Four famous scientific and technological inventions in ancient China, including compass, papermaking, gunpowder and printing (see block printing and movable type printing). After these four great inventions were introduced to all parts of the world, they had a far-reaching impact on the development of world science, technology and culture, and they were China's great contributions to world civilization.
Compass compass is a kind of pointing instrument made by using the north and south polarity of magnets in the earth's magnetic field, which has many shapes. As early as the Warring States Period, the ancestors of China had made Sina spoons with natural magnets to indicate the direction. During the Three Kingdoms and Wei Dynasties, Ma Jun made a mechanical device with magnets and differential gears to indicate the direction-the south guide car. Shen Kuo, a scientist in the Song Dynasty, recorded the method of making magnetic needles in his "Meng Qian Bi Tan". Later, it developed into a compass with a magnetic needle and an azimuth disk. At the latest in the late Northern Song Dynasty, the compass has been used for navigation; In the Southern Song Dynasty, dial navigation was used. The invention of compass has played a great role in the development of maritime traffic and economic and cultural exchanges.
Papermaking Before the invention of paper, ancient Egyptians used papyrus, ancient Indians used scallops, ancient Babylonians used clay bricks, ancient Romans used wax boards, and Europeans used suede made by Central Asians as materials to remember. In China, Oracle Bone Inscriptions was used in Shang Dynasty, bronzes in Western Zhou Dynasty, bamboo slips, wooden slips and silks in Spring and Autumn Period. In addition, silk reeling and silk cotton scraps are also used for writing. Some of the above materials are bulky, some are expensive, and some have few sources, which cannot meet the needs of social and cultural development. In the first year of Yuan Xing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (105), Cai Lun invented papermaking. He used plant raw materials such as bark, hemp head, cloth, fishnet, etc. to make paper through beating, ramming, papermaking and baking, which is called Cai Hou paper, which is the origin of modern paper. The invention and application of paper played an important role in recording and preserving social history, and in exchanging and spreading cultural ideas.
As the first explosive mastered by human beings, gunpowder originated from alchemy in ancient China. The alchemical drugs used by ancient alchemists, such as nitrate and sulfur, were mastered as early as the Han Dynasty. After a long-term practice of alchemy, they invented gunpowder at the latest in Tang Xianzong Yuanhe three years ago (808), and used it to make gunpowder weapons for arson at the end of the Five Dynasties and the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty. By the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, all kinds of firearms such as rockets, fireballs (fire axes) and fire axes had reached the level of heating. The invention of gunpowder played an important role in the development of science and technology in the world. Modern black gunpowder was developed from ancient gunpowder in China.
In the early Tang Dynasty of the 7th century, books printed by block printing appeared in China. The Diamond Sutra was printed in 868, the ninth year of Tang Xiantong, and it is the earliest printed matter engraved with time in the world. Bi Sheng, a civilian in Song Renzong in Qing Dynasty, invented movable type printing on the basis of the popularization of block printing. It is carved with clay, and every word is printed on it. After burning, it is printed. The characters are arranged and embedded on the iron plate, and then baked and pressed into a printing plate, which can be printed. The words on the printing plate can be removed and reused. This method of movable type printing already has the basic processes of modern printing-casting, typesetting and printing, which is 400 years earlier than the movable type printing process made by German J Gutenberg in the middle of15th century. Following clay movable type, China people have successively invented printing methods such as magnetic movable type, wood movable type, tin movable type and copper movable type. The invention and spread of printing greatly promoted the spread and development of human civilization.
(B) China ancient science and technology
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