Transcript Reading Notes 18 - Chaparral Middle School

Reading Notes 18
Exploration and Travel
Compass
• Early Chinese compasses
were made of a rock
called lodestone, which,
when floating, points
north-south.
• The Chinese eventually
replaced lodestone with
steel needles.
Compass
• The compass still helps travelers navigate.
Exploration and Travel
Canal Lock
• The canal lock allowed
boats to pass from one
level to another in a
canal.
• The canal lock could
raise boats 100 feet
above sea level.
Canal Lock
• Canal locks are still used on modern canals
like the Panama Canal.
Industry
Movable Type
• Movable type uses a
separate block for each
character.
• Printers made characters
out of clay, baked them,
and then placed them in
an iron frame.
Movable Type
• Until recently, all newspapers, books, and
magazines were printed using movable type.
Industry
Porcelain
• Porcelain is a form of
pottery of great beauty
that some historians think
was developed in the first
century C.E.
• Porcelain was massproduced.
Porcelain
• Fine dishes are still called “china” after fine
porcelain.
Military Technology
Gunpowder
• The discovery of
gunpowder made
possible the development
of powerful weapons.
• Gunpowder may have
been discovered by
accident by people
looking for a way to
extend life.
Gunpowder
• Gunpowder changed the way wars were
conducted around the world.
Military Technology
Rockets
• Rockets were first used in
fireworks.
• The Chinese made a twostage rocket, with the first
stage carrying the
weapon over the enemy
and the second stage
dropping arrows.
Rockets
• The rockets we use to
explore space are
based on the same
principles as ancient
Chinese rockets.
Everyday Objects
Paper Money
• Paper money
replaced coins.
• Paper money was
printed with wood
blocks using many
colors on each bill.
Paper Money
• Paper money is the most common form of
currency today.
Everyday Objects
Mechanical Clock
• The mechanical clock had
a wheel that made one
revolution every 24 hours.
Dripping water turned it.
• Every quarter hour drums
would beat, and every
hour a bell would chime
so people knew what
time it was.
Mechanical Clock
• Modern mechanical clocks are based on the
same principles as early Chinese clocks.
Disease Prevention
Smallpox
• The Chinese developed
a way to inoculate
people against
smallpox.
• They made a powder
from the scab of an
infected person and
inserted it into the nose
of the person who
wanted protection.
Smallpox
• We have vaccines for many diseases.
Additional Chinese
Discoveries and Inventions
• paddlewheel boats
•
• playing cards
•
• watertight
•
compartments
•
• segmental arch bridges •
• papermaking
•
• woodblock printing
•
• steel production
• artillery shells
catapults
bombs
rifles
cannons
flamethrowers
disinfectants
boiling to kill germs