Science questions for kids | Who invented the elevator? Sometimes the elevator is scary. What was the first lift like?

Elle Kähkönen, 6

Living things devices that transport creatures and goods vertically have been around for a very long time.

More than 2,200 years ago by a Greek inventor Archimedes is said to have developed boxes that were winched using hemp ropes.

They work with muscle power, just like the elevators of the ancient Roman Colosseum developed a couple of hundred years later.

At the Colosseum, many people were needed to run the mechanism when e.g. lions were brought into the arena from the underground facilities.

Elevators like today’s began to be built just under 200 years ago. They were used to descend deep underground into mines and allow the construction of higher apartment buildings.

In the apartment buildings, the elevators were beautiful wooden rooms with metal accordion doors, while the Mine elevators were barren cages. At first, the elevators were powered by steam or water power.

Over the years, many people made inventions to improve elevators. That often happens in the history of technology.

In most cases, inventions do not have just one inventor, but many developers. This is also the case with elevators, they are the result of cooperation.

For as long as self-propelled devices have existed, they have also excited people. It’s very understandable. Even in the elevator, you surrender to the mercy of technology, and you cannot fully control the ride yourself.

However, elevators are a safe way to travel. They are serviced regularly. It’s good to keep that in mind if you get scared in the elevator.

Tiina Männistö-Funk

academy researcher and docent of the history of technology

University of Turku

Is infinity an even or odd number?

Alva Heikkilä, 8

No there is no single number that would describe infinity, because infinities can be of different sizes. In fact, there are infinitely many infinities.

Infinite numbers also fall into two categories. Cardinal numbers indicate numbers, i.e. how much something is, and ordinal numbers indicate order, i.e. the order in which things come.

With finite numbers, these are the same thing, but with infinite numbers, numbers expressing number and order have different calculation rules.

Cardinal numbers are always even because they can be divided in two: an infinite pile of apples can be divided into two equally large infinite piles.

And even if you first remove one apple from the infinite stack, the remaining stack is still infinite, and even the same size as the original, and can still be divided into two equal stacks. So there are no odd infinite numbers.

With ordinals expressing order, even and odd numbers alternate, just like with finite ones. You can try to figure this out by imagining all the natural numbers (0,1,2…) in order and putting new numbers after them, after an infinite number of numbers.

Åsa Hirvonen

university lecturer in mathematics

university of Helsinki

How much does Karvinen weigh? Karvinen is quite overweight

Kaius Välijärvi, 13

In the cartoon, Karvinen’s weight has made many readers think. However, the exact weight of the cat is not known.

The birth weight has been said to be around 2.4 kilos, but even that has been said to only apply to Karvinen’s ego, i.e. his perception of himself. It is known that 2.4 kilos belonged to Karvinen’s draftsman by Jim Davis the correct birth weight of the child.

Weight is a recurring theme in the comic, as Esko weighs his cat every day. Most of the time, the scale refuses to give an exact number, but in one Strip it reports a weight of between three and fifteen kilograms.

In another strip, Karvinen is said to be able to eat ten times his weight in lasagna. Although Karvinen fails in the task, the strip hints that the cat’s weight is a little over 12 kilos.

Karvinen’s weight is repeatedly mocked in the cartoon. The humor is based on outdated attitudes, in which overweight is treated with mockery. Even Karvin could benefit from a body gland where no one can be bullied or defined by body size or weight.

Leena Romu

comics researcher

University of Tampere

Why are robots rigid?

Aarne Juntunen, 5

Many robots are very rigid because they are made of rigid and hard materials such as steel.

The advantage of rigid robots is that their movement is precise. It is useful, for example, when a robot welds cars in a car factory.

Robots that work close to people can be built less rigid. A collision with a rigid robot can even be a danger to a person.

In recent years, cooperation robots have been developed in particular, which are safer. Their movements are more flexible and the collision with them is softer.

The intelligence of robots is also rigid. They don’t have imagination or common sense, instead they carry out the commands programmed into them by humans.

Robots are mainly used in jobs that involve a lot of repetition and are therefore boring and time-consuming from a human perspective. The robot doesn’t get angry out of boredom.

In the future, efforts will be made to make the intelligence of robots more flexible, so that they would be able to help people in more and more tasks.

Ville Kyrki

professor

Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering

Send the question, the questioner’s full name and age to [email protected]. The column is edited by Touko Kauppinen and Juha Merimaa.