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The Great Pyramid of Egypt, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu is the largest pyramid not only in Egypt, but is the largest ancient pyramid standing in the world. King Khufu-Re’s architects needed to solve the logistics of moving 2,250,000, 15 ton blocks of stone up a 482 foot high pyramid. This feat was accomplished even before simple tools such as cranes and modern quarries were developed. The amazing applications of the principals of energy by this culture allowed them to solve problems that even architects today find puzzling.
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For a pyramid to be successful, it needs to be built on a flat area. The Egyptians invented an ingenious way to assure a flat area to build a pyramid using the technology available at the time. Surely, it is no simple feat to create 13.1 square acre flat area in the middle of a desert in Egypt. To create this large scale level, the Egyptians dug trenches and filled them with water. They then put two sticks of equal length on either side of the water. A string was tied taught between the two sticks and measurements were made from the water to the string. The flat water acted as a level, and the string and sticks were used to make sure that every “step” of the pyramid was an equal distance from the flat water. Measurements from the string to the water needed to be kept consistent on every level for it to be a perfect, geometrical pyramid.
The most amazing application of energy in the building of the pyramids was moving 2,250,000 15 ton stones to the pyramid worksite. Stone quarries were kept away from the pyramids because the indentations remaining after the building were unsightly. The problem that this posed is that the stones needed to travel a rather large distance from the quarry to the pyramid. The engineers of the time devised an intricate maze of ramps and rollers to get the stones onto the pyramid. The stones were rolled on logs into boats, onto docks, across deserts and to the pyramid. Once at the pyramid, the stones were rolled up one of three squared off ramps. The ramps hugged the pyramid and were built continuously as the pyramid ascended. There was also a down ramp for logs and people to exit the site. The amazing system of a ramp “highway” allowed even the heaviest stone to be hoisted 482 feet into the air, a feat almost unmatched even in this modern age.
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The engineers that built the pyramids utilized energy and technology to their maximum and were able to build a monument that still stands to the world. It is clear that the engineers were not only building a monument to their kings, but were building monument to their civilization which was to last through the ages.
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