Industrial Revolution
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The Industrial revolution was a time of drastic change from hand tools, and hand made items to machine manufactured and mass produced goods. This change helped life, but also caused many problems. Pollution, such as co2 levels in the atmosphere rose, working conditions got worse and more women and children had to work.. The government, the arts, literature, music, architecture, and mans way of looking at life all changed during the revolution. There was two revolutions and both were very productive but also caused consequences.
Before the first industrial revolution, Englands economy was based on its cottage industry. Workers would buy raw materials from merchants, take it back to their cottages and produce the goods at their home. It was usually owned and managed by one or more people, who were close to the workers. There was good relationships between the “good” workers and bosses., which was destroyed by capitalism. This industry was efficient but the workers didnt
make the products as fast which made costs higher. The longer it took one person to manufacture a product, the higher the price. Since the goods were high in price they were pretty much only able to be bought by rich people.
In 1733, the demand for cotton cloth was high, but production was low. This crisis had to be solved or Englands economy would be destroyed. The answer came from British weaver, John Kay, who invented the flying shuttle, which made it easier to weave. John Kay was a pioneer and his invention helped inventors. Although at first, many workers didnt accept machines, many inventions were destroyed, but it was not about to be stopped. The machines had made their way to England, and nothing could stop them.
By the 1750s, the industrial Revolution had begun. At first, inventions were strictly limited to cotton weaving. Inventions such as the spinning jenny and the water-powered frame, both of which made spinning yarn faster, the spinning mule, the power loom and the cotton gin, all helped the manufacture of cotton goods by speeding up the process. Mass production had begun, along with capitalism. Capitalist, people who have their own materials, money and space, bought many machines and stored them in a factory, where hired people worked the whole day manufacturing goods. The factory system had replaced the cottage industry. Mass production usually made expensive items, such as shoes, less expensive and easily affordable by lower class and less wealthy people. The quality of life had improved. In the 1800s, inventions werent just limted to the cotton industry. Steam engines were invented, providing a faster way of transportation, instead of the use of horses and carriages. With steam engines, cities were able to move farther away from rivers, lakes, oceans, etc , to start cities.
The second Industrial revolution had a lot
more involved with it, not only in inventions, but in social and government policies and reforms. Art and culture grew and was changed into many different and unique styles. The first industrial revolution had forever changed England, and later the world. England was now ready for another change, as life with machinery had already been brought into society.
The second industrial revolution used the power of electricity to help them develop their technology and help social and home life. Michael Faraday, a British scientist, showed how an electric current could be made. This idea and principle is still in use today. Electricity improved life by supplying people with light, and electricity to power machines. Communications improved as a result of electricity. The telephone and telegraph were the first communicational devices that were for public use. With the development of technology, radio waves were discovered. Now messages could be sent over long distances in no time.
Advances in Science were also made. The discovery of radioactivity by Marie Curie helped discover radioactivity as power source, but also led to the discovery of the nuclear bomb. During the 1800s
Over 70,000 chemical compounds were broken down. Some of these were Portland cement, vulcanized rubber, synthetic dyes, and petroleum products. Petroleum begun to be widely used as an another energy source. Gasoline was also needed for transportation and changed from steam engines to the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine made transportation faster and less public. A person could own a car instead