ISP 2

The pyramids of Egypt were built more than three thousand years ago, and no one knows how. The conventional picture is that tens thousands of slaves dragged stones on sledges. But there is no evidence to back this up. Now a Californian software consultant called Maureen Clemmons has suggested that kites might have been involved.

Question 1: It is generally believed that large numbers of people needed to build the pyramids.

• TRUE

• FALSE

• NOT GIVEN

Now a Californian software consultant called Maureen Clemmons has suggested that kites might have been involved. While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures. They were holding what looked like ropes that led, via some of mechanical system, to a giant bird in the sky.

What does peruse mean?

• to read something carefully

• to look at something

• to use something

• to reuse something

Now a Californian software consultant called Maureen Clemmons has suggested that kites might have been involved. While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures. They were holding what looked like ropes that led, via some of mechanical system, to a giant bird in the sky.

What does odd mean?

• different

• strange

• usual

• normal

Now a Californian software consultant called Maureen Clemmons has suggested that kites might have been involved. While perusing a book on the monuments of Egypt, she noticed a hieroglyph that showed a row of men standing in odd postures. They were holding what looked like ropes that led, via some of mechanical system, to a giant bird in the sky.

Question 2: Clemmons found a strange hieroglyph on the wall of an Egyptian monument.

• TRUE

• FALSE

• NOT GIVEN

Intrigued, Clemmons contacted Morteza Gharib, aeronautics professor at the California Institute of Technology. He was fascinted by the idea. 'Coming from Iran, I have a keen interest in Middle Eastern science,' he says. He too was puzzled by the picture that had sparked Clemmon's interest. The object in the sky apparently had wings far too short and wide for a bird.

Question 3: Gharib had previously done experiments on bird flight.

• TRUE

• FALSE

• NOT GIVEN

Gharib and Graff set themselves the task of raising a 4.5 metre stone column from horizontal to vertical, using no source of energy except the wind. Their initial calculations and scale-model wind-tunnel experiments convinved them they wouldn't need a strong wind to lift the 33.5 tonne column. Even a modest force, if sustained over a long time, would do. The key was to use a pulley system that would magnify the applied force. So, they rigged up a tent-shaped scaffold directly above the tip of the horizontal column, with pulleys suspended from the scaffold's apex.

Question 4: Gharib and Graff tested their theory before applying it.

• TRUE

• FALSE

• NOT GIVEN

The wind was blowing at a gentle 16 to 20 kilometres an hour, little more than half what they thought would be needed. What they had failed to reckon with was what happened when the kite was opened. 'There was a huge initial force - five times larger than the steady state force,' Gharib says.

Question 5: The success of the actual experiment was due to the high speed of the wind.

• TRUE

• FALSE

• NOT GIVEN

This jerk meant that kites could lift huge weights, Gharib realised. Even a 300-tonne column could have been lifted to the vertical with 40 or so men and four or five sails. So Clemmons was right: the pyramid builders could have used kites to lift massive stones into place.

QUESTION 6: They found that, as the kite flew higher, the wind force got stronger.

• TRUE

• FALSE

• NOT GIVEN

So Clemmons was right: the pyramid builders could have used kites to lift massive stones into place. 'Whether they actually did is another matter,' Gharib says. There are no pictures showing the construction of the pyramids, so there is no way to tell what really happened. 'The evidence for using kites to move large stones is not better or worse than the evidence for the brute force method,' Gharib says.

Question 7: the team decided that it was possible to use kites to raise very heavy stones.

• TRUE

• FALSE

• NOT GIVEN

Others feel there is more of a case for the theory. Harnessing the wind would not have been a problem for accomplished sailors like the Egyptians. And they are known to have used wooden pulleys, which could have been made strong enough to bear the weight of massive blocks of tone.

ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE FOR THE THEORY OF KITE-LIFTING

The Egyptians had (8)___________________, which could lift large pieces of___________________