Seismographs

Ancient China was located in present day eastern China.  Ancient China’s geography was defined by natural barriers like the Himalayas, Gobi desert and Pacific Ocean.  Because of the natural barriers Ancient China was isolated from the rest of civilization impacting their culture, beliefs and lifestyle. They traded by River and the Pacific Ocean before the silk road which was developed during the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty was known as the dynasty of innovations, said innovations are  Paper, Suspension bridges, Wheelbarrow, Blast furnaces, Seismograph, Civil service system, Gunpowder, and finally Silk. The culture and religion during the Han dynasty was mostly the mandate of heaven, the mandate of heaven is the belief that justified the rule of the emperor, stating that a ruler's job was given by a divine power called Heaven as long as they governed justly.

The innovation I will be talking about is the Seismograph, a seismograph is a device used to detect earthquakes. The development of Seismographs by Imperial China had a significant impact in that it enabled the detection of distant earthquakes/provided crucial information for disaster relief, and helped develop more advanced technology. The way that the first seismograph worked was by showing the position of the earthquake by a ball falling from the dragon into the mouth of a toad. The  mechanism is that when an earthquake occurred somewhere, including at a distance, the interior pendulum or central column within the jar would swing, triggering an internal mechanism of levers and rods. The lever corresponding to the direction of the quake would release the ball from the dragon’s mouth, The ball would drop into the mouth of the toad below, making a noise and visually signalling the direction from which the shaking originated.

Seismographs helped detection and the amendment response of emergency protocols. Almost all of the earthquakes that affected had to be told by people detecting the earthquake happening, this delayed disaster control and made it difficult to prepare. The seismograph allows not only to notify people of an upcoming earthquake but also the direction it’s coming from. Natural disasters, earthquakes, floods, droughts often symbolized political significance more than religion. They were still seen as signs of the Mandate of Heaven and linked to the legitimacy of the emperor’s rule. By providing the central government with information about remote seismic events, seismoscope could contribute to disaster-relief decisions like sending officials, preparing shelter, conducting a search for missing people, and providing medical help

The invention of the seismograph helped develop technology greatly by showing a crack in the personal beliefs of many because of a scientific breakthrough. The earliest device had significant limitations, it did not produce a continuous record, timestamp or detailed waveform, it indicated direction but not magnitude. The mechanism remains speculative, and no original has survived. Some scholars question whether the device worked exactly as described, or whether the historical accounts were exaggerated or a legend.