yin and yang. The outbreak of nuclear submarine warfare during World War I has led countries to stir up this echo ranging device, and sonar technology has become more and more mature.
Whether it is sonar or radar, they were invented before humans discovered the echo localization of bats, so there is no such thing as the idea that the inspiration for the invention of radar was derived from bats
When we return to that text again, we will find that it is not the invention process of radar that stands out, and if we insist on a relationship, it can only be said that after humans have mastered a complex technology, they happen to have found similar skills in some animals.