This is the parent of Carson
You wrote to him regarding exactly what Gauss invented.
Thank you so much...you were a great help and very informative.
His project is coming along very nicely.
Thanks again.
Darlene
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I want to know like his main four idea's/inventions and how they worked please, i would like to know how the telegrapher work and such, please respond to me with an answer if possible , thank you
Carson
My Response:
Carson,
Gauss' main four inventions are the following:
1. Heliotrophe
2. Magnometer
3. Photometer
4. Telegraph (as you mentioned)
The Heliotrophe is a device to determine the size of
the earth. This science is called Geodesy.
Here's a paragraphy (copy and pasted from the
biography on my web page):
An early by-product of fieldwork was the invention of
the heliotrope, an instrument for reflecting the sun's
rays in a measured direction. It was motivated by
dissatisfaction with the existing unsatisfactory
methods of observing distant points by using lamps or
powder flares at night. Meditating on the need for a
beacon bright enough to be observed by day, Gauss hit
on the idea of using reflected sunlight. After working
out the optical theory, he designed the instrument and
had the first model built in 1821. It proved to be
very successful in practical work, having the
brightness of a first-magnitude star at a distance of
fifteen miles (24.14 km). Although heliostats had been
described in the literature as early as 1742
(apparently unknown to gauss), the heliotrope added
greater precision by coupling mirrors with a small
telescope. It became, standard equipment for
large-scale triangulation until superseded by improved
models from 1840 and by aerial surveying in the
twentieth century. Gauss remarked that for the first
time there existed a practical method of communicating
with the moon.
Magnometer:
I'm not quite sure how it works, but from what I
gather, it is a device which detects any anomalies in
the earth's magnetic field. From what I know, pretty
much its only uses are for geological surveyors,
aerospace, and the military. To put it in layman's
speech, my guess is something like a metal-detector.
Photometer:
Photometers measure the luminous intensity of a
light souce, or the amount of luminous flux falling
upon a surface.
I don't know how this one works either (at least the
one that Gauss made), but the modern ones are
photoelectric photometers. These photometers need
special colored filters to have the response
sensitivity of the human eye, in which photoelectric
cells (I believe) are used. The intensity is measured
in candlelight power.
Telegraph:
The is used to communicate in distances. Standard is
by using a series of dashes and dots, the romantic
alphabet and arabic numbers are created such that
communication is made. This code is known as Morse
Code.
The telegraph is anything that transmits and recieves
signals in the form of electrical pulses. Pretty much
when when one connects the circuit it makes a
"beeping" noise. This noise will continue until the
electrical circuit is broken by the user. This allows
one to manipulate whether it should be dashes or dots.
The facsimile is also considered a modern telegraph.
(Facsimile is often refered to as "Fax.")
Well, I hope this helps!
Sincerely,
Nelly "Nez" Cung
Follow-up:
i am writing to thank you very much for they very helpful information, it answered my question with great detail, thank you
Carson
Additional Followup (I thought that this was so cool!)
Hi Nelly
This is the parent of Carson
You wrote to him regarding exactly what Gauss invented.
Thank you so much...you were a great help and very informative.
His project is coming along very nicely.
Thanks again.
Darlene
Back to Commentary