This week I learned about the Polio Vaccine, the Intermodal Container, the Integrated Circuit, and Lasers. I will describe each invention and explain how they impacted history. I will also say what I think would be a good use for lasers.
Polio is a crippling virus which can permanently paralyze or kill its victims. Thousands of people were either killed or paralyze during the Polio epidemic. The Polio Vaccine was invented to help stop the disease from spreading. It impacted history because people stopped having to fear every summer that the polio was going to come back and everybody was very happy when the vaccine was announced safe. Now the disease is almost gone and nobody really has to worry about it anymore.
The Intermodal Container is used to carry cargo on trains, trucks, and ships. The Intermodal Container requires crains to move the containers around because they are so big. It is pretty muchly just a metal container so it can be used as a mobile home or a small place to sell things like firework stands. The benefits of the Intermodal Container is that many can be stacked on top of each other so more cargo can be shipped on boats. It is also cheap to build so the cost of shipping things can be very cheap.
The Integrated Circuit is a flat chip that has tons of transistors. They are very powerful but also cheap to build. It is not cheap to build the factories that build the Integrated Circuits though. So one has to sell a lot of Integrated Circuits in order to make a profit. The Integrated Circuit changed history because they are used in so many things that make life more convenient from electronics to rockets and missiles and so much more.
Lasers emit beams of light that can be very powerful. Some kinds are just laser pointers which are just beams of light but others can be used for cutting precise cuts or burning objects. The Laser has so many uses from laser surgery to laser cut metal.
Finally, I think a good way to use Lasers would be to light fires from far away so one does not burn themselves.
Becca's Big Life 