Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Technological Advances that changed the world forever


Imagine a world without technology. There would be no cell phones, computers, cars, internet, concrete or even paper. Almost everything that we use or find important to our lives would not exist if there was no evolution to technology. Technology is very important to a human lifestyle, so that is why I am going to list the top 5 most important technological advances that I think changed the world forever.
Number 5 – Cars
     The very first type of car was actually a steam engine attached to a wagon. It was first invented by a man named Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in the late 1700’s. The steam engines were heavy so the wagon became very slow and hard to control. The internal combustion engine changed the way that cars were to be powered. It would explode the gas into a cylinder and push the piston down which would turn the wheel. Many people tried to make a car that would work well and sell well. But people say that the very first person to invent a modern automobile was Karl Benz; he began to sell the first line of cars in 1888.  
Number 4 – Computers
      In 1623, Wilhelm Schickard invented the very first model of a computer, it was the mechanical calculator, but all it could do was add, subtract, multiply and divide. Modern computers were made when Charles Babbage had an idea. He wanted to make a machine that could do math and be programmed to do different things too. Charles Babbage was also the first person to make a fully programmable computer; he called it the Analytical engine. But because Charles Babbage did not have enough money and kept changing his design, he never built his analytical machine. As time went on, computers got more popular. And that stands out at the beginning, because people got very board doing the same thing over and over. They spent their whole lives writing things down. So a clever man named Herman Hollerith figured out how to automatically add up information that the Census bureau collected. Once they combined this with the programming from Charles Babbage, the computers we all know now was born.         
Number 3 – The Telephone
          Bell Scot was the inventor of the telephone, what he wanted to do was find new methods for people to communicate. He had an interest with hearing and sound, which led to experiments with sending sounds over telegraph wires. He worked with Thomas Watson, an expert in mechanics and electricity. During their course of experiments, Bell and Watson had strung a wire between two reeds such as are used to play musical instruments. Watson plucked one of the reeds and the sound carried over the wire to where Bell was working. In February 14 1876, they completed their invention of the telephone. Only about 20 years ago inventors made the telephone wireless and everybody suddenly wanted one.        
Number 2 – The wheel
     Nobody really knows who invented the wheel but the earliest well dated description of a wheeled vehicle dated back to 3500 - 3350 BC. The idea spread quickly across Eurasia, reaching the Indus Valley by the 3rd millennium BC. The very first use of the wheeled vehicle was the chariot, during the second millennium. The oldest known example of a wooden wheel and its axle were found in 2003 at a Marsh some 20 km from the capital of Slovenia. The wheel is not only used for transportation, some toys that included a wheel dated back to 1500 BC. In our modern community we sometimes use the wheel to generate power or as machines. But now most people use it as a method for transportation.     
And the most important technological advance (# 1) – Electricity
     Electricity was first recognised when people touched electric fish such as eels. When people got shocked they knew that electricity could travel along conducting objects. Lighting is one of the most dramatic effects of electricity and most people realize that it was a part of nature. At about the 1800’s people started to use electricity to power some small things. But when electricity was used the most was in the 1900’s. That time showed the greatest progress of electrical engineering. Basically everything that we have today was engineered and powered with electricity. 8  
     Technology has changed our lives forever. If we did not have technology our life would be very difficult and we would not live as long. We are very fortunate to have technology and we can only guess what sort of things could come next. Thanks for listening

No comments:

Post a Comment