Technology

Technology is the use of knowledge to invent new devices or tools. Throughout history, technology has made people's lives easier.  We may think of cell phones and computers when we think of technology but these are just a few of the wonderful creations that scientists have made with the use of technology.  Technology also includes simple machines like ramps, pulleys, wheels, levers and even scissors.  When a child uses these tools they discover and learn from cause and effect.  Tools help us to accomplish many tasks.   

A Brief History of Technology - 

In the Stone Age people learned how to control fire, make tools and weapons out of stone, and to make pottery out of clay.  Later on people learned to work with metal.  Even later they learned how to mix copper with tin to form an even stronger metal bronze.  This began the Bronze Age.  During this time period the ox-drawn plow was invented and the wheel and axle.  These inventions were the beginning of advanced civilization.  Eventually, people learned to work with iron and this began the Iron Age.  During the Middle Ages Chinese inventors developed a technique for casting iron and they developed black powder. Horses were used to pull plows. People learned to harness wind and water power to run mills.

Two kinds of technology helped to end the Middle Ages and to begin modern times. The first technology made it possible for sea voyages of European explorers the rudder, triangular sail, and the astrolabe and compass. The astrolabe was a device that helped sailors determine their position. The second invention was in 1450 by Johannes Gutenberg.  He invented the printing press. The printing press allowed books to be printed in great numbers and many people learned to read.

We jump to the 1700s and Abraham Darby discovered that a coke-burning (not the drink, but coke is a form of coal) furnace produced good iron.  Steam began to replace wind and water and the steam engine was invented. In the 1800s steel was beginning to replace iron.  These inventions led the way for factories and machines that helped to spur even more inventions and technology. In the late 1700s and early 1800s steamboats and finally, the steam locomotive were invented.  Railroad, ships and bridges were built with steel. Electricity was used and in 1835 Morse invented his telegraph which allowed people to communicate over great distances. Then in 1876 a German engineer created the gasoline engine. Also, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.  Three years later Thomas Edison demonstrated the light bulb.  Oil became a major power source in the mid-1800s.  There were also many breakthroughs in chemistry, the first synthetic was created.  In the early 1900s Henry Ford perfected the assembly line to create automobiles in mass.  In 1903 the Wright brothers created the first successful airplane.  In the 1930s the jet engine was developed.