Ancient Light Bulb

Maybe this will settle the Egyptian light bulb controversy. Take a look at this working model of the Dendera lightbulb!
www.youtube.com...

Blessings

reply to post by Byrd


I have to disagree with you here, for a modern light bulb to work yes your correct. An ancient light bulb may not have had to rely on tungsten in order to produce a filament.

The truth is a light bulbs filament is simply a circuit that glows hot. A thin copper or bronze wire could have been used as the filament thus creating a electric torch. Using the primitive cell technology connected in a battery one could have generated enough electricity to make the wire glow.

Dangerous of course, but it would also be dangerous (LETHAL) to burn a torch in a nearly enclosed space like the pyramids.

Also I am quite sure that if the ancient Egyptians could create a pyramid to such exacting dimensions to dig a space under one without having parts of the structure collapse wouldnt be a problem. Simple scaffolding would work to strengthen the roof of the dig and thus no danger would be presented.

Dendera Reliefs







[edit on 7/17/2008 by whatukno]

The truth is a light bulbs filament is simply a circuit that glows hot. A thin copper or bronze wire could have been used as the filament thus creating a electric torch. Using the primitive cell technology connected in a battery one could have generated enough electricity to make the wire glow.

Those primative cells wouldn't have been able to generate the wattage to make anything but the thinnest piece of metal glow with any kind of brightness, and even if they did they would run out of juice in seconds.

Edit to add: I've found that the Baghdad battery could only generate a maximum of 25 milliwatts and weighed nearly 2 kg. You could hook up a few thousand of them I suppose...but then you would need a baggage train pulled by a team of oxen so you could make your copper wire glow.

Plus the fact that without keeping the filiment in an oxygen free environment it would just burn. Sir Humphry Davy's original arc lamp used a 2000 cell battery - hardly practical compared to an oil lamp. Also no evidence that huge multi-cell arrangments like this ever existed in the ancient world.

Dangerous of course, but it would also be dangerous (LETHAL) to burn a torch in a nearly enclosed space like the pyramids.

Dangerous to burn something inside a stone building? Not sure they had too much health and safety legislation back then anyway.

A battery powered bulb wouldn't have been that dangerous, but it would have been rubbish, even if they had the technology to build one. Which they didn't.

A small piece of glowing red hot copper attached to an enormous battery that lasts for a few minutes and knocks out enough light to see into a matchbox - compared to an oil lamp that lasts for ours and can be refilled very cheaply? Hmmm...

Even now if you don't have access to mains electricity oil and gas powered lamps are superiour to battery powered ones - as anyone who goes camping regularly will tell you.

[edit on 17/7/08 by FatherLukeDuke]

One key point, the Baghdad batteries are NOT ancient they come from the Sassanid period 225-640 AD, eighteen hundred to fourteen hundred years ago. Not Ancient at all.

reply to post by Hanslune


I think the Baghdad batteries were used to plate jewelry with gold or silver since not much wattage is needed for it. Just to add my 2 cents to this cool thread.

That is one of the more probable uses but even then the power of the batteries was so weak (the solution) it might not have been practical. My reading of the literature on this leads me to believe it was possible but not probable.

However a number of the batteries were found and it might be the sign of an isolated genius. AFAIK no plated objects have been found from that period. I would suspect that objects from that period haven't been check to see if they were electro-plated however!

....also the jar was found buried in the corner of a hut with a piece of papyrus inside .... most likely it was some sort of "blessing" jar.

Another point of view: The object was not a battery- the papers to read are:

Eggert, G. 1995. "The Enigma of the 'Battery of Baghdad," in Proceedings 7th European Skeptics Conference (4-7 May, 1995, Rossdorf, Germany), ed. Amardeo Sarma, 42-46. Rossdorf: GWUP.

Paszthory, E. 1989. "Electricity Generation or Magic? The Analysis of an Unusual Group of finds from Mesopotamia," MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology, 6: 31-38.

A detailed discussion of this at the Hall of Ma'at

The Link

If they were batteries then I'd say they were used for delivering shocks, ie magic.


[edit on 17/7/08 by Hanslune]

[edit on 17/7/08 by Hanslune]

reply to post by Hanslune


It is interesting when a Von Daniken brought up the battery, he made it sound like it was a tiny one, not the rather large one they found. It definately would not of been fun to tote that thing around!

reply to post by kidflash2008


I don't remember what Daniken wrote on the subject but the real one found were 5" tall I believe. Daniken spent a bit of time trying to make everything he said plausible, unfortunately his time spent in "rounding the corners" would have been better spent in doing basic research - but of course if he'd done that he wouldn't have written the books!



[edit on 17/7/08 by Hanslune]

i have heard of the same thing frm my uncle he seen it on the history channel

Thanks to Byrd That book just went on the Christmas list.

Too the person from that site, perhaps some study before putting info out to the world that has no basis in fact??? Makes you look bad.

Yes. It's known that certain tombs that were only accessed by high priests. In the pyramid of Giza, you can't even use a lighter to illuminate the temple. There's not enough oxygen to constantly feed a flame. Torches were not feasible. The ancient egyptians needed some other form of light.

Very interesting reliefs in the Dendera crypt.

One theory is that copper plates were used to reflect light from outside, but unfortunately the light dissipates after a few turns into the passageways.

So is it possible that only the high preists knew about the ancient light bulbs?

It's possible that the baghdad battery was used to generate all of this, but where are the remnance? Where are the wires? They would have been forged somewhere.

I'm happy to find posts like this. Ancient technology is a favorite topic!

[edit on 7/7/09 by ironspy]

Originally posted by ironspy
So is it possible that only the high preists knew about the ancient light bulbs?

Not really. High priests weren't skilled craftsmen and the Egyptian glass technology wasn't able to produce pure, clear glass. Drawing out gold wire into very thin threads is possible, but you can't heat that enough to make it glow without it promptly melting.

Nor did they do vacuums (needed for light bulbs). That requires air pumps, which requires airtight seals.

It's possible that the baghdad battery was used to generate all of this, but where are the remnance? Where are the wires? They would have been forged somewhere.

The Baghdad battery was made around 2,000 years AFTER the end of the pyramid building phase.