TABLE OF CONTENTS Lightbulb 4 Kevlar 6 Basketball 8 Airplane 10 Blue Jeans 12 Assembly Line 14 Cotton Gin 16 Heart-Lung Machine 18 Polio Vaccine 20 Transistor 22 Frequency Hopping 24 Personal Computer 26 Fact Sheet 28 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the Author 32
1 EDISON STRIVES TO LIGHT THE WORLD Until the 1800s people had relied on oil lamps candles and later gas lights to light their homes Then electric power started being used This prompted inventors to develop indoor lighting using electricity But inventors struggled to make a lightbulb that was safe and efficient enough for widespread use In a lightbulb electricity heats materials to make it glow and give off light But this was difficult to do without overheating the bulb One early attempt was produced in 1860 But the wire inside the bulb called a filament burned too fast to make it useful Thomas Edison worked on improving the lightbulb in his New Jersey research lab He tested thousands of materials for the 4 Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents a world record
The 12 Most Amazing American Inventions
This book discusses 12 American inventions that stand out in US history and looks at the science behind each invention.
About This Book
By: Rebecca Rowell
Illustrated by:
Published by: 12-Story Library provided by Amicus, part of The Creative Company
