Science In The Industrial Revolution Essays - Industrial Revolution

Science in the Industrial Revolution Science in the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century probably did more to shape life in the modern industrialized world than any event in history. There were many events that led to the industrial revolution in Europe. For starters, people in general were becoming more and more disenchanted with corruption in the Church. Due to advances in printing more people were learning to read. This allowed them to read the Bible for themselves and begin to question the Church. Protestant religions began to develop in which it was permissible to make money rather than donate it all to charity. This change in thought gave people the opportunity to question nature and retain their spirituality and place with God. The focus of this discussion is not the role of the decline in the Church in the Industrial Revolution but the importance of science. However it is important to realize that this change in belief systems played a role in allowing people to study science. Science provided a way for intellectual people to study nature and the interactions of the different forces, such as magnetism and gravity, that affect the world in which we live. Discoveries made through science can later be used to help man in his everyday life. Even today scientists study natural phenomena in the hope of discovering something new that will prove useful to man. In the early days of science many of the studies were done to prove or disprove the teachings of the Church which included having the Earth as the center of the universe and the idea of creationism. An excellent example of how science helped lead to the Industrial Revolution can be seen in development of the steam engine. For our purposes here we will assume the development of the steam engine started with Galileo in the 17th century. Galileo introduced a theory of atoms. Although he never actually said the word "atom" he described it in great detail. The Church did not support the atom theory, as they believed it went against the teaching of the Bible. The Church preferred the idea that "empty" space was just that, empty, not filled with tiny particles called atoms. The reason Galileo never uttered the word "atom" was to avoid the wrath of the Church. He ended up being placed on house arrest during the Inquisition, but that is another story. Galileo's theory created a lot of excitement and led to many experiments. The excitement was not so much because of Galileo's theory, but because of the implications of this theory. If Galileo was proved correct, the teachings of the Church were wrong. In today's world this may not seem like a big deal, but remember that in Galileo's time the Church ran society in many ways. The first major development influenced by Galileo's theory was the barometer developed by Torricelli. Torricelli was a pupil of Galileo before he was home jailed. The barometer was not developed to measure atmospheric pressure as it is used for today. It was merely an attempt to prove Galileo's atomic theory. The barometer worked by demonstrating a partial vacuum caused by a pressure differential between a closed end and on open end of a tube containing mercury. The details will not be discussed here. The end result was that the barometer worked, thus proving Galileo right and the Church wrong. The success of the barometer led to the development of primitive air pumps. A type of "reverse bellows" was the first air pump. Inspired by these developments Denis Papin, a Protestant physician, developed the first practical steam engine. His steam engine was developed in 1690. This primitive engine heated water in a cylinder, which turned to steam. The pressure from this steam forced the piston upward once it was high enough to counteract the weight and atmospheric pressure on the cylinder. The engine was then removed from the heat source and atmospheric pressure forced the piston back down as the steam condensed and the pressure within dropped. In 1698 Thomas Savery improved on the same basic idea. He used the steam engine to pump water out of mines. This was one of the first applications of technology to industry. Thomas's engine did not contain a piston but used the partial vacuum created by the engine to suck the water up and out of the mine. Newcomen took the steam engine a step further in 1712. His engine did include a piston but he used a counterweight to extract it. The cylinder was then injected with steam. This was followed by injecting water into the