Technology. Made Simple

346 Pages·1984·15.276 MB·English

by  Don McCloy (Auth.)

Technology
Made Simple
The Made Simple series
has been created
especially for self-education
but can equally well
be used as
an aid to group study.
However complex the subject,
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Technology
Made Simple
Professor Don McCloy
A
Made Simple Books
HEINEMANN : London
© 1984, Don McCloy
Made and Printed in Great Britain
by Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
for the publishers William Heinemann Ltd,
10 Upper Grosvenor Street, London WIX 9PA
This book is sold subject to the
condition that it shall not, by
way of trade, or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise
circulated without the publisher's
prior consent in any form of binding
or cover other than that in which it is
published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed
on the subsequent purchaser.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
McCloy, Don
Technology made simple.—(Made simple
books, ISSN 0265-0541)
1. Technology
I. Title II. Series
600 T45
ISBN 0-434-98596-1
Editorial: Robert Postema, F. G. Thomas
Production: Martin Corteel
Text diagrams: Reg MacClure. Reproduction Drawings Ltd
Cover illustration: Derek Hazeldine Associates
Foreword
The explosive growth of technology requires today's education to provide
people with a flexible outlook—one that will make them adaptable and
prepared for change. The school curriculum is now under close scrutiny to
see what can be done. In higher education, delayed choice of specialisation
is becoming more and more common in degree courses; and continuing
education is a growing area within which adults, both lay and professional,
are being updated or redirected in their careers.
There are two good reasons why Technology should be taught in the
schools. First, to prepare young people to live in a technological society;
secondly, to prepare some of them to work as technologists. These were
highlighted in the Finniston Report on the engineering profession in the
UK. It argued for a strengthened technology base and for a technologically
aware public. A successful country nowadays needs not only top-class
practitioners of technology, it also needs a public with an awareness of the
importance of technology and an ability to make intelligent comment on
technological issues. Our educational system must respond at all levels to
provide some means of inculcating a greater technological literacy in
society.
National and economic needs aside, however, there is a lot to be said for
the educational process inherent within the subject of Technology—a pro-
cess that does not push knowledge into watertight compartments such as
physics, mathematics, chemistry, English and so on. Technology draws
together these various disciplines. It is a problem-solving exercise, and
today's technologists have to apply their knowledge of mathematics, of
science, of economics, of manufacturing processes, in this exercise. Tech-
nology integrates these disciplines in its problem-solving activity.
This need to draw on knowledge of many different kinds is reflected in
the definition of Technology: the systematic application of scientific or
other organised knowledge to practical tasks. This definition also makes it
clear that Technology is concerned with doing things and providing solu-
tions to problems. Is there not nowadays an overemphasis on the acquisi-
tion and régurgitation of facts? Education has been accused of being not
far removed from that advocated by the character in Dickens' Hard Times
who said: 'Now what I want is facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing
but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out
everything else.'
A well balanced education should certainly include analysis and the
vi Foreword
gathering of knowledge, but it should also include the development of the
creative skills and the problem-solving skills. We need to pay more atten-
tion to synthesis. Our young people need to be trained to make judgements
and intelligent decisions, often in the fact of inadequate knowledge. How
often do we ask 'Look at this and tell me how it works', rather than T
need this job done, tell me how to do it'? For most of our lives we have to
deal with the latter situation. We have to solve problems using all the
knowledge and skills we can muster. Isn't that what life is all about?
This book is an attempt to introduce the reader to the most basic know-
ledge that the technologist needs. But it also tries to show how this know-
ledge can be applied and how its application might impact on society.
Although a basic knowledge of calculus would be helpful, it is not essential,
and the intelligent reader with no mathematical knowledge should feel at
home throughout the large majority of the pages.
The book is principally intended for self-study, for the educated layman
who wishes to be more aware of technology. However, it will also be of
value to schools, colleges and universities. It is particularly relevant to the
ordinary and advanced Technology subjects offered by the GCE and CSE
Boards. It is recommended as supportive reading for the many other tech-
nologically orientated subjects such as Computer Studies, Design, Applied
Mechanics and Craft, Design and Technology. In addition, it will be useful
to teachers of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology who wish to
enrich their subject by the inclusion of an element of technology. Teachers
of Level 3 BTEC courses in Engineering should also find useful material in
the book, particularly in its method of presentation. Finally, because of its
level and breadth, the book could also be used for the technological studies
content of degree courses in non-technological disciplines.
This was not an easy book to write, but the author's contacts with the
schools through the Northern Ireland GCE Board and the Northern Ire-
land Science and Technology Regional Organisation (NISTRO) at Ulster
Polytechnic convinced him that it should be done. The author would like
to acknowledge the helpful advice received from Mr Roger McCune, Ex-
ecutive Officer of NISTRO, and from Dr Martin Brown, Head of Physics
at Methodist College, Belfast.
The author is also indebted to his secretary, Mrs Estelle Goyer, for her
sterling and patient endeavours. She and Reg MacClure, who did the ex-
cellent drawings, added a touch of sanity and restraint when the author's
ideas overstepped the bounds of credibility.
D. MCCLOY
1
The History and Development of
Technology
1.1 Introduction
Technology is as old as man. The word derives from the Greek words
techne, meaning an art or skill, and logia, meaning a science or study. Thus
the literal meaning of the word technology is the study of an art or skill.
But this is a very general definition and does not emphasise the applied
nature of technology. My favourite definition, attributed to Kenneth Gal-
braith, is that technology is the systematic application of scientific or other
organised knowledge to practical tasks.
Man first became a technologist when he learned to take advantage of
the materials and the natural phenomena of the physical world. When he
discovered that a bone or a stick could be used to kill animals and to move
rocks he became a tool-maker, and tools are the trademark of the tech-
nologist. This new-found technology was put to use in assisting Man to
meet his basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. He would kill his prey
with clubs, skin them and butcher them with flint knives. He was able to
use the skins for clothes. He was able to fell trees and to move boulders to
improve his shelter.
These embyronic technologies may have been crude but they signified a
new outlook by Man. No longer would he be pushed about from pillar to
post by nature. No longer would he live frorn moment to moment, reacting
to each circumstance as it arose. The birth of technology changed Man to
a problem-solving animal—to someone who deliberately brought about
change. The invention of the tool, however simple, indicated planning, for
when one makes a tool one has some use in mind. Problem-solving became
a distinctive feature of Man and his tools helped him solve the problems.
For example, a daily problem was how to get food. The solution was to
use the flint tools, the sticks and other elementary hunting weapons that
he had developed. This problem-solving capacity set Man aside from the
lower animals who rely on instinct and learning. But it is not entirely
unique to Man, for the higher animals, the apes, have demonstrated ele-
mentary problem-solving abilities, mainly by trial and error. For example,
monkeys have shown that they can discover how to reach a banana by
piling up a stack of boxes.
This developing ability to solve problems and to make tools accentuates
another major difference between Man and the lower animals. Most
animals have developed physical characteristics suited to a particular
2 Technology
specialisation. The beak of a bird is a specialised tool for food gathering.
The shark's shape is specialised towards fast movement in the water. The
tiger's stripes are a specialised form of camouflage.
Man's specialisation is problem-solving or brain power and this has
allowed him to outpace all the animals in their own naturally evolved
specialisms. Indeed, technology is often referred to as the extension of
Man's capabilities, and we shall discuss this aspect in more detail later.
One obvious example should suffice to make the point. Our capability of
sight has now been extended outwards through the telescope and inwards
by the microscope. We can photograph terrain from reconnaissance aircraft
at a height of 10 kilometres and pick out detail as small as a motorcar. We
can see in the dark using infrared telescopes. Thus Man's specialism of
problem-solving makes him ruler of the animal kingdom.
1.2 Methodology
A methodology of technology developed and was used, albeit unconsci-
ously, by early Man (see Fig. 1.1). Basically one perceives a need: there is a
problem. In order to solve this problem effectively one should prepare
several solutions and then choose the best. But how do we know which is
the best? There are often many conflicting aspects to be considered when
making this decision.
Take an example that confronted early Man: how to capture prey? He
might have considered two alternatives; he could run after it and club it, or
he could make it fall into a pit. Which is the better solution? The first
method is dangerous and exhausting. The second method could also be
exhausting for a pit has to be dug; but this work could be shared by others
and it would not be so dangerous—or would it? How, for example, would
the animal be driven to the trap? Thus we can see a lot of pros and cons
emerging once we give thought to these methods of solution. Which
solution we consider the better would depend on one's attitudes to
danger and to work, and this would vary from individual to individual.
Thus in the decision-making stage we have to take into account all
aspects of the problem and attempt to put the importance of each in
order of priority. This is known as 'weighting' and we shall hear more
about it later.
The culmination of the technological method is the adoption and the
construction of that method of solution which has been decreed to be best.
But this is not the end of the story, for it is often found from operating
experience that a chosen solution is not as good as had been predicted.
For example it may be discovered that more people than animals are falling
into the pit! In these cases it is 'back to the drawing board', and assump-
tions made during the earlier stages have to be re-examined.
There was a growing awareness of this technological method and with
experience Man became more adventurous in his solutions to problems.
The effectiveness of his solutions improved when his knowledge grew and
he was able to consider more alternatives. For example, the discovery of
fire gave him a new means of driving his prey into the pit we mentioned
earlier. And again his study of the beasts led to the flash of inspiration
The History and Development of Technology 3
Fig. 1.1. The technological method.
that, rather than hunt them, a better solution to the food problem would
be to tame them and breed them.
1.3 Empiricism and Science
Now as this knowledge of techniques and methods of solving problems
grew, Man had a new problem—that of passing the information on. In the
earliest days this was done by example, and the child would learn from the
father. This is known as the empirical approach. In this way new generations
4 Technology
did not have to start afresh to each problem. Rather they took their pre-
decessor's solutions and refined them where possible.
In this way there was, in the true Darwinian sense, an evolution of
solutions. Tools gradually improved by trial and error—the equivalent of
the survival of the fittest of the flora and fauna. So technologies grew,
each solution being a refinement of an earlier one; but occasionally a com-
pletely new solution arose from a newly discovered phenomenon or
material.
This empirical approach continued right up to the Middle Ages when
the rapidly expanding world of science came to the technologist's aid.
Science is simply the quest for knowledge, and the scientific method, like
the technological method, has several clearly defined steps. First several
examples of some phenomenon are studied; then some hypothesis or ex-
planation is proferred; next this explanation is tried out on other examples
of a similar phenomenon; finally, if it seems to work reasonably well, that
particular explanation is adopted, the particular phenomenon is under-
stood and Man's fund of knowledge has increased.
For example, Newton's observations of falling objects, especially apples,
led him to think deeply about the phenomenon of falling. His theory of
gravitation was the hypothesis which he hoped would be the correct ex-
planation for this phenomenon. He then tested this theory by considering
the moon and planets as falling objects and was able to show that his
theory of gravitation predicted their motion with reasonable accuracy.
Thus Newton's Law of Gravitation was accepted as a scientific fact.
Now these new scientific facts increased the storehouse of knowledge
that Man could invade when considering alternative solutions to his prob-
lems. He was able to apply science in his technology and a whole new field
of Applied Science began to develop rapidly, especially in the middle of the
nineteenth century. This impact of science on technology is best considered
by examining the development of the various areas of technology, but we
shall have to restrict ourselves to a consideration of the growth of Man's
knowledge of energy and of materials.
1.4 Energy
The earliest men and women relied on the brute force of their own muscles.
They did not realise that they were surrounded by many natural phenom-
ena and resources that would provide them with energy greatly in excess of
their own capability. Today we are familiar with these energy producers:
the wind, the tides, running water, the heat of the sun, natural fuels, hot
springs and so on. In fact, we live on a planet that is bathed in an un-
imaginable stream of energy emanating from our sun. The heat and light
energy coming from the sun every second equals the power of a million
million Hiroshima atomic bombs! About one part in two thousand million
of this tremendous energy output reaches the Earth. Here some is reflected,
some heats the atmosphere and causes our winds and our weather, and
some gets through to warm the ground and make the plants grow. If we
could only make use of all of this solar energy we could supply every
human being with energy equivalent to each of us burning 100 tonnes of coal