Rube Goldberg and the Electrification of America 207
Hugh Pickens writes "Alexis Madrigal has an interesting essay in the Atlantic about the popular response of people in the 19th century to the development of the electric power industry in America. Before electricity, basically every factory had to run a bit like a Rube Goldberg machine, transmitting power from a water wheel or a steam engine to the machines of a manufactory but with the development of electric turbines and motors the public believed engineers were tapping mysterious, invisible forces with almost supernatural powers for mischief. 'Think about it,' writes Madrigal. 'You've got a wire and you've got a magnet. Switch on the current — which you can't see and have no intuitive way to know exists — and suddenly the wire begins to rotate around the magnet. You can reverse the process, too. Rotate the magnet around the wire and it generates a current that can be turned into light, heat, or power.' And that brings us back to Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist who was was shockingly popular in his heyday and whose popularity closely parallels the rise of electrification in America. 'I think Goldberg's drawings reminded his contemporaries of a time when they could understand the world's industrial processes just by looking. No matter how absurd his work was, anyone could trace the reactions involved,' writes Madrigal. 'People like to complain that they can't understand modern cars because of all the fancy parts and electronic doo-dads in them now, but we lost that ability for most things long ago.'"
Re:New Complexities in Cars (Score:5, Interesting)
And would you really want to drive a car where the airbag wasn't controlled by a computer?
Sure it means that you can't fix it yourself, but honestly, how many people are going to be able to do it themselves anyways? That's not exactly simple equipment to work on, and the results of getting it wrong are potentially lethal.
\lim_{tech \to commodity} = iMac (Score:5, Interesting)
I find "visual" mechanics, i.e. anything which supposedly can be deduced by cursory visual observation rather than a consideration of theory and careful experimentation, most difficult of all. Sometimes I go so far as to wonder whether people who stare at an engine and start waffling in detail about what bit does what, how and why are simply regurgitating what they have read in a book.
Contrast with quantum mechanics, which may not be "intuitive" to those who find classical mechanics so. But it is precisely why it makes me feel more comfortable. I rely on the facts presented, not on everyone's favourite harbinger of prejudice, common sense, and her sister in arms, the crude analogy. Anyway, it would not have taken thousands of years of human civilisation, including a mathematical and scientific component, to reach F=ma if classical mechanics were really that obvious.
Re:most people still don't understand electricity (Score:5, Interesting)
IMHO 'magic' is anything that the user doesn't understand (which is true at some level of everything) - for some folks, turning on a light switch is performing magic. But then there's this...
The Ark of the Covenant may have been a really big capacitor - two layers of conductor (gold foil) separated by acacia wood, with the two layers each connected to one of the cherubim that rose above and reached toward each other - essentially forming two points for an arc to traverse under the right circumstances. In the desert, this might well build up a pretty good charge. I think some folks at MIT once built a replica, borrowing the gold from somewhere - it could hold a one farad charge IIRC.
(Blue Letter Bible [blueletterbible.org].
Re:Lost the ability? (Score:3, Interesting)
*As in you're checking if the "on" switch is actually doing anything.
Re:New Complexities in Cars (Score:2, Interesting)
My 1990 MB W124 diesel has ABS, yet it doesn't have a single computer anywhere on board, no ECUs, nothing.
The interesting fact is more modern cars with the same basic systems PLUS computers are LESS reliable, and always generating system problems and failures.
Often, the fault is not the "computers" themselves per se, hardware wise, not even software wise, it is the peripherals (eg MAF senders etc) that die, and then take the whole system down.
Old 78rpm records are a great example (Score:5, Interesting)
Push a needle through an empty matchbox, put the record on something that you can spin (like the turntable in a microwave). Spin the record and touch the needle to the grooves, and the sound will come out of the matchbox. Kids love it! Then point out the wiggly grooves to them.
A compact disc isn't directly understandable like that. You can teach people how it works, but they can't see it so they just have to take your word for it.
Re:They transmit force with photons (Score:1, Interesting)
Virtual photons, actually. There's no real light being transferred.
Nothing wrong with belts for some things: (Score:3, Interesting)
Belts are simple, cheap and provide some useful slip and stretch in a power transmission system. For short range power transmission (a few inches, or so), they're great. They use a lot less material and can tolerate more misalignment than a gear set or chain and sprockets that span the same distance.
When you have to use lots of them, and transmit the power greater distances (more than a few feet), they become unwieldy.
Another source of savings: (Score:5, Interesting)
Nowadays, they use the electronics to compensate for less robust mechanical design. A lot of work and expense used to be put into making mechanical control systems linear and well behaved.
Now, instead you use position sensors and servo motors or other actuators with a microcontroller doing the translation in between. Who cares how bouncy, slippy, or hysteresis laden the system is? You just compensate for it in the software that calculates the control outputs to the actuator.
Re:Understanding (Score:4, Interesting)
Just look at how "computers" are taught in most schools. They teach the students what to click on instead of teaching the concepts of those things. This is also why I get so much opposition to teaching word processing using something other and Microsoft Word. They think it must look like MS Word or they don't feel the students are learning anything of value. Most all of the teachers are lacking in the understanding to teach anything but a step by step process and then checking off "Teaching The Word".
yes, it is very sad.
LoB
Re:Rrelativity is involved (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, of course I don't know exactly how fucking magnets work, but ordinary magnets are a side effect of the Theory of Relativity (notice the capitals).
I see, the capitals are an important aspect of the incantation.
When electrical charges move, the charge is changed by the same proportion as masses are changed by the Lorentz contraction [wikipedia.org].
I have a magnet, and I have a piece of iron, I have no electricity. What does this charge you speak of come from? And How is it moving?
It's quite weird in fact, relativistic effects on mass are barely perceptible until you reach a significant speed compared to the speed of light, but that's because mass (as far as we know) is always positive.
Hang about just a minute. Exactly what does the speed of light have to do with anything here? If relativistic effects are barely perceptible until you get near the speed of light, why bring up the topic in relation to stationary (or very nearly so) magnets?
Electric charges are balanced between positive and negative, a very, very, VERY small change in them will disrupt the delicate balance and a force will appear: the magnetic force.
I've already told you I have no electricity here with my magnet and my iron. So a force appears out of a change in some mysterious electric charges that have no source? It must be magic!
Re:Distributor caps and a strobe light (Score:5, Interesting)
1 - Car is running like crap, bogs when driving
2 - Plug in computer and get code (let's say the Coolant Temp sensor is malfunctioning)
3 - Plug in multimeter into said sensor and get voltage
4 - If the voltage is not between x and y, replace the sensor.
5 - If all else fails, replace the ECU for a total of $50 at a junkyard
How is this so difficult? Technology makes cars easier to work on, it's just that tech hipsters don't want to get dirty and car-geeks don't want to use that new fangled computer stuff.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Poem from the early days of electricity. (Score:2, Interesting)
you and all of your let-the-market-sort-it-out tea party buddies forget one thing:
the wealthy are occasionally wealthy because of their own brilliance and hard work. For them, good job. However, in most cases, wealth and privilege begets wealth and privilege. Take for example a CEO of a major corporation. He does little for the day to day operations of the corporation. Sure, what he does has a major impact, but does it have such a high impact that he deserves 40x that of an educated professional who works for the corporation and makes significant contributions to the day to day workings? No. And yet, that CEO can leave the company, gutting it and just take the next big job. Having sat in the big chair, he will most certainly do it again. Have you ever looked at the board of directors listing of any corporations? Often, very often, its the same people who sit on multiple boards. These people are filthy rich and will never be anything but.
You're telling me that someone who simply sits on boards and collects money, and yet cannot be held responsible for evil done by the corporation somehow deserves a free pass just because he is rich?
Tea party people are often the poor and uneducated. It's sad to see them manipulated by the entertainment corporation backed by one of the super-rich elite (FOX News) into backing these super rich and their rights to not be taxed.
Re:Distributor caps and a strobe light (Score:4, Interesting)
These days being a techy or being a car guy crosses over. I can't believe you friend argues that carbs are better than EFI! Yes carbs are more manly cuz you can go in there and just tune it with your hands and it sounds awesome and smells badass. But carbs gotta be tuned all the time and arent exact and can't be controlled on the fly during the whole engine range. Computers can do that for us. Also electronic parts don't need to be tuned. You just replace! Easy as pie.
People just don't wanna have to learn something that they have no clue about. It makes me sad that there seems to be so many more people these days that dont know shit about computers. Like the kids now dont know shit! people think they should cuz they are all texting or using devices and such but all they are doing is using stuff. Knowing how stuff works is a trait that should be more popular but it is not.
Re:It'S sO sPiRiTuAl, AlL tHeSe mIrAcLeS aNd ShIt. (Score:3, Interesting)
It's incredibly awesome whether you think its magic sparkly water or whether you understand the biological processes that are going on but all the people in the former category were very angry with me when I explained it.
Re:Poem from the early days of electricity. (Score:4, Interesting)
Tea party people are often the poor and uneducated. It's sad to see them manipulated by the entertainment corporation backed by one of the super-rich elite (FOX News) into backing these super rich and their rights to not be taxed.
This is almost a uniquely American problem. Some Americans seem to have been sold the fantasy of the American dream, the one in which they _will_ (not "may") become fantastically wealthy and therefore they need to vote now, to stop these tax rises which will obviously hit them soon. (See Joe the plumber). So they will vote down their own interests now, because those will cease to be their interests when they become wealthy. Astonishing. Fox didn't even need to pay lobbyists to get such a result.
Re:Another source of savings: (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you think this is a good or a bad thing? Why?
Re:Another source of savings: (Score:4, Interesting)
Mostly good. Why do it a more expensive or less effective way?
One downside is that it makes it hard to do repairs on some items. Example: I fix lab equipment. An incubator I was working on uses an RTD temperature probe. It has settings in the software of the microcontroller running the machine to match it to the particulars of the probe. I have no access to those, so I'm limited in what sort of repairs I can do.
Repair and support contracts are very lucrative for some industries, and that leads to companies being unwilling to tell you enough information to fix the item. You're restricted to buying their expensive support contracts or trying to reverse engineer anytime you do a repair.
Congress limited how much car companies could do that, but there is little reason to think they'd do that for more technically oriented items.
See also "open manufacturing" (Score:3, Interesting)
http://groups.google.com/group/openmanufacturing [google.com]
Re:Understanding (Score:5, Interesting)
I bet that if you asked a dozen people in their 30s what makes an electric motor work, you'd be lucky to get one who was even close to understanding the basics of how it works.
Define "works". I'm willing to bet that very VERY few people really understand how an electric motor actually works. Sure, some could say "it uses brushes that switch on/off electromagnets at synchronized times," but *HOW* does it work? What is an electromagnet actually doing to convert electrical energy into physical movement? What is a magnetic field? Why does it cause certain metals to move?
I'm reminded of this (rather profound) video of Richard Feynman being asked what, exactly, is magnetism [youtube.com] and he explains just how difficult these questions are to answer.
My point is that you lament that certain people don't even know about brush and electromagnets, while a physicist might lament that you have very little idea what is actually happening with electromagnetic forces. Now, you might reply, "I don't need to know Deep Physics to have a basic understanding of how a motor works!"
And I would say, "exactly." We are all ignorant, just different levels of ignorance. It really doesn't matter how a motor works to most people's lives. Sure, it's interesting, but then, so is knowing how to shoot a proper jump shot in basketball.
Re:Understanding (Score:4, Interesting)
The funny thing is, if one of those kid-raising, family-feeding, social-relationship-maintaining co-workers tried to tell you how to change a diaper, how to have a rewarding social relationship, or how to not act like a tosser, you'd probably blow them off.
Sure, you might show some interest in it if you encountered the right teacher or already had an existing interest, but if someone interrupted your work day to talk about how to make friends, you probably wouldn't be so inclined to listen.
Re:Understanding (Score:4, Interesting)
I bet that if you asked a dozen people in their 30s what makes an electric motor work, you'd be lucky to get one who was even close to understanding the basics of how it works.
Define "works". I'm willing to bet that very VERY few people really understand how an electric motor actually works.
That's all good and fine but the real problem stems from people not even investigating that very first step. Sure not everyone is going to be an electrical engineer, and based on what I saw going through and coming out of uni not all electrical engineers understand how motors work either despite physics being one of the standard questions. The real problem is most people aren't interested in even the first step, the very basics, and ultimately that basic level of understanding is what will prevent them from being conned in real life.
Define "works" you say? I would expect that a curious person knows that a motor spins because of electro magnatism. That's it. An engine spins because of an explosion creating a force on a thingamabob that turns the wheels. I expect people to know it rains because water evaporates, condenses and falls from the sky. That is basic curiosity that is sadly missing from too many people. That basic curiosity that would look at a Rube Goldberg machine and actually follow through what actions happen from start to end and then laugh at the design. If for a moment you thought, "that boot in TFA would never kick the ball at the right angle" then you're no longer "many people" you're now a geek who loves understanding.
They only learn to point and click on the shiny (Score:3, Interesting)
There was a very simple first year practical session I was running for engineering students to do a tensile test on a piece of metal and then plot the results using a spreadsheet. The plan was to drop the existing package and use MS Excel on the grounds that every student knew how to use MS Excel and we could get more done in the time.
It turned into a three hour session on teaching students how to do an incredibly simple line graph because the students didn't really know how to use MS Excel. They only knew how to point and click and had the illusion of familiarity which got in the way of them doing anything. I think about 30% even ended up with a bar graph at some point by completly ignoring the instructions.
The students could do the same task in less than half the time using the very clunky spreadsheet in MS Works, the complete unfamiliarity of which encouraged them to follow instructions instead of clicking randomly and hoping as they did in MS Excel. Some did not complete the two minute task of importing a comma seperated file and generating a line graph within the three hours, let alone anything else. Nobody had that problem with MS Works despite almost none of them seeing it before. It's a crappy spreadsheet and everything SHOULD be faster in MS Excel but perhaps the unfamiliarity actually made them think instead of an infantile pointing at pictures with hope.
Re:Understanding (Score:3, Interesting)
passBall(player Passer, player Receiver)
{
if(Receiver.opposingPlayersBetweenSelfAndOpposingGoal.isLessThan(2)) {Receiver.isOffside = TRUE;}
else {Receiver.isOffside = FALSE;}
Passer.kickBallTo(Receiver);
if(Receiver.touchBallFirst == TRUE && Receiver.isOffside) {callPenalty(offside);}
else {return;}
}
Re:Understanding (Score:3, Interesting)
Dear girls,
You're in a shoe shop, second in line at the register. Behind the shop assistant operating the register is a pair of shoes which you have seen and which you must have.
The 'opposing' female shopper in front of you has seen them also and is eyeing them with desire.
Both of you have forgotten your purses.
It would be totally rude to push in front of the first woman if you had no money to pay for the shoes.
The shop assistant remains at the register waiting.
Your friend is trying on another pair of shoes at the back of the shop and sees your dilemma.
She prepares to throw her purse to you.
If she does so, you can catch the purse, then walk round the other shopper and buy the shoes.
At a pinch she could throw the purse ahead of the other shopper and, *whilst it is in flight* you could nip around the other shopper,
catch the purse and buy the shoes.
Always remembering that until the purse had *actually been thrown* it would be plain wrong to be forward of the other shopper.
Re:Distributor caps and a strobe light (Score:3, Interesting)