what the industrial revolution was

Question 1

the industrial revolution

Answer 1

a period from about 1750 to 1850. changes in agriculture, manufacturing (machines and factories), mining, transportation and the harnessing of steam energy affected the social and economic conditions of the time for the future. the industrial revolution started in Britain and spread through Western Europe and eventually to the rest of the world.

Question 2

machines

Answer 2

were invented that produced goods more quickly than making them by hand. the first machines were invented for the manufacturing of cloth - woollen cloth from the sheep’s wool, and cotton from cotton grown on slave plantations in America.

Question 3

factories

Answer 3

the new machines were too big to fit into people’s houses. large buildings called factories had to be built. people had to leave their homes and go to a factory to work.

Question 4

power and energy

Answer 4

the first machine were made from wood and some were powered by water. an engine that used steam to a power a machine was first invented in the early 1700s. in about 1770 James Watt improved the technology of the steam engine. to boil water to make steam, coal was needed. to make machines that could withstand the heat of the steam, iron was needed.

Question 5

mining

Answer 5

coal and iron ore were mined before the industrial revolution, but now there was a need for much greater quantities of coal and iron. steam pumps were used to pump water out of mines so that the miners could dig deeper. factories were built near coal and iron ore mines.

Question 6

transportation

Answer 6

goods made in factories had to be transported to seaports. before the industrial revolution, people and goods were transported along dirt roads by coaches and wagons pulled by horses.

Question 7

John MacAdam

Answer 7

John MacAdam invented ‘tarmac’ roads, and by 1830 thousands of kilometers of new-surface roads had been built between factory towns and seaports.

Question 8

George Stephenson

Answer 8

developed the technology of a steam- powered engine that could travel along rails. in 1830, his steam engine called the ‘Rocket’ pulled a train of wagons along a railway line. as railway travel became faster, trains became the main way that unprocessed goods such as coal and iron, cotton and sugar, and manufactured goods were transported.