Cave drawings were murals that people painted onto the walls of caves and canyons to tell the

story of their culture. They would tell stories of battles, hunts and culture.

Storytelling was used to tell stories, both fiction and nonfiction, before there were books. It was a way for families and communities to pass on information about their past.

Drums were one way to send signals to neighboring tribes and groups. The sound of the drumming patterns would tell them of concerns and events they needed to know.

Smoke signals were another way to send messages to people who were not close enough to use words with

Tim S.
Grade 5 William Penn School Think Quest Junior Team #5729

The oldest printed book known is a Chinese religious book, The Diamond Sutra. Other books like this were printed with wood blocks, usually made from Mulberry wood

Rome developed a printing press in 1465, but, because the rulers of many countries felt that the printed word encouraged people to rebel against their authority, they strictly controlled the amount of material that printers were allowed to produce. Printing did not really grow again until the 18th century.

The mechanics of printing changed little between 1450 and the 1800s, when the power press was introduced. By the 1600's the art of printing was used in business. Printed news sheets, called corantos, which were somewhat like newspapers of today.

In 1728 Ben Franklin opened his own printing office in Philadelphia, he had learned about

Today we use modern versions of these printing presses to print books, magazines, and newspapers.

Joshua G.
Grade 5 William Penn School Think Quest Junior Team #5729
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CHARACTER: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6

MORSE CODE

CONTINENTAL CODE

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7 8 9 0 Period Comma Question

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On May 24, 1844, Morse stretched wires from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, New York and sent the message, "What hath God wrought!" through the telegraph machine. The telegraph was a success, In 1874, engineer and inventor Thomas Edison invented quadruplex telegraphy, where two messages could be sent in each direction at one time. In 1915, the multiplex telegraphy let eight or more messages be sent at one time. Because of this and the invention of the teleprinting machines during the mid-1920s the Morse Code telegraph system wasn't needed anymore.

Blake S.
Grade 5 William Penn School Think Quest Team #5729 Radios are used for many purposes. Some examples are communication, radar navigation and television broadcasting. Radios help us get the weather reports. They help NASA speak to astronauts, they even allow us to speak to our friends on the telephone.

Radio's send information through a process called electromagnetic waves. These waves are measured by a metric measurement called a hertz, one kilohertz is equal to 1,000 hertz and a megahertz is 1,000,000 hertz. The term hertz is named after the early radio pioneer Heinrich Hertz.

Radios are made up of two main components; a transmitter and a receiver that send signals back and forth. Although radio technology has advanced since the first radio. It would be hard to imagine what life would be like without radios.

Joshua G.
Grade 5 William Penn School Think Quest Junior Team #5729

Television is great entertainment for many people all over the earth. Television is not just about entertainment, it is about news and lots of information. Television means to see from afar. Seeing far or nearby requires light. Light forms scenes you see on the television screen. But it is not light of the original scene, in television, images and sounds travel electronically, that is, by means of electrical energy.

Scott P. Grade 4 William Penn School Think Quest Junior Team #5729

Konrad Zuse is popularly recognized in Germany as the "father of computer" and his ZI, a programmable automation system build between 1936 and 1938, has been called the first computer in the world.

Herman Hollerith was the first American to help in the invention of the computer in 1890. He invented the Tabulating Machine which was used by the U.S. Government. His company was called the ComputingTabulating-Recording Company, which today is known as IBM.

The ENIAC (the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was built at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania in 1943-1945, and is said to be the first large scale general purpose electronic computer in the world.

What will computers be like in the future? They only thing we can be sure of is that they will be smaller, faster, more affordable, and will be able to process and store more and more information. What will they look like? We will have to wait to see what the future holds.

Rail Transport: a timeline

Trains move on rails. The parts of the train are linked together. Parts of the train are pulled along. Now trains go very fast. Long ago animals pulled trains.

Animal Power The first trains were pulled or pushed were used in mines to transport coal.

Steam Power In the early 1800s, steam engines was used in locomotives to pull trains more quickly along smoother, stronger tracks. Trains began to carry passengers. Steam is made when coal is burned in the fire box in the locomotive, and heats water in the boiler until it turns into steam. The steam is stored in the steam head and then passed through hot pipes to the slide valve. The steam power moves a rod called a piston backwards and forwards. The piston is connected to the driving rod, which turns the wheels. The Rocket is one of the most famous locomotives in the world. It was a steam locomotive built in 1829 and designed by Robert Stephenson. It won a competition to test locomotives for a new passenger train line in England. It travelled at nearly 50 kilometres per hour. By the late 1800s, steam powered passenger trains carried people living in the country to cities for work and for pleasure. City people travelled by train to the countryside or the seaside. On some trains

there were carriages with bedrooms, called sleeping cars, and restaurants and bathrooms had been added. Diesel Power The diesel engine was invented by a German engineer, Rudolf Diesel in 1892. The diesel fuel is burned to drive a generator which makes electricity. The electricity is stored in batteries below the locomotive, and the electricity from the batteries runs an electric motor which drives the wheels. Diesel trains were introduced in the 1930s.These trains were faster, quieter and cleaner than steam trains, and meant passengers had a more comfortable ride and can carry much heavier loads than steam engines. Diesel powered engines are still used today worldwide. Sometimes several diesel locomotives are linked together to haul cargo trains more than a kilometre long. Electric power Electricity was first used to power trains in 1879. Power came from overhead cables, or from electricity running through a rail on the track. High Speed Trains Japan's Shinkansen high-speed trains are often called 'bullet trains', and were the first high speed trains. Services started in 1964 with the trains

travelling at speeds of 210 kilometres per hour.They now travel at up to 300 kp/h. A French high-speed electric train, the TGV (which stands for train grande vitesse, French for 'high-speed train') was developed in the 1970s. It has an electric locomotive at either end and can travel at an average speed of 320 kilometres per hour. On 3 April 2007 it set the record for the fastest wheeled train, reaching a speed of 574.8 km/h. It also holds the world's highest average speed for a regular passenger service. The Maglev train works by magnetic levitation, and has no wheels. It is pulled along above the metal rails by magnets fitted to both the train and the track. Maglev trains are the fastest passenger-carrying vehicles and have travelled at 400 kilometres per hour. The first commercial high-speed maglev train line is the Shanghai (in China) Transrapid Line, which began running in 2004. The 30 km journey is completed in 7 minutes and 20 seconds.

Read more about maglev trains here: http://www.howstuffworks.com:80/maglev-train1.htm

Monorails are only used for short distances. They are electric-powered. Some have wheels made of steel, and run on a steel track. Others straddle a central track and are balanced and guided by side panels and rubber guide wheels. The first electric monorail was built in Germany in 1901 and is still running. It hangs from an overhead track.
Read about monorails around the world here http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/Where.html

Light rail vehicles have replaced trains in some places. They came into use in the early 1970s.Light rail vehicles look like two trams joined together. These electric-powered vehicles run on railway lines and stop at stations as well as running along tram lines picking up passengers in the streets. Light rail vehicles are air conditioned and can carry more than 150 people. They have a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour.

Rail transport in Australia

When rail first started in Australia, private companies in the colonies of NSW, Victoria and SA built their own, and in fact each colony, later on each state, had different gauge (the distance between one track and the other) tracks, so that at

first the trains weren't able to travel from one state to the next. Passengers had to get off the train they started in, walk across the border and get on another train.

very first Australian railway was built in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania 836. It was around 13 kilometres of wooden track running between Hobart a Arthur. Teams of convicts pushed a carriage along the track, and when it g op of a hill, the convicts leapt aboard for a fast ride to the bottom. There wa e in case the carriage was going too fast! 854 the first Australian public steam-train service ran in Victoria, between ders Street Station and Sandridge (now Port Melbourne) The line was 4 metres long. 855 the first railway in New South Wales opened, running between Sydney amatta.

Rail Transport: a timeline

Trains move on rails. The parts of the train are linked together. Parts of the train are pulled along. Now trains go very fast. Long ago animals pulled trains.

Animal Power The first trains were pulled or pushed were used in mines to transport coal.

Steam Power In the early 1800s, steam engines was used in locomotives to pull trains more quickly along smoother, stronger tracks. Trains began to carry passengers. Steam is made when coal is burned in the fire box in the locomotive, and heats water in the boiler until it turns into steam. The steam is stored in the steam head and then passed through hot pipes to the slide valve. The steam power moves a rod called a piston backwards and forwards. The piston is connected to the driving rod, which turns the wheels. The Rocket is one of the most famous locomotives in the world. It was a steam locomotive built in 1829 and designed by Robert Stephenson. It won a competition to test locomotives for a new

passenger train line in England. It travelled at nearly 50 kilometres per hour. By the late 1800s, steam powered passenger trains carried people living in the country to cities for work and for pleasure. City people travelled by train to the countryside or the seaside. On some trains there were carriages with bedrooms, called sleeping cars, and restaurants and bathrooms had been added. Diesel Power The diesel engine was invented by a German engineer, Rudolf Diesel in 1892. The diesel fuel is burned to drive a generator which makes electricity. The electricity is stored in batteries below the locomotive, and the electricity from the batteries runs an electric motor which drives the wheels. Diesel trains were introduced in the 1930s.These trains were faster, quieter and cleaner than steam trains, and meant passengers had a more comfortable ride and can carry much heavier loads than steam engines. Diesel powered engines are still used today worldwide. Sometimes several diesel locomotives are linked together to haul cargo trains more than a kilometre long. Electric power Electricity was first used to power trains in 1879.

Power came from overhead cables, or from electricity running through a rail on the track. High Speed Trains Japan's Shinkansen high-speed trains are often called 'bullet trains', and were the first high speed trains. Services started in 1964 with the trains travelling at speeds of 210 kilometres per hour.They now travel at up to 300 kp/h. A French high-speed electric train, the TGV (which stands for train grande vitesse, French for 'high-speed train') was developed in the 1970s. It has an electric locomotive at either end and can travel at an average speed of 320 kilometres per hour. On 3 April 2007 it set the record for the fastest wheeled train, reaching a speed of 574.8 km/h. It also holds the world's highest average speed for a regular passenger service. The Maglev train works by magnetic levitation, and has no wheels. It is pulled along above the metal rails by magnets fitted to both the train and the track. Maglev trains are the fastest passenger-carrying

vehicles and have travelled at 400 kilometres per hour. The first commercial high-speed maglev train line is the Shanghai (in China) Transrapid Line, which began running in 2004. The 30 km journey is completed in 7 minutes and 20 seconds.
Read more about maglev trains here: http://www.howstuffworks.com:80/maglev-train1.htm

Monorails are only used for short distances. They are electric-powered. Some have wheels made of steel, and run on a steel track. Others straddle a central track and are balanced and guided by side panels and rubber guide wheels. The first electric monorail was built in Germany in 1901 and is still running. It hangs from an overhead track.
Read about monorails around the world here http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/Where.html

Light rail vehicles have replaced trains in some places. They came into use in the early 1970s.Light rail vehicles look like two trams joined together. These electric-powered vehicles run on railway lines and stop at stations as well as running along tram lines picking up passengers in the streets. Light rail vehicles are air conditioned and can carry more than 150 people. They have a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour.

Rail transport in Australia

When rail first started in Australia, private companies in the colonies of NSW, Victoria and SA built their own, and in fact each colony, later on each state, had different gauge (the distance between one track and the other) tracks, so that at first the trains weren't able to travel from one state to the next. Passengers had to get off the train they started in, walk across the border and get on another train.

very first Australian railway was built in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania 836. It was around 13 kilometres of wooden track running between Hobart a Arthur. Teams of convicts pushed a carriage along the track, and when it g op of a hill, the convicts leapt aboard for a fast ride to the bottom. There wa e in case the carriage was going too fast! 854 the first Australian public steam-train service ran in Victoria, between ders Street Station and Sandridge (now Port Melbourne) The line was 4 metres long. 855 the first railway in New South Wales opened, running between Sydney amatta.

Airships & Balloons

Scientists discovered that gases such as hot air and hydrogen float upwards. In 1783, Joseph and Etienne

Montgolfier designed and built the first balloon to carry a basket containing people into the air. The balloon was made with paper and cloth, and the air inside the balloon was heated by smoke from a fire on the ground below. The balloon was anchored to the ground with a rope, and stayed aloft for about 15 minutes. The brothers had previously, in 1782 launched their first hot-air balloon. And earlier in 1783 they made and launched another balloon that carried a sheep, a rooster and a duck. The balloon climbed to a height of about 1.8 kilometres and travelled more than 1.6 kilometres before landing safely. It was airborne for 8 minutes. Among the spectators to this historic event were King Louis XVI of France and his wife Marie Antoinette were. How they fly Modern hot air balloons are made from lightweight, airtight and fireproof synthetic fabric. The air inside the balloon is heated by burning gas, which is stored in tanks inside the basket. The burners which are attached to the basket, heat the air to about 100 C. The hot air makes the balloon go up. To make the balloon go down, the pilot opens the vents on the top of the balloon to slowly release the warm air. The direction of flight is controlled by the wind.

You can watch a video about how hot-air balloons fly here http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/43-how-hot-airballoons-work-video.htm

Airships were built from 1884 onwards to carry cargo and people. They were fitted with engines, a propeller and a rudder for steering.
[2008] Jupiterimages Corporation

The first airship, fitted with a steam engine was flown by Henri Giffard from Paris in 1852. The airship could only fly forward. The most famous airships were called Zeppelins after their inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin. The first one was built in 1900. Zeppelins had rigid aluminum frames covered with fabric inside which were several gas-filled bags. The crew were in the gondola under the nose.
A Zeppelin: Zeppelins were used to drop bombs in World War 1.........................

In 1936 the largest airship ever built, the Hindenburg, was used to carry passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. It was 270 metres long and could carry one hundred passengers. In 1937 the Hindenburg caught fire and the flammable hydrogen gases used to lift the airship exploded as it was docking in the United States. 37 people died in the accident. Modern airships are filled with helium gas which does not explode. They are smaller and are used mainly for advertising or to carry cameras for aerial photography. They are sometimes called 'blimps'.