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$\begingroup$ This makes sense in a scary way. This should be a scenario that was quite unworkable and implausible. Yet your two-pronged answer achieves this with beautiful simplicity. I love it! Plus one & wishing I could award more. Well done, sir. $\endgroup$

a4android
– a4android

2017-09-03 14:22:36 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2017 at 14:22
$\begingroup$ What an epic answer. Bravo! So much food for thought! The only question I have left is regarding petroleum. The petrol industry in the US was kicked off in the middle of the 19th century. But until the development of the internal combustion engine (the Otto engine having been invented in 1876) and the large scale production later the main use for oil was kerosene for oil lamps. I'm assuming a lack of electricity would've also prevented the large scale use of the Otto engine? No automobiles, fertilizers and plastics? $\endgroup$

H3R3T1K
– H3R3T1K

2017-09-03 14:44:10 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2017 at 14:44
$\begingroup$ @H3R3T1K Automobiles need an electrical spark to ignite the explosion in the Internal combustion engine; I don't think anything else would do. (engine people feel free to correct me!) It is possible to create sparks from steel and flint, but not with the precision needed: And without a lot of pre-existing electrical research and framework, and with the cost of components on the order of [our] Gold or diamonds, it seems unlikely to me the spark plug and electrical system would be invented out of whole cloth. They seem cheap, but the foundation leading up to them would likely not exist. $\endgroup$

Amadeus
– Amadeus

2017-09-03 14:52:25 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2017 at 14:52
$\begingroup$ @H3R3T1K Also you wouldn't have any electrical components involved in refining petroleum. So while it might be used as a lamp fuel, or incendiary use (as an accelerant to burn a field, woods, garbage or demolition of storm-damaged or rotting wood structures), or perhaps as a source of heat for a forge, the whole "explosion by controlled spark" wing of usage might never be discovered. Certainly lightning or flint sparks might show them it is possible; but not ever commercially exploited without a basic understanding of controlling and using electricity. $\endgroup$

Amadeus
– Amadeus

2017-09-03 15:00:01 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2017 at 15:00
1

$\begingroup$ Hot tube ignition was a thing, from the 1880s to maybe 1900, to say nothing of compression ignition (diesel) engines. So you can certainly run oil engines without sparks (admittedly, lower revving). That is, if you have oil. Otherwise, if coal and wood are the best you have, steam power is much more practical. $\endgroup$

user_1818839
– user_1818839

2017-09-03 16:36:04 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2017 at 16:36

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