100 Years Of Changes This Century example essay topic

100 Years of Changes This century has been one of many changes and incredible inventions. If a person was to think about it, this century has taken us from horseback to fuel-injected horsepower, from gaslights to sodium-vapor streetlights, from crystal radios to digital television, from compasses to GPS navigation systems, from wood burning stoves to microwave ovens, from Victrola's to DVD players and of course from hot air balloons to jet propulsion aircraft. In the past 100 years, we have made much advancement in all areas of society. The way people live has changed drastically just in the past century. Technology in particular has advanced more in these last 100 years then all previous time combined.

For example, because of the research done by many innovative and dedicated individuals such as the Wright Brothers who were the first to sustain flight in a powered airplane, we are able to fly all over the world in a matter of hours in jet propelled pressurized aircraft. One hundred years ago, the thought of man flying in a machine was insane. The Wright Brothers helped to realize the dream of manned flight. Many years later, after the idea of manned flight becoming a reality, space exploration was the next step. In 1969, many people did not believe what happened. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

They posted an American flag, explored, collected space rocks and came back home. Many Americans did not believe that the technology existed to go that far. Today, several missions a year are launched using manned space shuttles that can be flown back to earth like gliders and reused on future space missions. Another example of the change in our technology over the last century is the change in the computer.

In 1946, the first electronic computer called the ENIAC took up the space of a large room. Instead of using transistors and IC chips, the ENIAC used vacuum tubes. Compared to many computers now, the ENIAC is about as powerful as a small calculator. That may not be much, but it is a milestone because there would not be computers today if it were not for the ENIAC. As the years passed, the computer became smaller and more powerful. Today, more than half of the American population has a computer in their home.

The personal computers today are thousands of times more powerful than the most powerful computers fifty years ago. Eventually, the Internet or the World Wide Web was developed. The World Wide Web is an enormous system of computers connected over the Internet by phone lines hooked up to computers. The World Wide Web has grown to all stretches of the world, even to countries that were once thought to be impossible for technology to get into. In conclusion, these are just a couple of examples of how technology has changed and affected our society over the past one hundred years. Technology has changed so much that the newer generations growing up in this day of cellular phones, digital television, satellite radio, and video games cannot imagine living without them.

The advancements in technology have improved our lives for the better and one can only imagine what the future holds. It will be exciting to see.