Antikythera mechanism facts for kids
The Antikythera mechanism is an amazing ancient Greek machine. It's like a mechanical calculator or an early computer. It was found in 1902 in a sunken ship near the Greek island of Antikythera, Greece.
This incredible device used many gears, just like a clock. It could predict where the sun, moon, and even some planets would be in the sky. It could also predict eclipses! This made it a very clever calendar. It had several dials to show different things.
Here are some of the main things it could do as a calendar:
- It showed the days and months, along with the babylonian zodiac.
- It displayed the months using a Lunisolar calendar.
- It predicted eclipse cycles, showing past and future eclipses of the sun and moon.
- It even showed the years when important events like the panhelllenic games (or Olympics) would happen.
The device was found in a shipwreck near the island of Antikythera, between the Peloponnese and Crete. Other items found on the ship, like coins, helped experts guess when the ship sank. Coins from Pergamon (86 BC to 67 BC) and Ephesus (70 BC to 60 BC) suggest the ship went down between 70 and 60 BC. This machine is the most complex device known from ancient times. People didn't have the knowledge to build similar machines again until the 14th century!
Today, the Antikythera mechanism is on display in the Bronze Collection at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
When the mechanism was first found, it was just a bunch of corroded metal pieces. It was very hard to figure out what it did until X-rays could be used to see inside. Many parts were lost over the 2000 years it spent on the sea floor. Also, some parts broke after it was discovered. Many of the gears are not complete, and only one small piece of an indicator survived. The Antikythera Research project has worked to rebuild it. They added seven gears that they think were part of the original device. The machine likely had 35 gears and seven displays. There are clues that it might have also shown the movement of stars, even though those specific gears or displays haven't been found.
How the Antikythera Mechanism Worked
The original mechanism likely had 82 parts in total. With the pieces found, it's not possible to make all the displays and dials work perfectly. We also don't know exactly how many parts were lost. Thirty gears were found. One gear was probably part of a display for planets that is now missing. To make the rebuilt displays work, eight more gears would be needed, but they are lost. There are two crown gears, and the rest are normal gears. The gears were simple, and the movement wasn't perfectly smooth. The mechanism was repaired at least once, which shows it must have been used a lot!
Images for kids
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Derek J. de Solla Price (1922–1983) with a model of the Antikythera mechanism
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Computer-generated front panel of the Freeth model
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Computer-generated back panel
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A possible drawing of the Antikythera Mechanism's gears. It includes known gears, gears added to complete known functions, and suggested gears for other functions like showing the sun and the five known planets.
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Su Song's Clock Tower
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Lego Antikythera mechanism
See also
In Spanish: Mecanismo de Anticitera para niños
