Ezra Harris

Tag: History

  • The Benefits of Plastic

    Plastics (or synthetic polymers) were first introduced back in the 19th century when they were trying to find an alternative to Ivory; ivory is also used in billiard balls (or pool balls in the US) Ivory was more commonly made using Elephant tusks, and was used in the making of small sculpted works of art, mini statues and other uses. Such as this Catholic depiction of Mary holding baby Jesus:

    (credit: Wikipedia)

    In 1907 an inventor Leo Baekeland came up with an utterly artificial type of plastic called Bakelite; bakelite’s main attributes were that it was a good insulator of heat and strong. Later, bakelite aided with the production of electronics due to its ease of production and cheapness. Bakelite inspired others to create different types of polymers.

    Today plastic is used in almost every type of profession. It’s used in computers, wires, safety equipment, tubes, ETC.

    Although some say a downside to plastic is its environmental effects, plastic has a lot better attributes than other materials (glass, wood, etc.), like its lightness and strength. And if we were to replace plastic, we could need more resources for the alternatives, which would result in more storage for those substitutes, thus more storage on trucks and space on freight ships, planes, etc.

    Even if the US and Europe decided to stop using plastic entirely, it wouldn’t even stop 1% of ocean pollution. Over time more and more plastics are invented for specific cases, and over time it may get better for the environment.

  • Mustard

    I watch a youtube channel called Mustard. Mustard is a channel that makes history videos about different inventions. In most of the videos I watched, he talked about aircraft. for example, in the most recent one, he explained the history of giant flying boats. It is called: what happened to giant flying ships? That video talks about when giant flying aircraft first came out and what they had been used for, and why they don’t use them anymore. I like the videos a lot because he makes the videos very interesting because he makes a model of the subject he is talking about, and that sometimes he adds a bit of humor to the video.

  • Benefits of a Roman Aqueduct – History of Inventions – Lesson 27

    Rome borrowed the idea of the aqueduct from the Etruscans and the Greeks, but the Romans perfected the idea. They perfected it by bringing lots of fresh clean, and consistent water to the city, it also benefited the sewage system because the aqueduct provided consistent water to flush the gross stuff out of the city, another benefit is irrigation. The Romans were master builders, so they only put 10% of the aqueduct above ground in case there was a war, they wouldn’t want there enemies knowing where to stop the water flow into the city. And they built stackable bridges for the aqueduct rather than two side-by-side bridges for the water to travel. For the Romans to keep the water flowing to the city, they built the aqueducts very slightly slanted over many miles. I am fascinated by how much water the aqueduct would have to bring into the cities by rainwater or rivers or by the mountains

  • What Roman Aqueducts Are – History of Inventions – Lesson 27

    An aqueduct is a man-made channel that lets the water flow into the big cites. We use running water daily, and for an example, your shower will have running water when you turn it on or when you are using your faucet to wash your hands or to clean the dishes. The Romans didn’t invent the aqueduct, but they perfected the design of the aqueduct. Here is an image of how a Roman aqueduct works: 

    The water would be collected from a lake or river and taken down a tube to the inspection shafts, and then it would go through to the settling tank. From there, the water would go over a bridge, and then the water would be led into the distribution tank and then into different places in the city. I like the bridges for the water because they let the river go through, and they can hold water at the top.

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