Technology and Invention

Unit Review Sheet

Facts and Definitions

Lesson 1: A History of Invention

• Famous inventors: Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Wilbur and Orville Wright, Johann Gutenberg, Alessando Volta, James Watt, Ada Lovelace, Louis Braille, the Lumière Brothers, Guglielmo Marconi, and Karl Benz.
• An invention is something new created by a human to meet a need or want.

Lesson 2: Creativity and Invention

• Galileo discovered that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the universe.
• Newton and Einstein discovered laws that governed nature (laws of matter and energy, or physics).
• Inventors continue to make improvements to existing technology.
• A creation usually exists for its own sake — art and music are examples of creations.
• A discovery already exists but is found by someone.
• A design usually involves changing or adapting something that already exists.

Lesson 3: Simple Machines

• The six simple machines are a wedge, wheel and axle, inclined plane, screw, pulley, and a lever.
• A complex machine is made of simple machines working together.
• Gears are toothed wheels meshed together to transmit force and motion.

Lesson 4: Technology of the Future

• Some of the most pressing problems of today and the future are related to protecting the Earth.
• One of the challenges of new technology is to make it readily available to benefit the greatest number of people.
• Important areas of research and development in the past and future include: daily living, communication, transportation, energy, and medicine.

Lesson 5: Inventor's Workshop

• A battery is a power source.
• A lever turns around a fulcrum.
• A motor is a machine that turns electrical energy into mechanical energy.
• The strength of the battery affects the speed of the motor.

Final Project: Inventions Test and Rube Goldberg Project

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