History and Geometry of Roman Aqueducts
Aqueducts are massive and long water channels built by the Romans to transfer water over long distances.Copyright Izaz Krakowa, Pixabay (CC0 public domain) https://pixabay.com/en/aqueduct-water-the-stones-holidays-979211/
Students see that geometric shapes can be found in all sorts of structures as they explore the history of the Roman Empire with a focus on how engineers 2000 years ago laid the groundwork for many structures seen today. Through a short online video, brief lecture material and their own online research directed by worksheet questions, students discover how the Romans invented a structure known today as the Roman arch that enabled them to build architecture never before seen by humankind, including the amazing aqueducts. Students calculate the slope and its total drop and angle over its entire distance for an example aqueduct. Completing this lesson prepares students for the associated activity in which teams build and test model aqueducts that meet specific constraints. This lesson serves as an introduction to many other geometry—and engineering-related lessons—including statics and trusses, scale modeling, and trigonometry.
The geometry and engineering employed by the Romans enabled them to create structures never before possible. The invention of the Roman arch gave them the capability to build larger and heavier structures than any other civilization up to that point. These arches were designed in such a way that the force applied down on them was directed horizontally instead of vertically. This meant that they could place larger weight on these structures without sacrificing safety. At the time, Roman engineers incorporated these arches in almost every structure they built, including the Colosseum and water aqueducts. These methods however were not only employed by the ancient Romans, but are still used today in modern structures such as bridges.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain how Roman aqueducts worked, what they were used for, and why they were so innovative and necessary for the time.
- Describe tools and processes used by Roman engineers to build aqueducts over long distances.
- Solve simple calculations using the Pythagorean Theorem to find the slope of an aqueduct over a long distance.