The gears of the famous anticite machine, considered the “oldest computer in the world”, were not accurate. Fabric errors will have led the device to work correctly.
A recent study by researchers at the National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina, revealed new details about the famous, considered the oldest computer in the world.
The device, Greek of the first century BC, would have been used to foresee astronomical phenomenaS like eclipses and planetary movements.
However, the new, pre-published in ARXIV, suggests that the form triangularr of their gears and the manufacturing errors may have compromised your accuracy and even caused its failure.
Thus, note, the machine may not have been an enigmatic heavenly measurement device, but thefeathers a toy, prone to constantly crunch.
The Anticite Machine is a complex gear system bronze whose function for over 100 years. According to some theories, it would be used for or how.
Unfortunately, the device passed More than 2000 years buried under the seaand an unknown period of time to function before that; Your gears are very corroded and many pieces are missing.
Although only fragments remain, previous studies allowed to reconstruct their structure and its main functionsas the indication of sun and moon positions, eclipses dates and calendar cycles. However, its accuracy has always been the subject of debate among experts.
Tony Freeth
Illustration of how the Anticite machine could have worked.
The team of investigators, led by Esteban Guillermo Szigety and Gustavo Arenas, focused on two key factors: The triangular shape of the gear teeth and the manufacture errors.
Unlike modern gears, which have curved profiles for a smooth movement, those of the anticite machine They had v teethwhich caused small accelerations and slowdown in movementintroducing light inaccuracies.
Using computer simulations, the team confirmed that, under ideal conditions (without manufacturing errors), These triangular teeth generated minimal deviations in the pointers of the mechanism. For example, the lunar pointer had a maximum deviation of only 2.5 degrees, a acceptable margin for the time.
However, the real problem arose when these teeth were combined with Imperfections in your manufacturetells the.
In a previous study, the British astrophysicist Mike Edmundswhich analyzed computed tomography of the gears of the device, identified two types of failures: random errors, Small deviations in the position of the teeth; and systematic errors, sinusoidal displacements caused by decentralized axles or incorrect markings during the manufacture of gears.
When, in the new study, these errors were simulated in the computer model, the researchers found that although deviations in pointers were controllable (similar to those calculated by Edmunds), the mechanism faced a greater problem: lock or the gear dish.
The study allows to conclude that, with the observed manufacturing errors, the mechanism would have ceased to work after only 120 days of use – 1/3 of your annual cycle).
In some cases, the gears would completely crashedstopping the whole system. In others, the gears They were disruptedcausing some pointers to lose the synchronization.
If the mistakes were as large as those measured by Edmunds, the mechanism would not have been functional, the researchers explain. Or never workedor the original errors were smaller and worsened after 2,000 years under the sea.
This investigation supports an earlier theory of Edmunds: the mechanism may have been one more pedagogical instrument than a tool for accurate astronomical calculations. Although their predictions were not perfect, they would have been enough to teach celestial concepts.
