Re: population sizes for colonising a planet

In article <dikuuf$j7n$2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Damien Sullivan <phoenix@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>Other tech questions:
>
>How hard is glassmaking, once you know how? Does it need special inputs or
>iron tools? I was thinking that sand is readily available in many places, and
>glass could be given a sharp edge for knives, spear- and arrow-points.

(a) If your glasss doesn't need to be transparent, it's fairly easy.
Biggest issue is going to be a decent furnace. For sharp edges,
both flint and obsidian will give you very nice results without
making glass at all.

>Cutting edges. Won't hold up in combat *crack* but hey.

Aztecs (IIRC) used obsidian edged weapons.

>Optics are good not
>just for standard practical uses but for keeping some science from becoming
>Hoary Rote Facts, by being able to see weird planet stuff and germs. Plus,
>easy firestarter.

For optics you need at least reasonable transparency and you'd like
to avoid bubbles in the glass. The most common impurity in glass is
iron, which makes the glass green. IIRC, the base ingredients are
quartz (e.g. sand) and soda.

>Bronze may be easy to make if you have copper and tin handy but I think those
>are rarer -- copper from Cyprus, tin from Britain via Phoenician ships.
>Whereas I recall reading of the Scandinavians using bog iron. Not good
>quantities for reinforced concrete but okay for tools, if not nails.

Copper is sometimes found in native form as pure metal.

You can do quite adequate construction without any metal fasteners
at all. Use wood pins instead. Ratehr more labor intensive, but
you can do some extremely fine construction that way.

--
Hal Heydt
Albany, CA

My dime, my opinions.
.

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