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Schule > Englisch > Ausarbeitungen, Interpretationen und Zusammenfassungen > Essays and novels > GFS Englisch: Inventions

1) Why do people invent something?

Everything we use today had to be invented. Our modern life is affected by all those things people developed in previous times, for example cars. I think nobody in our society could imagine a life without the means of transportation we use today. So there is the question why people invent things. There are different reasons for this. The first is that people want to make work easier, so they invent tools. They have already been invented in Stone Age and even today we use tools to work. Today we use certainly complex tools to do such work people in Stone Age wouldn't dream of, like building skyscrapers with very high cranes. But the reason why it is invented is the same as in former times. Another cause is that humans develop things to be mobile. Today people have cars and mobile phones to be mobile every time and everywhere. The third reason is because people want to communicate with each other. It is communication what makes human different from other creatures. Due to communication people are able to say what they want and commit it to their following generation. So the success of humanity could grow bigger. Without communication mankind hadn't been able to get so significant as we are today. A further reason is that people want to live comfortable. The last cause is that people have to adapt to their living conditions. So they invent things which make it possible to live on this world for a longer time. The use of renewable energy sources for example is an answer to environmental pollution.
2) First Inventions
The first inventions were not made by humans. Easy inventions are seen in the animal kingdom. Monkeys use stones to open nuts for example. When human began to learn how to make fire and control it 1,500,000 years ago, they grew in numbers. They used fire to cook food and preserve it. Now they had light in night, so they could be active at night. Fire was used to protect against animals too. This discovery gave humans the important advantage over other animals. In beginning of human being inventions were simple. They made tools and weapons from wood and firestone to protect themselves against each other and against wild animals. They used them to hunt and get food.
3) Important inventions in modern age
Over the time inventions became more complicated. I'm going to refer the most important inventions in modern Age. The first invention was developed by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 it is the steam engine. It was used in mines to pump out water from them. James Watt improved his steam engine in 1769. It revolutionized the industry in the 19th century. The steam engine is also called the "motor of the industrial revolution because it changed the labor-based industry to a machine-powered industry. The next important invention I want to write about is the telephone. The first time the term "telephone was used was in 1861. Philipp Reis invented this gadget. It was used for an electrical broadcast from acoustic signals. But Reis' telephone was not useable. The broadcast worked only in one way and the signals were not understandable. In about 1875 Alexander Graham Bell began to experiment with the telephone from Reis' in USA. People all over the world wanted to communicate fast. The telegraph which was the most important mean of communication for years was not fast enough, because people had to write their messages in Morse codes. In 1870 Bell had patented his telephone hours before a second inventor in USA wanted to patent his version. His name was Elisha Grey. But Bell's telephone became more accepted than Grey's. So today we can say that Alexander Graham Bell formed a foundation for our means of communication we use today. Four years later Thomas Edison made an invention which lighted up our world. His light bulbs were better than those ones from other inventors, because they were more durable. After his invention people began to use more and more electrical light. The next world-changing invention was made in Germany. Karl Benz improved the four-stroke motor of Nicklaus Otto and developed the first gasoline-fueled car. In 1886 his genius invention was patented. Back than it was not accepted so much but today we know, that Karl Benz set a milestone in using means of transportation.
4) Energy management
Mankind is depended on energy. They were in past and they will be in future. Today we ca not imagine a live without warm water or electricity. But in the beginning of human being humans had only the sun as energy source. When the sun rose, it was warm and bright enough to go out. When it set people had to go sleep to. When humans learned how to make and how to control fire they had a further energy source. Not till then they were able to be active at night and cook food. Therefore they grew in numbers. Many years later in about 12.000 years ago mankind get settled and actuated agriculture the first animals were used to do hard work. They warmed up their huts with fire and lighted them, but that was really dangerous. In 2.000 B.C. people in China discovered another way to warm and heat their buildings. They used crude oil lamps which are more safety than open fire. 1500 years later the first simple windmills were built in Persia. They were really inefficient but it was enough to mill grain. In middle age people used fire to cook and warm. They built machines powered by water for milling grain the first candles were used in middle age. Many years later in the 18th century coal has been the most popular energy source. When James Watt developed his improved steam engine the industrial revolution started, but pollution also increased with the emission of carbon dioxide. In 1882 Thomas Edison built the first coal-powered power station for producing electricity. An electrical network was extended in the USA. In the 19th century people already use electricity but they drove only with carriages or railway. So they search for a vehicle which can drive without animal-power but is not dependent on fixed roads. In 1886 Karl Benz invented such a vehicle. People had been very skeptic about his invention, but it revolutionized modern shifting. Due to the car we are allowed to cover big distances in short time. Not until 1950 cars became the most popular mean of transportation. As a result more oil refineries were built. In 1957 the first nuclear power station was constructed in USA. So it is to say that energy management evolved environmental-polluting more and more and the question is what to do, to improve our world and make it endurable to live on it for the next generations.
5) How to improve our world
The greenhouse-effect grew bigger due to the emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore the global climate change goes on, so we have to stop polluting the environment. There are several possibilities to get a "clean world. Primarily we have to develop other fuels for cars, because the infrastructure is based on using cars. It will be too expensive to remove the roads. One example for an economic fuel is a hydrogen powered car. Electric cars also are a great alternative to be mobile without pollution.
Nowadays the development of renewable energy sources is more important as before, because the climate change is one of the biggest problems the world faces today. An answer to this is the innovative kite-generator which was designed in Italy. It produces eco-friendly energy by using wind energy. It looks like huge toy kite and it is also based on the same principle. A kite is fixed on a rope. If there is enough wind to take off, the kite gets up and pulls out this rope. The rope powers a generator which produces electricity: Simple but very efficient. Other benefits of the kite gen are the low costs and the high range. Because of the range the kite is more efficient with reference to usual wind towers. In future they are able to generate up to 60GW.That is more than a nuclear power station produces. One disadvantage is that it is necessary to have a flight-prohibited area in range of this power station.
The problem is that it is difficult to motivate people and inventor to take part in such projects. A possibility to motivate them is to give them a award. That is exactly that what the "global climate change invention award is for. In 2009 it was given to Kenyan John Bhmer. His invention is so simple that it is genius again. His Invention, the Kyoto box, is a solar cooker made up of a cardboard box, aluminum foil and black cover. It solves to problems at once: It advances living-conditions for poor people in Africa and it reduces carbon dioxide emissions. It is very cheap, more precisely 5$, so African people are able to buy it. There are even more benefits. For example it reduces spinal injuries or social dangers, because women don't have to go to the forest for firewood.
Poor people are not the only target group of world-improving invention. In our society there are people who need help, too. Most of them are handicapped. In 2010 engineers developed a gadget for paralyzed person, which allows them to walk. It is like a small miracle for those people who couldn't walk one time in their whole life.
Summing up there is to say that human changed our world in past and will change it in the future. But now it is in our hands what we do with our one world and how we change it.

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