Pancakes Or Waffles?

Pancakes or Waffles, a good but hard question to answer.

Waffles are a square or round dish (sometimes they come in other fun shapes like hearts) that is made by pressing dough or batter in a waffle iron. Waffles were first mentioned in the English language in 1725, but were around in France years before.  They are crunchy and fluffy treats.  They pair well with syrup, fruit, honey, and bacon!

Pancakes are a thin, round, and fluffy fried batter usually made in a skillet.  Pancakes can be made into fun shapes like Mickey Mouse or teddy bears.  Pancakes were first mentioned in Greece in about the 5th century BC (That’s 401 to 500 BC)!  They are soft, smooth, and sweet!  They pair well with syrup, honey, fruit, bacon, eggs, and spam.

Pancakes are my favorite because they are the iconic American breakfast food.  Also because my Mom makes the tastiest pancakes.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle

 

 

 

William Murdoch

William Murdoch was born in 1754 in Scotland.  He even once walked 300 miles just to get to the town in which James Watt (famous for improving the steam engine)!  The young Murdoch worked for James Watt throughout his childhood.  Later, Murdoch invented gas lighting.  Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from burning gaseous fuel.  The use of the gas light spread quickly because he didn’t patent it.  His gas lighting led to the adoption of electricity.  He also made an improvement to Watt’s steam engine, but didn’t gain a lot of publicity from it.  He even developed a working steam car.  His steam car led to more modern locomotives.  He is my favorite inventor this week because I rode a train at Thomas the Train festival with my cousin, Isaiah.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts.  Throughout his childhood he wanted to be a sailor, but his father wanted him to be a preacher.  He then became an apprentice printer because he was always a learner.  He was one of America’s first inventors.  He invented many things such as the “Franklin Stove”, the Glass Harmonica, and the Lightning Rod.  He also founded a successful newspaper that spread his fame.  He became a Free Mason (a member of an international order which holds elaborate secret ceremonies) and a Founding Father (a person who starts or helps to start a movement in his case it was the founding of the United States of America).  He also signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which officially declared America’s freedom from England!  He is my favorite inventor this week because of his work that led to electricity which I’m using to write this very essay.

 

Threshing Machine

Andrew Meikle was born in 1719 in Scotland.  His father was an inventor and worked in a mill.  An early version of the threshing was built, but it was not commercially successful.   The threshing machine is a device that husks grain.   So, Meikle made some changes upon the existing thresher and it was more popular.  He patented  the new and improved threshing machine in 1788.  The design of the Meikle thresher stayed the same for about a century.  Meikle didn’t make a lot of money off of them.  Others made changes and improvements to get around the patent.  The Swing Riots (which were funded by upcoming agricultural business to make people dependent on big producer’s wheat instead of the smaller farmers) destroyed lots of threshing machines in the 1830s.  The population in Scotland grew 700% from 1700 to 1900, partially due to the increased production of wheat.  It is my favorite invention because it led to foods such as white bread and cereal.

Weighing Scale

The weighing scale was invented by Richard Salter around 1770.

Richard Salter was born in 1659 in Bilston, England.  He was a spring maker, he made the spring scale.  The spring scale was a handheld scale.  It lets you weigh something almost instantly, which saved lots of time.  He called it “pocket steelyards”  though they work on a different principle from steelyard balances (A steelyard is kind of like a crane).  Salter’s scales were so popular he founded a company to sell them with his nephews. He also made the first bathroom scale in England.  It impacts History because it led to the invention of the digital scale, which helps us make the right amount of medicine, food, and is also used in Chemistry.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_scale

James Watt

James Watt was born in 1736 in Scotland.  He is a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist.  He worked at the University of Glasgow.  He was interested in the technology of steam engines.  He made a new device which was an early copying machine in 1780. He improved Newcomen’s Steam Engine in 1781 which was a big step for the Industrial Revolution.  He had trouble commercializing his product because he had financial issues until he partnered with Matthew Boulten.  His partnership with Boulten was successful and James Watt became very wealthy.  In his retirement, Watt made many inventions but none of them were as popular as his improved engine.  The SI unit (International System of Units) of measuring power, the watt, was named after him because he developed horsepower.  He is my favorite inventor because I have a board game that uses batteries to power things like lights.

The Inventions I Learned This Week

Coke-Fired Blast Furnace:  Abraham Darby was born 1678, and learned an early coke-burning iron process from his great grand-uncle who had served in the English Civil War.  Then, Darby took his skills, his own interests, and his Uncles stories and made the coke-fired blast furnace.  Then he made a factory that efficiently smelted iron, but he had competition from brass makers.  In 1712 the Newcomen steam engine was invented.  Darby’s factory produced iron and people were buying lots of it in order to keep up with production demands for the Newcomen steam engine. Supplying the much needed iron for this product demand helped him stay in business and surpass the brass makers in a competition for money and market share.  His iron was used to build the world’s first steam-powered locomotive and the first iron arch bride.  The coke-fired blast furnace made the Industrial Revolution in 1800s possible.

Newcomen Steam Engine: Denis Papin built the first steam engine in 1690.  Thomas Savery built and patented the first steam pump in 1698.  In 1712 Thomas Newcomen build the first true steam engine.  The steam engine pumped water out of mines.  It totally changed mining in England and all accross Europe.  It also could operate tools, transportation and machinery.  In 1781 James Watt invented a refined engine.

Thomas Newcomen: Thomas Newcomen was born 1663, in Dartmouth, New Hampshire (I find that kind of cool because I lived in New Hampshire once).  He became an ironmonger (a person who sells hardware tools) but he wanted to be a pastor.  He helped Thomas Savery build his steam engine and Savery got a patent in 1707.  Newcomen then realized there were many flaws in that engine design and improved upon it.  600 of Newcomen’s new and improved steam engines were installed into trains, tools, and machinery by the end of the 1700s.  He used the money he earned to fund his calling of becoming a pastor.

Octant: It was built in 1730 by John Hadley and Thomas Godfrey.  It calculates the distance from the person using it and a celestial object (An object in the sky).  It works day and night.  It was smaller, lighter, and easier to use than other nautical tools, such as the astrolabe.  It took over the instrument market in 1780.  It was an invention which led to other technoligies that became crucial to the Industrial Revolotion.  It is my favorite invention because me and my Mom could have used it when we were  lost and almost stranded out in the Gulf of Mexico

 

 

The Piano

The piano was invented by Bart Christofori about 1700 (no one knows the exact date).  The harpsichord was an earlier  version of a piano, it was invented in the 1400s in Flanders (Belgium).  Christofori worked for the Medicis (a wealthy Italian family) and started selling pianos as the Medici’s wealth declined.  Around the same time the blueprints of a piano were introduced to the public, a journal was published by Christofori about the piano and was widely read.   In 1770 Mozart wrote and performed beautiful works and build a fan base for the piano.  The piano is known as the “King of Instruments” because the instrument covers a full orchestral range!  The pianos popularity declined in the 1900s.  The piano led to the invention of the electric keyboard.  It is my favorite invention because I was reading a National Geographic and there is a new invention of a pair of gloves that when you tap your fingers on a hard surface they respond with a sound made from a piano key being pressed.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Anton van Leeuwenhoek is most known for being “The Father Of Microbiology” (microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms), but was also a business man.  He was born in 1632 in The Dutch Republic.  He worked as a draper (a person who sells cloth) throughout his childhood.  In 1654 he opened his own fabric shop.  Unlike most scientists he did not go to college, however, he handmade microscopes in order to observe microorganisms.  He was influenced by Robert Hooke, who was a philosopher.  Anton van Leeuwenhoek first discovered microorganisms in a drop of water he had collected from a lake.  Because of his extensive contribution of knowledge and understanding of bacteria, scientists today improve crop production, disease treatments, water quality and many other things.  He is my favorite person this week because around a year ago I went to a museum and saw objects under microscopes. I really thought it was cool because you wouldn’t know anything was there with your naked eye, but microscopes help you see little things that can have a big impact.

Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle is most known for making modern chemistry and being a modern chemist.  He was born 1627 in Lismore Castle, which is in Ireland.  He was taught French, Greek, and Latin when he was eight years old.  He also studied Galileo’s works.  He went to the “Invisible College” (A private college most people didn’t know about) when he was seventeen years old.  He devoted his whole life to the scientific method.  He didn’t believe in the Greek’s view on the four elements water, fire, earth, and air. He was also known for Boyle’s law, according to Wikipedia.org, “The absolute pressure exerted by a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to the volume it occupies if the temperature and amount of gas remain unchanged within a closed system”.  This helped people understand the human breathing system which contributed to scuba diving.  He wrote a popular book called “The Skeptical Chemist” in 1661.  He is my favorite person this week because when I drink from the straw I know he was the one who figured out how a vacuum works.