The Ten Commandments, technically speaking

 

The Ten Commandments, technically speaking

There are two takeaways from the movie that has become my motivation for a few–I think this is the third–blog posts in recent days.

One, Jews who left Egypt were technical laggards as compared to the Egyptians who drove them away. Two, they were still technically savvy to realize that straws made the bricks stronger. Egyptians too knew it.

This is going to be a short post. Just two quick points to make and I am out.

Jews were asked to make bricks without straws, and the Jews’ reaction? No can do. As we understand now, straws arrest the propagation of cracks in the insides of the brick. Straws come in the way of cracks developing into a disaster. Now, construction materials engineers are busy introducing thin fibres in concrete–fibres now replacing straws of about three to four thousand years ago. Jews were technically savvy.

When Exodus happens, Jews load things on to their carts, having wheels of solid wood. Later, when Ramses II swears–“Death to Jews”–and starts off to do just that, we see his chariot has spokes, and only the rim is off solid material, perhaps of iron. Jews were technical laggards. Don’t accuse me of inconsistency–that I am comparing oranges and lemons, chariots against loaded carts. No matter the load, material is needed only along the periphery and the hub. The middle portion is required only to retain the shape of the wheel and to carry the load from the edge to the hub. Spokes increase the efficiency of the wheel.

Raghuram Ekambaram