Transcript USinventions - El Paso High School

The Transcontinental
Railroad
0 Trans=across
0 Transcontinental means
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“across the continent”
Linked East and West as
early as 1869.
Facilitated migration to the
West already encouraged by
the Gold Rush of 1849 and
the Homestead Act of 1862.
Opened the West and
encouraged Manifest Destiny.
Made the huge U.S. a truly
“national market.”
Map of 1890 railroads.
The Bessemer Process
0 Developed by Henry Bessemer
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to produced better, more pure
steel and more of it faster.
With Andrew Carnegie’s
guidance, U.S. Steel boomed.
Allowed for the mass production
of all steel products.
i.e. railroads, cars, tractors.
Steel is stronger than iron and is
a better building material
so…the mass production of
stronger steel allowed for the
building of skyscraper and the
growth of cities leading to
urbanization.
The Light Bulb
0 Don’t laugh! It’s
important! Why?
0 Before the light bulb and
the harnessing of
electricity (also done by
Thomas Edison) work
ended at sunset.
0 After the light bulb,
businesses and factories
can stay open after dark
allowing for more
production and a stronger
economy.
The Telephone
0 None of you need to be
told the importance of the
phone.
0 Some of you might be
playing with one right now.
0  Alexander Graham
Bell’s invention made
communicating across the
vast American continent so
much easier.
Airplanes!
0 In 1903 the the Wright
Brothers made their first
flight.
0 66 years later Neil
Armstrong would walk on
the moon in 1969 due to
rapid advancements in
aviation.
0 Aviation, like trains before
it, make moving so much
faster!
0 Planes will win wars, space
races, and make travelling
from New York to L.A.
much, much faster.
Automobiles
0 Henry Ford’s invention of the
internal combustion engine for his
“Model T” allowed for easy, affordable
personal travel for most middle class
families.
0 Over the course of the 20th century
cars would become an increasingly
important part of American culture.
0 Paired with highways they, too, made
trading and travelling across our giant
country easier and faster.
0 They also allowed for the birth of the
American “suburb” as families could
move out of cities and into the are
around cities and parents could drive
into work.
Assembly Line
0 Henry Ford’s most important
invention was not the car, but the
assembly line.
0 Workers became “specialized’ and
lost creativity (it doesn’t take much
brain power to tighten a few bolts)
0 However, this new production
technique created allowed for many
more jobs, affordable products, and,
most importantly, the mass
production of American goods.
0 This mass production will help the
U.S. economy become unparalleled
in the world and allow the U.S. to
simply out-produce enemies in both
World Wars.
WWII Assembly Line—Zee
Germans can’t compete.
Credit
0 Not necessarily an
American invention.
0 But, the gross,
unregulated use of credit
to buy things people
could not necessarily
afford was a key cause of
the Stock Market Crash
of 1929 and the Great
Depression.
The Atomic Bombs
0 The Manhattan Project’s
success in creating the atomic
bombs dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki brought about
the end to World War Two and
started the Atomic age.
0 The Atomic age would bring
exciting new possibilities in
nuclear energy but terrifying
consequences.
0 Ignited the infamous “Arms
Race” between the Soviet
Union and the United States
that would make the Cold War
an extremely tense time in U.S.
and World History.
If the Soviet Union had
bombed El Paso High…
Television
0 New technology that
revolutionized how
Americans were
“entertained.”
0 America became a visual
culture.
0 Visual news reports
would be a key reason
the American public
started to hate the
Vietnam war.
The Interstate Highways
0 Created by President
Eisenhower to make
coast-to-coast travel
easier for civilians and
the military in case of
emergency during the
Cold War.
0 Their importance in
making movement
across the country
cannot be overstated.
Satellites
0 The launch of the World’s first
satellite, Sputnik, by the Soviets in
1957 ignited the Space Race and
sparked the imagination of people
around the world.
0 Some feared that satellites could be
used to spy or even drop atomic
bombs, but other saw more peaceful
possibilities.
0 In the 1980s Ronald Reagan
threatened to makes satellites with
lasers to shoot down Soviet Nuclear
Missiles with his “Star Wars” defense
system.
0 But really, they’ve just improved life.
We now have radio, television, GPS,
and images of deep space because of
satellites.
Air-Conditioning
0 It is important to understand the
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migrations that have shaped where people
live in America.
Industrialization led Americans,
specifically African Americans, to move
from the South and East to the Midwest
where factories were.
The Gold Rush, Homestead Act, and
Transcontinental Railroad got Americans
to move out West.
When manufacturing jobs moved to China
and Mexico in the 80s, Americans moved
to the “Sunbelt” from the “Rustbelt” for
jobs in the tech industry.
But, this move was made bearable by the
invention of air-conditioning.
Anyone who has endured June in Texas
can understand that before A/C, it was a
rough place to live.
Computers
0 Computers started off huge, like the
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ENIAC, which took up a whole
room.
But, has time passed Americans like
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs made them
more personal and accessible.
Today, you have in your pockets more
computing power than the computer
that took us to the moon!
Computers revolutionized how
Americans use technology and the
way our every day lives work.
They’re in phones, cars, TVs, even
watches.
Before computers, “back in the day,”
life was simpler but required a whole
lot more work.
The Internet
0 The most important side-effect of
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computers.
Many of these inventions are about
connecting Americans.
None have done that more than the
Internet, which connects the entire
world through social media and news
websites.
At your fingertips you have access to
all human knowledge.
Think about how powerful that
potentially makes you.
You could be a superhero if you
weren’t looking at cats or playing
mindless games
Use the internet and study for the
STAAR. Resources are available on
the EPHS website under the
“directory” tab.
¡Inventions Lotería!
0 Now we’ll test your knowledge of these
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important inventions through a game of
Lotería.
Each of you have a game card with space next
to each picture for notes.
I will project a description of an invention
and/or it’s importance in U.S. History and you
summarize it’s importance in your own words.
You will place this in your folder for your U.S.
History teacher to review so no cheating or
being lazy.
HERE WE GO.
1.
0 Allowed businesses and factories to have longer hours
and thus produce more goods.
2.
0 Made life easier for Americans and revolutionized
how we go about our daily lives by making
calculations for us and making our phones, cars,
planes, televisions run better and faster.
3.
0 Allowed for the mass production of stronger steel and
thus the building of tall building (skyscrapers) and a
variety of other products.
4.
0 Henry Ford’s greatest impact was this invention,
which allowed American factories to produce at a
much faster rate as well as provide more jobs and
cheaper products.
5.
0 This invention made coast-to-coast travel by
automobile much faster and had a huge impact on
American culture.
6.
0 The creation of this invention in 1957 led many to fear
or be excited by the possibilities of space exploration.
Ultimately it has made life much more exciting and
easier for mankind.
7.
0 The completion of this made it much easier for
Americans and American goods to move East-to-West
and made America a truly national market.
8.
0 This invention gave Americans and the rest of the
world quicker and greater access to all human
knowledge and connected humans like never before.
9.
0 The creation of this made communicating across vast
distances much easier, though many of you mostly use
this invention for games rather than it’s original
purpose.
10.
0 This invention made travelling across the continent
(as well as across oceans) much faster than any other
form of travel and has been used as an important
weapon in American wars by groups like the Flying
Tigers and the research behind this invention helped
Americans win the Space Race.
11.
0 This invention changed the way American got their
news and were entertained, making us a much more
visual culture. It would play a huge role in why the
Vietnam war became so unpopular when it allowed
Americans to truly see war for what it really is.
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12.
0 The creation of these created an entirely new, and
scary, era in World History. They brought about the
end of World War Two, but they also made the Cold
War tense and potentially deadly. However, their
massive power was enough to deter the superpowers
from using them for fear of retaliation and mutual
annihilation.
13.
0 This concept and invention allows people to buy
almost anything, but the over-use of it by those who
can’t afford to pay their debts was a major cause of the
Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression
that followed.
14.
0 The invention of these made the movement of
individual families easier and coupled with the
Interstate Highway System, made travelling around
the country easier. As more families came to own
them, more families moved out of dirty, noisy cities
and into suburbs because parents could easily get to
work in these.
15.
0 This invention made living in the South and
Southwest much nicer and, along with manufacturing
jobs moving to Mexico and China, encouraged
Americans to move from the “Rustbelt” of the Midwest
to the “Sunbelt.”
God Bless AC and GOOD LUCK
on the STAAR