Electric City and Acceleration in the Human Evolution - Essay Example

Not satisfied with the speed of animals man started looking for better and more reliable means of faster transportation. Roads of the rail called Wagonway were being used in Germany as early as 1550. the primitive railed roads consisted of wooden rails which horse-drawn wagons or carts moved with greater ease than over dirt roads. These Wagonways were the forerunners to modern railways.

The invention of the steam engine was critical to the invention of the modern railroad and train. In 1803, Samuel Homfray decided to fund the development of a steam-powered vehicle to replace horse-drawn carts on the tramways. Richard Trevitheck (1771-1833) built that vehicle, the first tramway locomotive. In 1884, the locomotive hauled a load of 10 tons of iron, 70 men, and five extra wagons the 9 miles between the ironworks at Par-y-Darron in the town of Merthyr Tyndfil, Wales to the bottom of the valley Abbercynnon. It took about 2 hours. This means the locomotive moved at speed of about 4.5mph.

Preceding the steam train, in 1769, the first self-propelled vehicle, a military tractor was invented by a French engineer/mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot. Cugnot used a steam engine to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Brezin. It was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a then-whooping speed of 21/2mph on only three wheels.
Cugnot also crashed his vehicle into a wall making him the first road vehicular accident causality. That accident was the beginning of his troubles as his financiers were also no forthcoming longer with aid.
Several works and revisions were made to his car model from the mechanical model to the electric cars that have become popular today. With each stage of the manufacture of a newer model of the car came greater speed and performance.

The bicycle is a creation from the desire for speed humans. It was invented in 1817 by Baron von Drais. He called it a “walking machine” that would help him get around the royal gardens faster. It was made of two same-sized in-line wheels, the front one steerable, mounted in a frame that you straddled. The device was propelled by pushing your feet against the ground, thus rolling yourself and the device forward in a sort of gliding walk. The machine later got to be known as the “Draisenne” or “hobby horse”. It was made of wood. This wasn’t the most comfortable way to travel. The intention of creating it could only have been for increased speed; “to navigate the royal gardens faster”.
The bicycle has also undergone drastic revisions that have made it faster and more comfortable.

In all of these inventions speed was the same motive. The need for speed is to make traveling quicker. This has made communication easier and our world is not just that big landscape any longer. It is you going where ever you want to go on the earth without so much stress to your person.
The most amazing invention that further shrunk the world at the start of the twentieth century was the Wright brothers, the airplane, a flying device. It does not have the physical barriers that are found on other devices' paths. This is so because it flies in the air and does not need any particular route. This transport device has been a major revolution in transport. Now you can leave Seattle for Ontario and hope to get back today. This also gave birth to space crafts. Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go to space, and Ian Nelson was the first man to set foot on the moon.

These are new sceneries that have been brought to the human senses. They were achieved with the development of transport technology which led to greater speed. The first space tourist was recorded in 2004, and more are expected. The next target is some other planet outside earth.
The wealth of our scenery has been enriched. Being able to view the skies, having a picture of what our home, earth looks like. These are pluses. But also, the danger is that we have cleared the natural environment to put down roads for our cars, ports for planes, etc. Read More