Sunday, June 28, 2009
2008 APTERA ELECTRIC CAR
Friday, June 26, 2009
Microchip- Energy Consumption
"Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Texas Instruments Company have discovered a way to significantly decrease microchip energy consumption to one tenth of the current rates. This reduction in power consumption translates into longer battery life for portable devices, such as mobile phones and hand held computers, and may enable devices to operate on electricity produced using relatively low power sources, such as body heat or movement".
Click the link below to read the full article.
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/1149/mit-team-develops-energy-efficient-microchip.html
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The Present Technology
I hope you all enjoyed this past portion of our technology research. Now we will post a massive ammount of blogs, researched by us, The Sparks, as we post more pictures, videos and articles of this present technology.
Toilets Through Time
Car Safety
Firearms in China
The First Steam Engine
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsteamengine.htm
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Hindenburg Disaster "Oh the humanity"
The German -made Hindenburg was a sister ship to the Graf Zeppelin that had logged over one million safe flight miles. The company boasted that not one person had ever been injured while flying in a Zeppelin. Other U.S. and British Dirigibles (smaller blimps) had accidents mostly due to weather conditions.
Many theories were proposed to explain the reasons for the Hindenburg’s fiery crash (1). It is generally agreed that a spark from static electricity or lightning ignited the hydrogen gas on board and perpetuated the fireball that ensued. Other technology of the era including the use of highly flammable paint and the Hindenburg’s chemically treated cotton fabric skin contributed to the raging fire that consumed the airship in less than 37 seconds (1, 2).
The crash of the Hindenburg had a dramatic impact on society and the future of airship travel. Thirty -six people including thirteen passengers, twenty-two crew members and one ground crew member lost their lives in the fiery inferno. The dramatic motion pictures and newscaster Herbert Morrison’s moving recording of the crash destroyed the public’s trust in this type of air travel technology (1). Giant, hydrogen –filled passenger airships were no longer used to transport air passengers. The movie technology and recording artist’s vivid documentation of the tragic Hindenburg crash have captured and preserved this horrific, historic event for viewing by future generations (3).
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Effective But Potentially Deadly Safety Device
These CTC extinguishers were a bomb in more than one sense. Carbon tetrachloride displaced oxygen that the fire needed to burn thus extinguishing the flames. The fumes were very toxic when heated or burned. A person in an enclosed area could be asphyxiated or overcome by the toxic fumes, and die. Despite the hazards of CTC, these extinguishers were very popular and were in use from 1912 until 1969, when its sale and use was banned. There are still some of these old extinguishers in dusty, dark confines of basements and store rooms. If you find one of these old extinguishers, don’t touch it. The integrity of the container could be questionable and could release CTC product. Contact your local fire officials for proper disposal of old extinguishers. Remember, please don’t attempt to fight a fire with a CTC extinguisher, you may extinguish more than the fire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_extinguisher
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/01/31/catapulted-bomb-puts-out-fire/
Friday, June 19, 2009
Safety Fuel Cells in NASCAR
The First Microwave
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Lie Detectors
History of 20th Century Dentistry
1900—Fifty-seven dental schools exist by this year.
1900—Federation Dentaire Internationale (FDI) is formed.
1903—Charles Land devises the porcelain jacket crown.
1905—Alfred Einhorn, a German chemist, formulates the local anesthetic procain, later marketed under the trade name Novocain.
1907—William Taggart invents a “lost wax” casting machine, allowing dentists to make precision cast fillings.
1908—Greene Vardiman Black, the leading reformer and educator of American dentistry, publishes his monumental two-volume treatise Operative Dentistry, which remains the essential clinical dental text for fifty years. Black later develops techniques for filling teeth, standardizes operative procedures and instrumentation, develops an improved amalgam, and pioneers the use of visual aids for teaching dentistry.
1910—The first formal training program for dental nurses is established at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery by Cyrus M. Wright. The program is discontinued in 1914 mainly due to opposition by Ohio dentists.
1911—The U.S. Army Dental Corps is established as the first armed services dental corps in the U.S. The Navy institutes its Dental Corps in 1912.
1913—Alfred C. Fones opens the Fones Clinic For Dental Hygienists in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the world’s first oral hygiene school. Most of the twenty—seven women graduates of the first class are employed by the Bridgeport Board of Education to clean the teeth of school children. The greatly reduced incidence of caries among these children gives impetus to the dental hygienist movement. Dr. Fones, first to use the term “dental hygienist,” becomes known as the Father of Dental Hygiene.
1917—Irene Newman receives the world’s first dental hygiene license in Connecticut.
1923—American Association of Dental Schools is established.
1924—American Dental Assistants Association is founded by Juliette Southard and her female colleagues. Female dental assistants were first hired in the 19th century when “Lady in Attendance” signs were routinely seen in the windows of dental offices. Their duties included chair-side assistance, instrument cleaning, inventory, appointments, bookkeeping, and reception.
1926—The Carnegie Foundation-sponsored Gies Report, the first comprehensive report on the state of dental education, is published and has an immediate impact on the dental profession.
1928—National Board of Dental Examiners is established.
1930—The American Board of Orthodontics, the world’s first dental specialty board, is founded.
1930–1943—Frederick S. McKay, a Colorado dentist, is convinced that brown stains (mottling) on his patients’ teeth are related to their water supply. McKay’s research verifies that drinking water with high levels of naturally occurring fluoride is associated with low dental caries and a high degree of mottled enamel. By the early 1940s, H. Trendley Dean determines the ideal level of fluoride in drinking water to substantially reduce decay without mottling.
1933—The first National Board dental examinations are conducted. 83 candidates are examined in 4 cities.
1938—The nylon toothbrush, the first made with synthetic bristles, appears on the market.
1937—Alvin Strock inserts the first Vitallium dental screw implant. Vitallium, the first successful biocompatible implant metal, had been developed a year earlier by Charles Venable, an orthopedic surgeon.
1940s—22,000 dentists serve in World War II.
1945—The water fluoridation era begins when the cities of Newburgh, New York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, add sodium fluoride to their public water systems.
1948—President Harry S. Truman signs the Congressional bill formally establishing the National Institute of Dental Research and initiating federal funding for dental research. The name changes to National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) in 1998.
1950s—The first fluoride toothpastes are marketed.
1949—Oskar Hagger, a Swiss chemist, develops the first system of bonding acrylic resin to dentin.
1955—Michael Buonocore describes the acid etch technique, a simple method of increasing the adhesion of acrylic fillings to enamel.
1957—John Borden introduces a high-speed air-driven contra-angle handpiece. The Airotor obtains speeds up to 300,000 rotations per minute and is an immediate commercial success, launching a new era of high-speed dentistry.
1957 —The Social Security Act is amended to include self-employed dentists.
1958—A fully reclining dental chair is introduced.
1960s—Sit down, four-handed dentistry becomes popular in the U.S. This technique improves productivity and shortens treatment time.
1960s—Lasers are developed and approved for soft tissue procedures.
1960—The first commercial electric toothbrush, developed in Switzerland after World War II, is introduced in the United States. A cordless, rechargeable model follows in 1961.
1962—Rafael Bowen develops Bis-GMA, the thermoset resin complex used in most modern composite resin restorative materials.
1980s—Per-Ingvar Branemark describes techniques for the osseointegration of dental implants.
1989—The first commercial home tooth bleaching product is marketed.
1990s—New tooth-colored restorative materials plus increased usage of bleaching, veneers, and implants inaugurate an era of esthetic dentistry.
1997—FDA approves the erbium YAG laser, the first for use on dentin, to treat tooth decay.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The First Ever Computer Mouse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7772376.stm
Dr Engelbart introduced the first ever computer mouse on December 9th 1968 while he was demonstrating different ways of working with computers! Its funny to see something that was just created 40 years ago and now today in 2009 not used that much anymore, due to laptops.
The First Dishwasher
The First Ever Dishwasher was created by Josephine Cochran in Shelbyville, Illinois in 1886. She was tired of her servants cracking her China so she decided to create the Dishwasher to do the dishes instead! She designed the dishwasher in her wooden shed there were wire holders for plates, cups or saucers which were then placed in a copper boiler. A motor turned the barrel as the hot soapy water splashed and cleaned the dishes. She was founded by a firm who eventually led her to Kitchen Aid and her updated machine was given plumbing in the late 1920's and drying elements in the 1940's. In the 1970's the dishwasher became a common household appliance. Today dishwashers are used all over the world and we have Mrs.Cochran to thank for not having to hand wash piles of dishes!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10363799
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The First CellPhone
Today you will not find many people who do not have cell phones, but before 1973 there were not any! Martin Cooper who is nick named the "father of the mobile phone". Martin was the CEO and the founder of a company called Array Comm, this company worked on researching smart antenna technology and improving wireless networks. Also, he was the corporate director for Motorola! Cooper is named the inventor of the first handheld cell phone and the first person to make a call on a handheld cellphone on April 23rd, 1973. It was that phone call that Cooper had made to Dr Joel S. Engel begin a fundamental technology and communications market shift toward making people be able to make a phone call to a person instead of just to a place. What would we do without Martin Cooper; nowadays you rarely here of people who do not own a cellphone. Also technology has definitely changed since the first cell phone because the cellphones today look nothing like the ones back in 1973!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper's_Law
Friday, June 12, 2009
SPAD S.XIII – WWI Fighter Plane
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Our First Thermometers
1920's Hair Dryers
Can you beleive that the first hair dryer was the VACUM CLEANER?! Around the turn of the century, women dried their hair by connecting a hose to the exhaust of their vacuum cleaners. In early models, the front of a vacuum cleaner sucked air in, the back blew air out, and the hose could be attached to either end.
In 1920, the first true hair dryer came on the market, but it was extremely large and heavy, and frequently overheated. Since then, thousands of patents have been issued for different hair dryer designs, but most of them only tweak the outside packaging of the hairdryer so that it looks more aesthetically appealing to you. Aside from the addition of some safety features, the inside of a hair dryer hasn't changed too much over the years. Not until 1951 was the first really workable dryer made. The device consisted of a hand-held dryer connected to a pink plastic bonnet fitted over the woman’s head.
You can always visit http://www.allenisd.org/facstaff2.nsf/Pages/3465526C7D5B41E48625706F00595D05
for a fuller understanding of the way these hair dryers worked!
Our First "Wireless Technology"
"On a winter's night in 1894, a 20-year-old Italian inventor named Guglielmo Marconi invited his mother into his attic workshop. Leading her to a table, he pressed a switch connected to an elaborate apparatus that produced a spark and a snapping sound. Instantly a bell sounded across the room. Marconi had linked the switch to the distant bell, but by sending a wireless signal through the air. The technology was primitive by modern standards but also strangely precocious. More than a century after the first "spark gap" transmitters crackled into life, wireless technology is returning to its roots. The latest ultrawideband wireless devices, which are just starting to appear on the market, have much in common with the very first transmitters. History is repeating itself."
You may read the whole article at:
http://beta.technologyreview.com/computing/14074/
Or if you wish to watch a brief histori of Guglielmo Marconi at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcgzuDdlZUA&feature=related
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The First X Ray
Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen accidentally discovered an image cast from his cathode ray generator on November 8th 1895! After investigations it showed that the rays were generated at the point of contact of the cathode ray beam on the inside of the vacuum tube an d not deflected by magnetic fields, and they penetrated many kinds of matter.
One week after Wilhelm made the discovery he took an X ray of his wife’s hand and it clearly showed her wedding ring and all of the bones in her hand! The photo immediately caught the attention of scientists and this new form of radiation. Wilhelm named this new form of radiation X-Radiation with the X meaning the “unknown”. Imagine if Wilhelm never discovered this how would we be able to tell if someone broke a bone?
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blxray.htm
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The History of TV
1928 - May 11 GE began regular TV broadcasting with a 24-line system from a station that would become WGY in Schenectady NY; by the end of the year, over 15 stations were licensed for TV broadcasting; William S. Paley in September took over the failing United Independent Broadcasters network with its 16 affiliate stations and reorganized it as the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for radio broadcasting.
1929 - The BBC began test television broadcasting for 30 minutes per day using the 30-line mechanical system of John Baird.
1931 - July 21 CBS began regular TV broadcasting of 28 hours per week on W2XAB in NY
1932 - Aug. 22 the BBC began regular broadcasting using Baird's 30-line system until Nov. 2, 1936, when it changed to an electronic 405-line system.
1934 - RCA had improved Zworykin's electronic system to 343 lines of resolution at 60 cycles with 30 interlaced fields reducing flicker.
1936 - June 15 the Don Lee Broadcasting network in California exhibited an electronic television system developed by the network's director Harry Lubcke. On June 29 NBC made a broadcast from the Empire State Building of a 343-line system; Philco demonstrated a 345-line system on a TV screen 9 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches. In August the Philco company made a seven-mile television broadcast. Germany broadcast the Olympic Games in Berlin with a 180-line electronic system. On Nov. 30, Frank B. Jewett of AT&T used the first coaxial cable to speak by telephone with FCC officials in Washington.
http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/television1.html
Friday, June 5, 2009
History of the Operating Room
The development of surgery occurred in different regions at different times, in China, India, South America, Mesopotamia, Persia, Arabia and finally Europe. The early surgeons were either priests, magicians, physicians or barber-tradesmen who understood anatomy and were comfortable with the common practices of amputation and trephination.
Trephination is perhaps the oldest of surgeries that we know of. Because it involved cutting or grinding a hole in the skull, remnants are plentiful, as human skull bones have lasted for as many as 12,000 years intact. Neolithic evidence of trephination has been found in many disparate civilizations, from the pre-Incas in South America (2000 BC), to the early Europeans in France (5100 BC), to the Egyptians extending back as far back as 8,000 BC. The practice was probably originally performed for spiritual and magical reasons, and was performed by kings, priests and magician-physicians. It later was used to relieve pressure for head injuries, seizures and mental disorders such as psychosis.
Large, city-based charitable hospitals arose out of the medieval monetary medical care system in Europe during the late 1700's to care for the poor and indigent. Leading cities in Europe developed the operating theater as the venue for both operating and teaching. These theaters were modeled after the dissection theaters that gained fame in Padua, Leiden and other largely Italian cities. In 1822 the St Thomas’ Hospital built its operating theater, and in 1824, in Boston, what was to become known as the Ether Dome was built. These theaters remained the standard until the full acceptance of Semmelweis’ and Lister’s antisepsis regimens lead to the inclosure of the operating room and the introduction of sterile technique.
By World War II, the military hospital tent system was expanded to include the peripheral-style design for operating rooms that allowed for multiple patients to be operated upon simultaneously. All necessary components could be powered and supported from any location within the tent, so that a single tent had the flexibility to allow for a variable number of casualties to be operated upon at any time.
This peripheral design reached its zenith during the Korean War, with the development of the MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) concept. This format was the basis of modern operating room design, with support systems coming into the room from the periphery.
1952 1960
1995
http://www.optimusise.com/history-operating-room.php by John R. Mangiadi, MD FACS
"Magic Lanterns" Early Stereopticons
The stereopticon or "Magic Lantern" was a projector that used two lenses to blend picture slides together. Some early entrepreneures charged 10 cents to view slide shows. The use of the stereopticon and arranging slides to tell a story was the technology used before moving picture shows.1
Electricity was not always readily available. Some stereopticons used compressed hydrogen and oxygen gas to make a bright light to project the slide images onto a screen or wall. This type stereopticon was initially blamed for the Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pa. on January 13, 1908. 170 people died in this fire. Many fire and safety codes were written from findings from the investigation of this fire.2
1"stereopticon." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008
Encyclopedia.com. 5 June.2009 http://www.encyclopedia.com/
2"The Rhoads Operahouse Fire; The Legacy of a Tragedy/cd 2008Maranatha Broadcasting Co. Inc Allentown, PA USA webmaster@wfmz.com
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Evolution of Smoke Detectors
Telephones in 1951
On November 10th 1951 the mayor of Englewood, NJ picked up a phone and dialed a ten digit number for the first time. Eighteen seconds later he was connected to the Mayor of Alameda, CA who was Mayor Frank Osborne. They made history that day because it was the first customer dialed long distance call and it also introduced area codes. The Direct Distance dialing was so great because it cut the costs of long distance calls because they no longer needed the operator to get them a number! Imagine today having to pick up a phone and ask the operator to put your best friend on the line; technology has come a long way since 1951!
http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timeline/51trans.html
Sparks of Geniuses
Imagine living in a home with no light. Well 125 years ago not many had lights in their homes, their way through one room to another wasn't brighten up. Technology was way out off their leagues, their only thing to lighten their way were candles. Humphrey Davy, an English scientist experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery (in the 1800s). When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc.This led him to create the first electric light bulb. Then, 60 years later, an English physicist, Joseph Wilson Swan, found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps and determined to provide practical long-lasting electric light. Meanwhile, an American inventor was already working his way to creating "better-longer- lasting" light bulbs. Thomas Edison that was, discovered that these carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours. These bulbs lasted to a great minimum of time, but as technology improved in our world, than greater, better and much, much longer-lasting light bulbs were invented. That is why today even our nights are bright. What a difference..!
Read more at:
http://invsee.asu.edu/Modules/lightbulb/meathist.htm
http://www.articlesbase.com/accessories-articles/the-history-of-the-light-bulb-31355.html
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Colossus Codebreaking Computer
Technology is something that not many can live without in this world, it can do the undone!
To read more accurate information about the Colossus Codebreaking Computer you can visit the websites below:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21840430/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer