What is Transportation?

This is a class about the history of transportation. So what is transportation?

Class Discussion:

Lets come up with a definition for transportation. What does transportation mean to you. Lets talk.

Class Activity:

I want you to get into groups of four. On each post-it write down a type of transportation. Then put them in order or group them. You can choose how to group them. Some examples would be by when they were invented or by if they have wheels.

Now take your post-it's and place them on the board under the century you think your mode of transportation was invented.

Class Discussion:

Why is transportation important? What kind of things would not be possible without transportation? How would our lives be different?

History of Transportation Timeline: (Many dates and countries of origin are conflicting in the history books. This list is the best I could compile)

6500 B.C The Wheel is invented by the sumerians

3500 B.C The Wheel is invented in Iraq

4000 B.C. Horses are domesticated

3500 B.C Animals Pull Wheeled Vehicles in Mesopotamia

3000 B.C Camels are domesticated

2700 B.C The Egyptians use wood ships for trade by sea

44 A.D Chinese invent wheelbarrow

100 the Roman Empire builds roads all over Europe

1044 The compass is invented in China

1200~ The rocket is invented in Afghanistan

1769 The first steam-powered vehicle invented in France

1783 The first hot air balloons are launched

1792 The ambulance is created for Napoleon's army.

1801 Steam powered road locomotive ran in England

1803 William Symington launches the first steamboat

1817 Bicycle invented in Germany

1830 The first steam engine runs without assistance from horses and ropes

1839 The electric car is invented in Scotland.

1869 The modern motorcycle is invented in German.

1871 The cable streetcar is invented in the United States.

1880 First electric elevator invented in Germany

1885 The first car with internal-cumbustion engine is invented in Germany by Karl Benz

1892 The first car is run by gasoline in the United States.

1892 The tractor is invented in the United States.

1893 The license plate is invented in France.

1895 The diesel engine is invented in Germany.

1896 First escalator invented in New York

1899 Ferdinand Von Zeppelin launches the first successful airship

1903 Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright fly the first motor-driven airplane

1905 The hybrid car is invented in the United States.

1908 The Model T car is the first car mass produced on an assembly line in the United States.

1923 The traffic signal is invented in the United States.

1926 Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket in America

1939 First jet engine powered aircraft takes flight

1957 The first man-made satellite launched into orbit (The Sputnik 1)

1957 The Boeing 707 the first commercially successful jet airliner

1959 The seat belt is invented in Sweden.

1961 Vostok 1, the first manned space mission makes two orbits around the earth

1969 Moon landing

1971 Salyut 1, the first space station

1980 Rollerblades are invented in the United States.

2001 The Segway human transporter is invented in the United States.

A Brief Animated History of Transportation

For this class we are going to focus on major land transportation.

We will look into

Steam Engine Trains

Bicycles and motorcycles

Cars

Airplanes

and Rockets

Before the invention of the Engine humans had to rely on animal power or wind. Our first boats were powered by humans rowing, then by wind in the sails. Our carts and carriages were pulled by horses.

Engines

Vocabulary:

Piston

Valve

cylinder

Exhaust

Stroke

An Engine is a machine that converts one form of energy into mechanical energy. The first engine that we are going to look at is the steam engine. The steam engine uses heat to convert water into steam. The steam then moves the mechanical parts of the engine.

Steam Engines

The first steam engines were used to power things like saws. The newcomen atmospheric engine was the first steam engine. It worked using atmospheric pressure.

Newcomen Atmospheric Engine

The engine had a constant source of boiling water which allowed steam to raise a piston. Once the piston reached its peak height a valve would allow water to enter the cylinder cooling the steam and creating a vacuum of pressure. The vacuum would pull the piston back down allowing the new steam to push it back up again.

Water pressure demonstration

When matter is removed from space it creates a vacuum that must be filled

Heat rises and as it does new matter must take its place. This new matter is usually cooler than the heated matter that rises

Demonstration on heat rising

Air Pressure

Video that is the same as the collapsing can

After the steam engine was created it was not long until steam powered vehicles were invented. The most revolutionary was the steam locomotive or train. It was around 1830 that the first steam locomotive ran without assistance from ropes and horses. The steam powered train changed our country. Once the transcontinental railroad was created people could travel from the east coast to the west coast.

So how does a steam train work? and what does a steam powered train use as fuel?

Animation of a steam locomotive

How a Steam Locomotive Works

How to Build a Steam Locomotive

Steam Train Maintenance