ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos


History of Technology Videos 160 videos

History of Technology 1: Windmills
283 Views

What's the deal with wind? And why does it have to be so...windy?

History of Technology 2: Wheels
213 Views

How did people move stuff around before the wheel was invented? More importantly, why didn't they take a break for a few minutes from moving stuff...

See All

History of Technology 2: Wheels and Axels 367 Views


Share It!


Description:

Without wheels and axles, we'd be picking up our cars and running to work like Fred Flintstone. Which...come to think of it, would be a great arm day workout...

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Those early log rolling techniques were pretty impressive for [caveman log rolling]

00:06

the time but let's get real nobody's going to ship goods across the continent

00:10

on a pile of rolling logs talk about splinters.. well in order to make a

00:15

transportation revolution happen people had to invent actual wheels and axles to us [man displaying the invention of the wheel to cavemen]

00:22

that sounds like no big deal because well wheels are a dime a dozen

00:24

seriously try to imagine a world without wheel it's tough and you know half 5[car driving by a quiet road]

00:30

traffic is even worse well when people invented boats they were copying

00:34

floating logs on the river there aren't any natural wheels out in the wild to a [Wheel floating out on a river]

00:39

copycat the wheel was a huge leap of imagination that may have started with

00:44

the lowly pottery wheel which even then was known to attract the ghosts of [Demi Moore using a pottery wheel]

00:48

former loved ones who still wanted to you know make out especially if that

00:53

loved one was some ancestor of Patrick Swayze even though after we got our

00:57

pottery game going it was another huge leap to think of turning a pottery wheel [Man using a pottery wheel to move a cow]

01:01

on its side, hitching it to a cow and going out for a spin.. Moo. The earliest

01:07

evidence of wheels and wagons comes from a few ancient scattered drawings a word [Evidence of wheels drawn on ancient clay tablet]

01:12

on an ancient clay tablet and some ancient ruts in an ancient road the key

01:17

word here is ancient people agree that wagons came into practical use in

01:21

modern-day Iraq around 3500 BCE the arrangement of wheel axle wagon is so [wagon wheels in Iraq 3,500 BCE]

01:27

complicated that most people don't think it was stumbled upon accidentally all

01:32

over the world more likely that one group of people came up with a wagon and [Group of people riding in a wagon pulled by a camel in the desert]

01:36

then everyone else was like man i gotta get me one of those things and

01:40

it was a great time to be a used wagon salesman all right well the exception is

01:44

the core isolated new world. People in the America's has also invented the wheel but

01:50

it was only used for children's toys and little clay figures and a bummer they [Child playing with a clay figure on a dusty road]

01:54

could have been contenders so what did ancient wagon wheels look like not like

01:59

a little red wagon at the city park that's for sure [A red wagon at the city park]

02:02

in fact that little red wagon would have looked like a Ferrari compared to the

02:06

earliest versions.. well the very first wagons had long poles for axles and they [An old-styled axles wagon]

02:12

poke through holes in the center of the wheel i know there were a few problems but

02:16

the wheels had to fit loosely over the axles because the axle didn't turn and the [Boy falls out of a wagon and lands on the concrete]

02:21

wheel just you know kind of rattled around it and there was a lot of

02:25

friction so the raw wood deteriorated pretty quickly [Wheel falling off the wagon]

02:29

plus it was super annoying to keep making axles over and over again and

02:33

turning around corners was really hard too - okay well there were more than a few

02:37

problems well over the next few thousand years wagons and wheels both evolved

02:42

wheels with spokes appeared around 1900 BCE in Egypt someone must've asked why [Wheels with spokes on a map of Egypt]

02:48

why does the wheel have to be huge solid and heavy and someone else must have said

02:53

uhh, it doesn't ..but much later iron bands were stretched around the modern wheel to [iron bands stretched around the wheels]

02:59

make them stronger and more durable axles became jointed so we could actually turn

03:03

the thing and at long last we could you know Tokyo Drift that's the real [Horse pulling a wagon and drifting around a corner]

03:10

blessing here

Related Videos

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
39794 Views

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government

Fake News
11938 Views

How do you tell fake news from real news?

Jane Eyre Summary
123033 Views

When you're about to marry the love of your life, not many things could stop you. However, finding out that your future hubby is keeping his crazy...

What is Shmoop?
91404 Views

Here at Shmoop, we work for kids, not just the bottom line. Founded by David Siminoff and his wife Ellen Siminoff, Shmoop was originally conceived...

ACT Math 4.5 Elementary Algebra
492 Views

ACT Math: Elementary Algebra Drill 4, Problem 5. What is the solution to the problem shown?