Je gaat een tekst lezen over een aantal historische uitvindingen.
Lees zelf de tekst, kopieer de tabel hieronder naar Word of neem over in je schrift. Vul de tabel in.
What information do you get ? Only write down the most important facts. Use key words. |
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Introduction |
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The Bicycle |
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Electricity |
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The Lightbulb |
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The Motorcar |
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The Marvellous world of Invention and Innovation Introduction Throughout history people have searched for ways to make life easier, to do things more efficiently, to travel further and faster, and to change the world in which they live. Each idea leads to a new idea as succeeding generations of scientists and engineers look for ways to build on the discoveries of their predecessors. The Bicycle The first step toward the development of the bicycle was the invention of the celerifere or wooden horse probably in France in the 1790s. The celerifere was propelled by pushing the feet along the ground. Electricity As early as 600 BC the Greeks were aware of the peculiar properties of amber, a yellow substance made of fossilized resin. When it is rubbed with a piece of fur or cloth, amber will attract small pieces of material such as feathers. Two thousand years later, in the 16th century, William Gilbert, who was a court physician to Oueen Elizabeth I, proved that many other substances are also 'electric'. Intrigued by Gilbert's ideas, Otto von Guericke in Germany made a device in 1665 that could generate sizable sparks of what came to be known as static electricity. In l747 Benjamin Franklin in America and William Watson in England independently concluded that all materials possess an electrical 'fluid'. Franklin defined the presence of electric fluid as positive and the lack of fluid as negative. In 1752 he carried out his famous kite experiment, in which he flew a kite using a silk thread with a key on the end during a thunderstorm. He was able to charge a device for storing electricity with the key. The Lightbulb During the 1840s many scientists and inventors were trying to develop a workable electric lamp. One of these experiments involved heating strips of carbon or high-resistance metals to a glowing white-hot temperature by passing an electric current through them, but the heated material soon burned away. In 1878, Sir Joseph Swan (1824-1914) in Britain and Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) in America, working independently, developed a successful carbon filament lamp. In 1865 a new and efficient pump had been invented that allowed the air to be pumped out of a vessel, creating a partial vaccum. When an electric current was passed through thin filaments of carbonized threads tightly sealed inside a glass bulb from which the air had been removed the threads did not burn. The voltage was steadily increased until the white heat reached a stable, bright glow. Edison managed to keep his bulbs glowing for 40 hours. The Motorcar The first mechanically-powered vehicle was invented by Nicolas Cugnot of France in 1769. It was a three-wheeled steam carriage made to pull cannons and travelled at 5 km/h. On 3 July Karl Benz of Mannheim Germany, demonstrated his three-wheeled petrol-driven Motorwagen. Just one month later Gottleib Daimler produced his four-wheeled model in Cannstadt, 96 km away. Both cars travelled at around 16 km/h. Benz also produced a four-wheeled car in 1893. By the end of the 19th Century several hundred people has bought motor cars. In 1913 Henry Ford opened the first modern car assemby line and began to produce his Model T car in great numbers. This was a car that was made as simply as possible and that many could afford to buy. By 1927, fifteen million Model T Fords had rolled off the assemby lines of Ford's factories. Bron: http://claweb.cla.unipd.it/home/mcanapero/inventions.htm |