Ancient Chinese Contributions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Ancient Chinese Contributions - Essay Example China can rightfully lay claim to numerous scientific discoveries and technological inventions which greatly enriched human civilization as these paved the way for global progress. This brief paper is a discussion and exposition of such ancient Chinese contributions to civilization. Chinese civilization had existed uninterrupted for several millennia and due to this fact, it was able to develop to such an extent that the ancient Chinese acquired or accumulated enough knowledge about the natural world and perceptive enough to make the right connections to make scientific discoveries based on their theories and hypothesis; the other useful connection was to make practical use of these discoveries through technological inventions and applications so as to make life easier for everybody. Theoretical knowledge was applied to everyday use and for this, world civilization has a lot to be thankful for because the discoveries and inventions of the ancient Chinese served as foundation for further scientific and technological progress to take place. Among the more prominent Chinese contributions are the compass, gunpowder, printing, paper, coal mining, pottery and porcelain, use of petroleum, sericulture, star atlas, and meridian. Based on the partial list mentioned above, the four most important contributions are the compass, gunpowder, paper, and printing. These four inventions contributed a lot to the progress and advance of world civilization as the use of these four discoveries spread worldwide. The four inventions can be considered as the most ingenious and innovative considering the great amount of knowledge, insight, and thinking that went into these four inventions and discoveries. Compass - its discovery was crucial to ship navigation and the eventual discovery of vast new lands and territories beyond the great oceans of the world. Although the compass was

Alternative explaination for any one of the follow technological Essay

Alternative explaination for any one of the follow technological failures - Essay Example Swissair 111’s electrical catastrophe â€Å"involved the wiring in the entertainment system located near the cockpit† (Scarry, p.1). However, military submarines and planes close by are believed to have generated electromagnetic transmissions that impacted the Swissair flight. The purpose of this paper is to select an alternative method of explaining technological failure. Thus, how Charles Perrow’s theory of normal accidents explaining the Three Mile Island Disaster can be used to explain the Swissair 111 accident which took place on the 2nd of September, 1998 will be examined. It will be investigated how according to Perrow’s theory failures interact with each other, and the tight coupling of the elements of the advanced technological system further multiply the chances of disasters taking place on unprecedented scales. It will be seen that instead of providing an alternative explanation, Perrow’s theory basically enhances one’s understanding of the technological failure of Swissair 111, explaining the reason for the crash to take place, as an inevitable or ‘normal’ accident. Apart from the original theory of electromagnetic interference that caused the crash of Swissair 111, Perrow’s theory of normal accidents that explains the Three Mile Island Disaster can be used for elucidating the Swissair accident. According to Perrow, when system characteristics have interactive complexity and tight coupling, the result will be an inevitable system accident or normal accident. â€Å"The odd term ‘normal accident’ is meant to signal that, given the system characteristics, multiple and unexpected interactions of failures are inevitable† (Perrow, p.5). This inevitability of failure is inherent to the system. Although system accidents are uncommon, they can produce catastrophes. The characteristics of the system make it innately vulnerable to accidents, hence the accidents are described as ‘normal’. Thus, the complexity of the