• [deleted]@piefed.world
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    12 days ago

    The fact that the colour is so sensitive to the position in the furnace suggests that it would have been very difficult for the Romans to control the colour.

    It would have required skill to refine the process but himans are great at finding ways to repeat extremely complicated and precise techniques to get consistent results. Sure, it probably took decades to get consistent but after that I’ll bet they could crank out consistently and with intentional variations.

    • Ulvain@sh.itjust.works
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      12 days ago

      Sure, it probably took decades to get consistent

      Then again, let’s remember this is a society before tv, the internet, or readily available books…

      • partofthevoice@lemmy.zip
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        12 days ago

        They probably had a lot more time on their hands, with a culture where sitting to watch tv was an unavailable form of avoidance entertain.

        I can’t imagine this would be too difficult to figure out. Heat with a consistent supply of fuel should burn at about the same temperature, right? So, if you can create separate chambers where heat must travel through a medium like stone before it can heat the next chamber, you can somewhat control the heat… meaning you’ll have chambers of different temperatures, each decreasing as the chamber gets further from the fire source.

        There’s probably ways to test the temperature without a thermometer, too. For example, how long does it take a small cup of water to start boiling? If you touch a weed to the side of the chamber, does it instantly light aflame or simply char? Etc.

      • eleitl@lemmy.zip
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        12 days ago

        That is actually an advantage. Our massive advantage though is modern analytics and modern industry.

      • baines@lemmy.cafe
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        11 days ago

        anyone watching anything on Japanese production will know this is totally doable

    • locahosr443@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      If you’d played kcd youd know it was simply a matter of squeezing the bellows twice, but never three times