Technology in Our Lives

7/30/2019 Technology in Our Lives

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Scott Foresman Science 5.18

Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features Science Content

Nonction Sequence • Labels• Captions• Timeline• Glossary

Technology

ISBN 0-328-13967-X

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by Marcia K. Miller

Space and Technology



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ISBN: 0-328-13967-X

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Vocabulary assembly line

inventor

manufacturing

microchip

space station

technology

World Wide Web

Technology in Our Livesby Marcia K. Miller



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What is technology?People get new information all the time. They discover ways

to do jobs more quickly and easily. Technology is the use of scientific knowledge for a purpose.

Technology can bring us useful inventions. An inventor is aperson who uses technology to develop a new device or process,or to solve a problem. Some famous inventors did their workalone. George Washington Carver was one of those inventors.He found hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans, and sweetpotatoes by himself. Some inventors worked with groups of helpers to come up with new ideas. Thomas Edison was aninventor who often worked with a team.

Computer technology hasmade people’s lives easier.

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Technology can change the way we do things. Sometimesthese changes are for the better. For example, the technologyused to build roads and bridges has changed the way we travel.It is now possible to carry goods to people in places far away.We can now get from place to place more easily than peopledid in the past.

But technology can also cause problems. Many machinesand factories pollute the air, the water, and the soil. Scientistsand inventors must take the time to look ahead. They mustthink about the problems their inventions may cause.

Machines and factories oftencause air pollution.



Technology and Our HomesTechnology has influenced our home life in many ways. Not

all technology in the home is new. Not all technology involvesthe use of computers. Much of the technology in our homeshas become very familiar to us. A pair of scissors is a result of technology. So is electric light.

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Yurts are round buildings that were once made of animal hides.Now they can be made fromlightweight plastics.

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Technology makes it easier to do many things in thehome. Cellular phones make it easier to get in touch withother people. Dishwashers clean dishes with the push of abutton. Microwave ovens cook food faster than regular ovens.Some alarm clocks have tiny computers in them that let uspreset times. Thermostats keep our houses at a comfortabletemperature.

We also use technology to entertain ourselves. Televisions,

radios, video games, DVDs, and CD players are all results of technology.

Technology has improved how we keep and store food.Refrigerators and freezers allow us to keep foods fresh for longperiods of time. This helps us stay healthy. Plastic containersmake it possible for us to store foods safely.

The CD changed the way welisten to and store music.



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Technology has not just changed what is inour homes. It has also changed what we callhome. Technology lets us build tall towers thatreach high into the sky. These towers provideliving space for many people. Technology alsoallows us to build inexpensive homes, such asmobile homes.

Tall DreamsBuilders are working to make taller and

taller towers. The tower on the next page wasplanned to be built in Japan. Japan is a smallcountry. Its cities are very crowded. This tower would have been built just offshore. It wouldhave been a city by itself. At this time, thereare no plans to build this tower.

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The tower wouldhave 170 floors.It would haveapartments for60,000 people.

There would be a sky centerevery 30 floors. It would bea space for public activities.

The building would haveboth apartments and offices.People could live and work in the same building.

The tower would be shapedlike a cone. It would besupported by a steel frame.

A marina would surroundthe tower.



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Technology and Our JobsTechnology has changed how jobs are done. Changes such as

these can affect whole societies!Manufacturing is a good example of the way technology has

changed how people live. Manufacturing is the production of goods on a large scale. In early car factories, a group of workers

would build one car at a time. The team stayed with each car until it was done. This process was slow and costly. It made carsvery expensive.

Henry Ford had an idea to solve this problem. He set up anassembly line. In an assembly line, a product, such as a car,moves through the factory as workers add parts to it. Workerscould build cars very quickly using Ford’s assembly line.

Henry Ford’s assembly line producedcars quickly and lowered the cost.

This new way of building cars made them less costly. Soon,more people could buy cars. This totally changed how peoplelive in the United States. The assembly line is still used today tomanufacture many products in less time.

Robots and other machines are used in factories today.In many cases, an assembly line of robots costs less thanone that uses people. It can also cut down on mistakes andaccidents. One negative effect is that robots take jobs oncedone by people.

This is an assembly line in amodern car factory. Cars moveslowly down the line. Robotsand people build the car.

Robots cannot do all the jobs.This worker is welding a spot that robots cannot reach.

Robots can be programmed toperform the same task over andover. These robots are weldingsteel in precise ways.

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How has technologychanged transportation?

Technology has greatly changed how people get around.New technology has led to trains, cars, and planes.

Steam engines were developed in the 1700s. At first theyran many kinds of machines in factories and in mines. Later,ships were powered by steam engines. In 1804 a steam enginepowered a train that carried a load of iron and 70 people.

Thousands of kilometers ofrailroads were built all overthe world in the 1800s.

The modern bicycle was invented in1885. It gave people a cheap, quick

way to travel without horses.

Gas engines and electric motors brought even morechanges to transportation. Modern ships use dieselengines to make electricity. They use that electricity torun the electric motors that make the ships move.

Today, electric motors are used on some trains andcars. Magnetic force technology can be used to runvery fast trains.

Monorails move largenumbers of peoplefrom place to placeevery day.

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Technology May Bring ProblemsThe gasoline engine helps people in many ways.

Ambulances, taxis, and tractors all run on gasoline.Ambulances rush sick people to hospitals. Taxis carry peoplearound busy cities. Tractors help farmers harvest their crops.

Cars built today havehard, strong, and flexiblebodies for protection incollisions.

Rubber tires are flexibleto handle rough roads.

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But gas-powered engines have caused problems too. Theypollute the air. Car crashes produce safety problems. Sciencehas solved some of these problems. But others remain.

New technology can often mean new problems. Car designers try to make cars useful, comfortable, safe, andaffordable. They try to use materials that are both strong andflexible. And they work to design cars that have the right sizeand shape. Their work goes on year after year as they try toimprove their designs.

Gasoline engines give offpollution. This is a problemin many areas. But modern cars pollute lessthan older ones.



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How have computerschanged society?Electronic Computers

Inventors and scientists tried for a long time to make amachine that could do math. The abacus was one of theearliest attempts. It was first used more than three thousandyears ago!

Modern computer technology began in the 1930s and 1940s.Computers with electrical parts replaced those with mechanicalones. They followed the same four steps to solve problemsthat modern computers do. These steps are input, processing,output, and feedback.

This is UNIVAC, a computer built in theUnited States in 1951. UNIVAC took up aspace of 943 cubic feet.

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Early computers were very large. They weighed thousandsof pounds and filled up entire rooms! They were also veryexpensive. Most people could not afford them or find space for them. Computer manufacturers raced to build smaller, faster,and cheaper machines.

The big leap forward came with a very small invention. Itwas called the microchip. A microchip is a small piece of a computer. It contains many tiny circuits. Microchips allowcomputers to process data very quickly. They also have loweredthe cost of computers.

Charles Babbage startedbuilding a mechanicalcomputer in the 1820s. Henever finished. In 1991scientists used his notes anddrawings to finish the job.

The abacus was first used in 1100 B.C.

The microchip has led tothe development of small,powerful computers.



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Computer technology took another leap forward in the1980s. A British computer scientist had a great idea. He wantedto find an easy way for scientists to share their work over longdistances. The result of his idea was the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web is a huge network of computers. Itwas first used in 1990. Today, everyone can benefit from thisnetwork. Anybody with a computer and the proper connectioncan find information on nearly any subject.

This device can downloadand play back music fromthe World Wide Web.

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The World Wide Web has also led to some serious problems.Unfortunately, it contains lots of incorrect information. TheWorld Wide Web can be used to break into other people’scomputers. Thieves can steal people’s personal information anduse it to commit crimes.

A PDA (personal digital assistant)is a portable device. It can domany of the things a desktopcomputer does.



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Computers for Scienceand Business

People once spent months doing thework that a modern computer can doin a few seconds! But some tasks eventake computers a long time to do. For

these jobs, powerful supercomputersare needed.

Computers have led to amazinggrowth in many areas. Microscopes,telescopes, and cameras now have tinycomputers in them. A digital camerauses a microchip to take and storeimages. Microphones connected tocomputers let us hear sounds that are

too quiet or too low or high to hear normally.

Computers and computerized toolsare very exact. They can handlelarge or complicated jobs. Computer-controlled robots can do jobs that aretoo dangerous for humans to do. Robotscan even collect samples on Mars!

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The scanning electron microscope isa powerful tool. This microscope usesa beam of electrons to scan objects.It allows scientists to see objects thatare too small to see with regular microscopes. This technology can showobjects at 200,000 times their true size.

Computers help to guide thisremote-controlled submarine.It helps scientists explore the ocean.

This is a dust mite. It is sotiny that its features canonly be seen with the useof a scanning electronmicroscope.



1969—Two Americans,Neil Armstrong andBuzz Aldrin, are thefirst people to walk onthe Moon.

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What technologyis used in space?The Space Race

Humans have made many advances in the exploration of space. Much of this progress was due to a disagreement betweentwo countries. The United States and the Soviet Union grewapart after World War II. The two countries had deep politicaldifferences. This led to a contest over who could explore spacefirst. This competition was known as the Space Race.

19701950 1960

Milestones in Space

1957—A dog namedLaika becomesthe first animal inspace.

1961—TheSoviet Union’s YuriGagarin isthe first manin space.

1957—The first satellite orbits Earth.

1966—The Soviet Unionis the first to successfully land a probe on theMoon’s surface.

1969—Two Americans,Neil Armstrong andBuzz Aldrin, are thefirst people to walk onthe Moon.

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Look at the time linebelow. It shows major space missions that tookplace during the SpaceRace.

The Soviet Union nolonger exists. In 1991,the huge country wasdivided into many smaller countries.

20001980 1990

1986—Mir is thefirst permanent space station.

2000—The first crew of one American andtwo Russians arrives onthe International SpaceStation (ISS).

1981—Thespace shuttle isthe first reusablespaceship.

2003—Chinalaunches aperson intospace.

2004—The first privately ownedspaceshipreaches space.



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Space StationSome space research takes more time

than a shuttle trip allows. A space station is a place where people can live and workin space for a long time. People living ina space station can run experiments for

months or years.Canada, the European Space Agency,Japan, Russia, and the United States decidedto build a space station. They are workingtogether on the International Space Station,or ISS. The first part of the ISS was put intoorbit in 1998. New sections are being builton Earth and added to the ISS. The sectionsare called modules. The crews who work on

the ISS keep changing. New crews arrive soothers can return to Earth.

When completed, the ISS will be about thesize of a football field. It will have a mass of almost 453.6 metric tons.

Space shuttlesbring new crew members, fresh

supplies, andnew equipment to the ISS.

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The ISS will eventually have six separatemodules. They willserve as laboratories.

Astronauts will work and do research inthese modules.

The ISS has anemergency returnsystem. It includescapsules that can bringthe crew back to Earth.

The completed ISS will haveeight solar-array wings.They will supply power to allthe systems on the ISS. Fourseparate shuttle flights willdeliver the solar arrays.



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Glossary assembly line a system by which a product, such as a

car, moves through a factory as workersadd parts to it

inventor a person who uses technology to developa new device or process, or to solve a

problemmanufacturing the production of goods on a large scale

microchip a small piece of a computer that containstiny circuits

space station a place where people can live and workin space for a long time

technology the use of scientific knowledge for apurpose

World Wide Web a huge network of computers used for sharing information all over the world

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What did you learn?1. How did Henry Ford’s assembly line change society?

2. What were the major problems with early electroniccomputers?

3. What is the advantage of the space station over the spaceshuttle?

4. Technology has had many positiveeffects on our society. But it has also brought some negativeeffects. On your own paper, write to explain how technology has been both good and bad for modern life. Include detailsfrom the book to support your answer.

5. Sequence Place the following inventions in the order

in which they were developed: passenger train, steam engine,airplane, modern bicycle.

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Technology in Our Lives