# How good of a computer could be designed without electricity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690 "2010-03-08T04:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/41 "2010-03-09T22:47:57Z")
One nitpick: the speed of a mechanical computer is not really that limited, except by technology and cost. There are, of course, certain factors like the speed of light, but it’s theoretically possible to make extremely fast mechanical computers that can compete with electronic ones. One method would be to use massively parallel processing, combined with nanotech, so that you have billions of microscopic gates and storage switches - imagine a single molecule as a storage bit. Of course, this is not plausible today, but there have already been demonstrations of components. Also, this would not be applicable to a desert island scenario (at least not in the present). **re: links with no real explanation or context** > [@Contrapuntal](#): > > How many would you say didn’t click on that one? I didn’t, and still haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/42 "2010-03-10T02:10:48Z")
[Here’s a very nifty video](http://www.snotr.com/video/1002) of a mechanical calculator in action. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/43 "2010-03-10T12:57:02Z")
I could \*design \*a damn good computer using nothing but a pencil and paper. Making a working computter is a different question. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/44 "2010-03-10T13:56:53Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I never thought of Morse code as base 3, but you are correct. I didn’t differentiate between the lengths of the silent spaces; [the Wikipedia article on Morse code](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code#Representation_and_timing) does, and as a result claims it’s base 5: 1. dit 2. dah 3. short space between dit or dah 4. medium space between characters 5. long space between words ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/45 "2010-03-10T14:10:27Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > I didn’t differentiate between the lengths of the silent spaces; [the Wikipedia article on Morse code](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code#Representation_and_timing) does, and as a result claims it’s base 5: > > 1. dit > 2. dah > 3. short space between dit or dah > 4. medium space between characters > 5. long space between words I dunno. Number 3 is actually a part of the dit or dah. Otherwise, two dits would be a dah. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/46 "2010-03-10T14:42:49Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I dunno. Number 3 is actually a part of the dit or dah. Otherwise, two dits would be a dah. Good point: if we represent dit and da as digits, and intercharacter and interword spaces as digits, then there’s no need to define an intra-character digit. 1. dit 2. dah 3. intercharacter space 4. interword space So: 11132223111411132223111 Would be unambiguously interpreted as “SOS SOS”. Well waddya know, Wikipedia’s _wrong!_ who woulda thunk it!? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/47 "2010-03-10T14:48:28Z")
NETA:Also, the longer silence actually could be just two shorter ones. But if you want to go that far, you might as well realize iit’s all really binary, since the states are either sound on or sound off. A dit is really 10, a dah is really 110, a letter space is 0, and a word space is 00. (Thus SOS is 101010011011011001010100) ---
**Author:** ![cplif](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/48db29/32.png) [@cplif](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cplif)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/48 "2010-03-10T20:17:49Z")
Two impertinent remarques, Before ENIAC, the first digital computer was probably invented by Atanasoff, who needed to set up integrals for his physics research, and decided to create a suitable machine, this machine was put aside when he was called into the war effort, and possibly stolen by one of his students. Otherwise, Martin Gardner for the fun of it, described an elephant powered digital computer in his Scientific American column. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690/49 "2010-03-11T06:17:13Z")
Has no one yet mentioned the [2100-year old Antikythera mechanism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism) ? Someone already mentioned computers based on fluid flow. Don’t airplanes already have simple fluid-based switching circuits? (What’s the most switches of any such “computer” in existence?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-good-of-a-computer-could-be-designed-without-electricity/531690.md?page=2)