Essential Question: What technological developments had the greatest impact on our lives today?
Topic 5.5 Technology of the Industrial Age
Learning Objective: Explain how technology shaped economic production over time.
Historical Developments
The development of machines, including steam engines and the internal combustion engine, made it possible to take advantage of both existing and vast newly discovered resources of energy stored in fossil fuels, specifically coal and oil. The fossil fuels revolution greatly increased the energy available to human societies.
The “second industrial revolution” led to new methods in the production of steel, chemicals, electricity, and precision machinery during the second half of the 19th century.
Railroads, steamships, and the telegraph made exploration, development, and communication possible in interior regions globally, which led to increased trade and migration.
Reading Questions
What is renewable energy?
What is nonrenewable energy?
What are fossil fuels?
What limitations of renewable energy?
What was the impact of the steam engine and steam powered factory machines from the First Industrial Revolution?
What were the new types of energy used in the second industrial revolution?
Industrial Revolution: An Energy Revolution
The Industrial Revolution: An Energy Revolution
Energy is a fundamental entity of nature that is transferred between systems to bring about change. On the planet earth, the ultimate source of all our energy is the sun. From the sun, we obtain our food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. There are two types of energy: renewable energy (an energy source that can be easily replenished such as solar, wind, and hydropower) and non-renewable energy (energy sources that cannot be recreated quickly like wood, coal, petroleum, or natural gas). Non-renewable energies are often referred to as fossil fuels because they are formed deep underground from the remains of vegetation that grew about 400 million years ago. These ancient swamps and rainforests collected solar energy and stored it as carbon. As these forests died, the matter accumulated and was gradually covered by layer upon layer of sediment. Over time, the pressure converted the energy stored by these ancient forests into coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
The Problem of Energy
For most of our existence on earth, humans have been bound by their dependence on renewable energy. We have spent most of our existence converting solar energy into muscle power. Plants spend their days soaking up solar energy. Animals eat the plants, consuming the calories and therefore transferring the energy into their muscles. Humans eat the animals, consuming the calories and therefore transferring the energy into their muscles. With the help of solar energy humans were able to use muscle to cultivate crops, construct monumental architecture, build empires, and produce goods for transport across seas.
While renewable energy is ever abundant, our dependence on it meant that humans remained limited in energy and power. The man behind the plow and the woman at the spinning wheel could employ only the limited energy available in horsepower, human muscle, or maybe hydropower in their labor. No matter how hard they worked, they could only produce what their muscles allowed.
Energy is a fundamental entity of nature that is transferred between systems to bring about change. On the planet earth, the ultimate source of all our energy is the sun. From the sun, we obtain our food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. There are two types of energy: renewable energy (an energy source that can be easily replenished such as solar, wind, and hydropower) and non-renewable energy (energy sources that cannot be recreated quickly like wood, coal, petroleum, or natural gas). Non-renewable energies are often referred to as fossil fuels because they are formed deep underground from the remains of vegetation that grew about 400 million years ago. These ancient swamps and rainforests collected solar energy and stored it as carbon. As these forests died, the matter accumulated and was gradually covered by layer upon layer of sediment. Over time, the pressure converted the energy stored by these ancient forests into coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
The Problem of Energy
For most of our existence on earth, humans have been bound by their dependence on renewable energy. We have spent most of our existence converting solar energy into muscle power. Plants spend their days soaking up solar energy. Animals eat the plants, consuming the calories and therefore transferring the energy into their muscles. Humans eat the animals, consuming the calories and therefore transferring the energy into their muscles. With the help of solar energy humans were able to use muscle to cultivate crops, construct monumental architecture, build empires, and produce goods for transport across seas.
While renewable energy is ever abundant, our dependence on it meant that humans remained limited in energy and power. The man behind the plow and the woman at the spinning wheel could employ only the limited energy available in horsepower, human muscle, or maybe hydropower in their labor. No matter how hard they worked, they could only produce what their muscles allowed.
First Industrial Revolution
|
The First Industrial Revolution: The Steam Engine
In the early 1760’s, a gifted young Scot named James Watt (1736-1819) would develop an innovation that changed the world. A steam engine is a machine that converts energy stored in coal (a fossil fuel) into steam, which, when concentrated, created motion. The steam engine changed everything. For the first time in history, humanity had almost unlimited power at its disposal. Humans no longer had to depend on the renewable energy of muscle power for motion, they could now tap into vast stores of non-renewable energy stored beneath the earth to manufacture and transport things. Factories, equipped with numerous coal burning steam engines, emerged manufacturing textiles and other manufactured goods and steam trains and steamships transported them all over the world. Unlike humans or animals, machines never tired. Answer these questions using common sense in your notes. What was the impact of the Railroad? What was the impact of the steamship? What was the impact of the telegraph? |
The Second Industrial Revolution
The Second Industrial Revolution: Electricity
The burning of coal, however was dangerous and caused massive pollution in densely populated urban centers. The “First Industrial Revolution,” saw steam-powered machines replace human labor in industry. During the “Second Industrial Revolution” electricity replaced steam as the main power source in industry. Coal, it was found, could be burned away from the factories in a remote location. The energy generated in these power plants could then be channeled through a grid of electrical wires into factories (and later elite homes) in urban centers, giving workers light as well as a cleaner working environment. By the 19th century, the increased efficiency enabled by the use of electricity led to the development of increased steel and chemical production. These techniques led to other developments, such as precision machinery and the internal combustion engine, which in turn led to automobile and airplane technologies. When automobiles were introduced in the early 1900s, gasoline as fuel became a more important product from petroleum than kerosene. |