1 After reading the 1906 statistics discuss how the advances in technology made in the 20th Century have affected our expectations about how we live today There were many advances in technology that affected our expectation of how we live today The first one is that the average life span is much larger because of the better living conditions medicine and food If someone lives past 47 we don t bat an eye but in 1906 this was an accomplishment Back then most doctors didn t have a college education but now we can trust our doctors because they have spent many years obtaining degrees to do a better job Currently we expect an adult to have graduated high school which is much higher than the 6 percent of 1906 Most births take place in a controlled hospital environment whereas back then 95 percent were done in the home The tallest structure in the world was the Eifel Tower but now the sight of towers twice as tall are a common sight to us The price of food is massively increased compared to back then but also everyone makes more money today The internet is another advancement that we cannot imagine living without We have all the information at our fingertips within seconds whereas in 1906 you would have to go to a library to find what you wanted to know 2 Pick a topic from the 20th Century Timeline website and do some further research then discuss its importance The topic I picked was the Colt revolver Samuel Colt patented the Colt revolver in 1850 It was the first revolver to be able to fire 6 shots in a row without having to reload It also used the new metal cartridge ammo which allowed for quick reloading during combat Around 272 000 were produced and were used widely by both private citizens and the army The main use was by the cavalry because it could be used with one hand It was used mostly in the Indian wars as the United States expanded westward It helped shape our current society because it was the start of small guns that could hold multiple shots Our current handguns such as the glock or 1911 can trace their roots back to this gun The ability to fire multiple shots in a row has saved many lives that would otherwise have been lost For example if a US marine lost his rifle and his pistol only shot once and he missed he could be killed or one of his companions It also has given us private citizens a way of effectively defending ourselves from criminals The ability to conceal a gun with multiple shots is a deterrent because the criminal doesn t know who to watch out for These reasons are why I picked the Colt Revolver as an important technological advancement 3 Explore The Top 20 Engineering Feats of the 20th Century website and write about a technology that is listed there What is its significance How would our lives be different without it Is there a downside to it I think the airplane is one of the most significant technological advancements that happened during the twentieth century It is an integral part of our current society Thousands of people fly on them each day to travel large distances very quickly A 3 day driving trip across the United States now takes 8 hours in a plane This speed is very helpful when people have to react to emergencies whether family or otherwise The quick transportation of large amounts of cargo has also been enable by the invention of the plane We can order an item on Amazon and it can be flown to use is a couple days instead of 6 or 7 days of ground travel The way wars are fought has been completely changed as well Now rather than sending troops in first our military send planes to soften up the enemy forces and to take out strategic points This was a key factor in our victory against Japan in World War 2 Our Air Force is currently the strongest in the world and it enables us to project our power over a large part of the planet at once Without airplanes our society would operate at a much slower pace and warfare would be vastly different