Gunpowder was a by-product of the search for immortality.

Question on this card

What were the alchemists who stumbled on gunpowder looking for?

1. Gold
2. An elixir of immortality
3. A weapon
4. Dyes

Related cards

• The first long-distance car trip refuelled at a pharmacy.On 5 August 1888 Bertha Benz drove roughly 106 kilometres from Mannheim to Pforzheim without …
• You cannot see the Great Wall from the Moon.The Moon averages 384,399 kilometres away – from there the wall would look as wide as a hair seen …
• The bicycle exists because a volcano killed the horses.After the 1815 Tambora eruption, harvests failed in 1816 and tens of thousands of horses starved or …
• How old shirts turned into books.European paper was made from linen and hemp rags until the 19th century. At Fabriano a waterwheel …
• How a rope that snaps holds the lift in place.Lifts existed long before Elisha Otis – nobody trusted them. In 1853 Otis invented the safety …
• Reinforced concrete was invented for flower tubs.Joseph Monier was a gardener at the Paris Tuileries who needed durable tubs for orange trees. He …
• The oldest sound recording went unheard for 148 years.Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville patented the phonautograph in 1857. It scratched sound waves as a …
• QWERTY was not designed to slow you down.The popular story says the keys were deliberately spread awkwardly so typists would go slower and …

Keep reading

This card belongs to the topic History & Culture. Every card is short, cites a source and can be saved – due ones come back by themselves later.

About Doomlearn · Projects · Legal notice · Privacy · Terms