My theory: Combustion. You have the obelisk laying down, you
anticipate where you want it to stand, and then build 3 retaining walls
around where it's going to stand, so you don't actually have to measure
that precisely or aim, because the retaining walls limit where the
obelisk can stand. Walls are fairly easy to build to any height. Then,
you fill a hole below the obelisk with some sort of combustable fluid,
like crude oil or diesel, place a log or another piece of stone between
the fluid and the obelisk, and ignite. You have a lot of factors, but
they are all controllable factors. You can test Newton/litre as far as
force generated by the fluid, we know how long the obelisk weighs, where
the relative center of gravity is, and how much force at what point
would be needed to erect it. We now control every factor of the
erection of the obelisk. Also, from what I read about biodiesel, and
the availability of crude in that part of the world, it would then seem
feasible. Also, when I was young, I remember my uncle, who's a plumber,
he used a method that was similar. He would need to insert a pipe
that's about 20 feet long straight down a hole, but he can't really lift
it up by himself. So he'd tie a firecracker (M-80) and a block of wood
to one end, and have me light it. Pow, the pipe would stand staight up.
He would know how far from the end he'd have to put the firecracker,
depending on the length. Easy sum moment measurement.
I'd love to try out my theory, but I am not really that great with
combustion, and my physics is limited.... Not to mention the fact that
I just don't have a 40 ton obelisk laying in my backyard to test my
theory on. Your thoughts and input would be great. I'm probably bad at
explaining things, so download my white paper and look at the pictures.
Thanks.
Albert