Inventions-Late+1800s+(2-5)

Electricity- Electricity was one of the most important inventions during the Second Industrial Revolution. The first discoveries of electricity were made back in ancient Greece by a mathematician named Thales. He discovered that when amber is rubbed against cloth, lightweight objects will stick to it. In the late 1800’s the use of alternating current (AC) was used to bring indoor lighting to homes and power to industrial machines. Today we still run motors with the same AC/DC current from the 1800’s. Also discovered by William Roentgen in this time period, was x-rays. This technology allowed us to continue to develop more sophisticated x-rays like Cat Scans and MRI’s.

media type="file" key="Electricity podcast.mp3" Railroads/Transportation- The first national road, the Cumberland Road, began in 1811. After a while this became part of Interstate 40. Then, Robert Fulton created the first steatmboat named the Clermont. James Watt's inventrion of the first reliable steam engine made the steamboat possible. The creation of the Erie Canal created a route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. This helped stimulate the economy of New York making it a great trading center. Railroads eventually replaced the highway and canals because the railroads were a great importance to the increase in trade throughout the United States. Railroads linked the most important Mid West cities with the Atlantic Coast when the Civil Wat started. In 1869 a transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory, Utah. Today, we still use the railroads and have come up with other ideas for transportation like car, planes and motorcycles. In the future we will probably have huge differences in transportation. People are going to come up with better ways for us help save the environment and use less gas and bad polutions. In the future everything that has to deal with transportation will be better for everybody.

media type="file" key="railroads The Bessemer Process of Steel Production- Bessemer Process of steel Production was the first mass production of steel from molten pig iron at an inexpensive price. Henry Bessemer was the inventor of this process and patented it in 1855 and named it the Bessemer converter. The Bessemer process is the process of removing impurities from iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. The converter was lined with clay or dolomite and held 8-30 tons of molten iron. The machine also has a special pivot feature that is what makes this process work. The converter is essential to building present day skyscrapers. 2 Group 5