New Inventions

So let’s take a look at few of the best modern inventions that changed our lives, and learn for ourselves what makes them so perfect.

Laser :

Laser, discovered by Charles Hard Townes in the year 1960, is undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary inventions of the modern era.  Though, the physics and functioning of Laser, is based on the extended concepts of Physical optics and electromagnetic radiations, the applications of this wonder invention are not restricted only in the fields of its mother subject. Indeed, with new applications of the Laser technology being discovered every other day, by scientists from various fields of study, Laser is definitely one of the most successful and ever-modern invention, that has changed the way we look at life.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Concept:

The term ‘Laser’ is actually an acronym for Light amplification By Stimulated Emission of Radiation. This basically means that the light emitted by a laser device has greater amplification (intensity) and coherence compared to electromagnetic waves emitted by using other technologies.  The unique property of spatial coherence that characterises laser makes the output beam extremely narrow, just allowing it to be focused on very small areas. The high intensity and low divergence of laser beams helps concentrates its power over a large distance, thus allowing it to achieve high irradiance (emission of electrons from a body, on exposure to electromagnetic rays/photons)even when focused for a short period of time. Laser beam is a polarized wave of single frequency whose phase and amplitude are correlated over a relatively long distance- a property known as Temporal coherence. However, not all laser beams posses this property, and hence it is preferable to define laser simply as light generated by stimulated emission.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Applications:

Laser, for the common man, was first used in the Barcode scanner, introduced in the year 1974. However, it was the compact disk player, the first laser-equipped device of its kind, introduced in 1982, that really brought the laser home for the general population. And since then there was no looking back. As the then 20th century world slowly began to realize the impact of this great discovery, Laser became a part of every field of science and technology, and of our daily lives.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

At present Laser serves a variety of purposes, some which are:

• Law enforcement: used for fingerprint detection in the forensics.
• Military:  used for blinding troops, as alternative radar, missile defense, marking targets, etc.
• Industry:  used for non-contact measurement of parts, marking parts, material heat treatment, cutting welding.
• Medicine: dentistry, eye treatment, Kidney stone treatment, surgical treatment, laser healing, bloodless surgery.

Computer:

No knowledgeable citizen of the 21st century needs to be told about the great impact that this discovery of Charles Babbage has had, on the simple lives of the people of 20th century, which was revolutionised into the information filled technologically advanced lives of the 21st century people, all thanks to the wonder box. Indeed, ever since the discovery of computer, mankind seems to have gone up another step in the evolution ladder… well, standing in the 21st century, the age without computers does seem Palaeolithic! But the great invention of the computer was not exactly a bolt in the blue, but a combination of several other equally ground breaking discoveries, which still continue to be mankind’s best tryst with technology. So let’s take a look inside the wonder box, and find out what lies within.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Transistors:

Another big name in the world of science and technology, Transistors form the nervous centre of the computer, as for so many other modern gadgets.  Basically a semi conductor device, the main function of a transistor is to switch and amplify electronic signals. A transistor is usually made of a solid piece of Germanium (a semi- conductor material) and is connected to the external circuit with a minimum of three terminals. The functionality of the transistor lies in its ability to control a much larger signal at one of its terminals, with a small signal applied between its other pair of terminals.  In a layman’s language this means, that even on receiving a small/weak input signal, the transistor can amplify it to a considerably larger output signal, thus making itself useful as an amplifier. Again, a transistor helps control the amount of current in a circuit, by functioning as a switch, which is electrically controlled by the circuit elements.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

The transistors have now become an indispensable part of every electronic gadget used in the modern day world of the 21st century. The transistors, mass produced by a totally automated process, is a cheap in price and high on functionality, thus being the apple of the eye to electronic and technological world and the many industries that are built around them.

Microprocessors:

Microprocessors are the brain of the modern day computers, the miracle device that made the transition from bulky desktops to sleek laptops, possible. In the early 1960s, the computer processors were made of medium scale Integrated Circuits, which were in turn made of hundreds of transistors. This formed the CPU or the central processing unit of the computer. The modern day microprocessors incorporate the total function of the CPU in a single integrated circuit thus reducing the cost of processing power and also the bulkiness of the entire gadget. Indeed, the use of microprocessors with increased capacity has rendered many forms of computer hardware obsolete, in the recent decades.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

The main function of a microprocessor is to accept binary input data, process it in accordance with the stored instructions, and provide the desired output result. The great efficiency and functionality of the modern microprocessors has made it an integral part of every device -from large super computers and mainframes to the smallest embedded devices.

Internet:

Considered by many has one of the five essentials of life, the internet is the magic net that bind people all over the world, with the strings of communication and information. Internet is the human network of the 21st century. That said, let us now look for a more scientific definition of the term, and find out a little more about how it works.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

The internet is defined by Wikipedia, (another gift of the internet!) “As a global system of interconnected computer networks, that uses the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide”.  Basically the internet is a mother network which is made up of billions of private, public, government, academic and business networks, all garlanded together through extensive arrays of electronics, wireless and optical communication services. The internet is the proud host of the documents of the World Wide Web service (www), and has a wide range of information and resources. A revolution in the world of information technology and communication, the Internet has redefined the other traditional modes of communication, like the phone, television and newspaper, suiting them up to help it function better and communicate faster.

These happen to be the voted top ten inventions that the world has ever received. They have definitely influenced the shape and stature of the world in differing ways. Without these the world would not have had half the fun it has now.

1. Popsicle:

This got discovered by Frank Epperson who was indeed making the soda pop with the mixing of popular drink with soda water powder mixed in water. As he forgot midway and left the soda out on the porch all night, he found out the next morning, the frozen soda pop sitting on a stick.

Photo by LukeDaDuke

This was the accidental invention of the first icicle as reported. 18 years later he started selling them with patented name to it. This was then known as the Eppsicle.

2. Microwave:

Louis Pasteur once said that chances favor the prepared minds and it has been no surprise with this invention or any of the invention of the microwave as we explore. As an American engineer got busy with the working of magnetrons and other devices through radio signals, the microwave came to be formulated with radar signaling.

Photo by Arkku

This came to be an incredibly powerful invention during the World War. This was one of the greatest accidental discoveries of the world.

3. Ice Cream Cone:

To the delight of all the ice cream cone came to be another accidental discovery that only came about in 1904. Before that ice creams were served in boring dishes only. It was at the 1904 World Fair that so many ice creams were sold that the place ran out of dishes and were thus being served in thin waffles.

Photo by [ embr ]

4. Champagne:

Much of the world’s celebrations would have remained incomplete without the accidental discovery of the champagne. This was in fact a sudden 17th century discovery brought forth by Benedictine monk’s crazy mistake of making wine with bubbles. He had in fact spent two years trying to make bubbly wine while the poor winemaking brought in one of the most original as well as unique tasting drink.

Photo by edwardolive

The champagne was born out of loaded bubbles with carbon dioxide that came to gain popularity soon enough.

5. Brandy:

Another of the world’s greatest drinks also came to be born accidentally. This was discovered by a sailor quite by accident. Most wine merchants of the medieval age would be boiling water out of wine to create better cargo space while they would be traveling on sea.

Photo wikipedia.org

At this storage work the particular sailor must have forgone the reconstitution stage in bringing forth the invention of the brandy.

6. Post-it Notes:

Post-it notes came into existence with the accidental work between frustrated church goers and 2nd rate scientific work. The American corporation with 3M had formulated some of the greatest adhesives known so far and this glue could never be removed easily. To promote this they brought up many bright ideas while no one took note of them. 4 years later some church choir member used this adhesive to stick together some hymn pages that church goers would be constantly losing and complaining about.

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These sticky mark notes became the savior and hero of the day with the collaboration of the great adhesive companies and the great thinking later brought the idea of post-its in a major, commercial way. Now we cannot even imagine our lives without them just like most of the other efficient discoveries enlisted here.

7. Potato Chips:

Who would ever think that this quintessential part of life could have gone unnoticed at some point in history without an accidental discovery? Well that is what would have happened if the fussy diner, Cronelius Vanderbilt, would not be refusing fries at his meal. As the fries were found to be repeatedly done in a soggy way he tried to have his own frying done.

Photo by Newly born

He was inexperienced enough to cut the potatoes too thin and grease them enough to fry in a crispy fashion. This is how he came up with the idea of chips which became instant hits and found it self to be on menus of several restaurants.

8. Penicillin:

This was another important turning point of history of the planet with Alexander Fleming behind it. Fleming discovered the strain of bacteria called staphylococci got researched upon. But he did not know that this bacterium would indeed be an important part of creating cultured veggies in order to discover some of the greatest surrounding fungal moulds that would be helpful in the process of digestion.

Photo wikimedia.org

This was not even given much attention to as and when it got discovered. But it was much later in 1945 that the true importance of culturing of food came to take its place of esteem and greater importance. Right after this penicillin was taken to be one of the most important parts of understanding medicines in a different way, once and for all.

9. The Pacemaker:

This has been one of the breakthrough inventions in medical history with a rather accidental twist to its inventive process. This still continues to save the lives of thousands but unbelievably just like penicillin, this major medical enthusiasm got brought about with the working of a gadget that measured the irregular heart beats of the wrong type of registered invention coming to take place in the right time.

Photo by wikimedia.org

The work on the circuit pulsed in with regular pulsing in coming back on order. This unintended invention brought about some of the greatest discoveries of implantation ever with cardiac pacemaker coming to exist in the process of invention. Later of course the simple framework got developed better.

10. Superglue:

This happens to be another glue invention that came to happen accidentally with the adhesive value being increased. Superglue came to exist in the world as Dr Harry Coover accidentally brought in clear plastic with absolute precision of gun sight and handheld weaponry.

Photo by StreetFly JZ

The cyanoacrylates soon polymerized with the contact with moisture that came to cause one of the greatest strong bonds of chemicals ever bringing in the chanced discovery of the Superglue.