Nasa inventions you might use every day

Adjustable Smoke Detector

Skylab was the first U.S. space station, and the astronauts would need to know if a fire had started or if noxious gases were loose in the vehicle. Teaming up with Honeywell Corporation, NASA invented the first adjustable smoke detector with different sensitivity levels to prevent false alarms. The first smoke detector to hit the consumer market is called the ionization smoke detector. That essentially means that it uses a radioactive element called americium-241 to spot smoke or harmful gasses. When clean air particles of oxygen and nitrogen move through smoke detectors, the americium-241 ionizes them, which creates an electrical current. If foreign smoke particles enter the smoke detector, it disrupts that interaction, triggering the alarm.

Cordless Tools

Although Black & Decker had already invented the first battery-powered tools in 1961, the NASA-related research helped refine the technology that led to lightweight, cordless medical instruments, hand-held vacuum cleaners and other tools. In the mid-1960s, to prepare for the Apollo missions to the moon, NASA needed a tool that astronauts could use to obtain samples of rocks and soil. The drill had to be lightweight, compact and powerful enough to dig deep into the surface of the moon. Since rigging up a cord to a drill in outer space would be a difficult feat, NASA and Black & Decker invented a battery-powered, magnet-motor drill. Working in the context of a limited space environment, Black & Decker developed a computer program for the tool that reduced the amount of power expended during use to maximize battery life.

UNIT 7

Mathematics

The word “mathematics” comes from the Greek “mathema” which means in ancient Greek “what one learns”, “what one gets to know” also “study”, “knowledge”, “learning” and “science” and in modern Greek just “lesson”.

In English until 1700 the term “mathematics” meant “astrology”, “astronomy” rather than “mathematics” as it is now. Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure and change.

Through the use of abstraction and logical reasoning, maths developed from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic study of the shapes and motions of physical objects. Practical maths has been a human activity for as far back as written records exist. The earliest uses of Maths were in trading, land measurement, painting. In addition to recognizing how to count physical objects, prehistoric peoples also knew how to count abstract quantities, like time – days, seasons, years. Elementary arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) naturally followed.

The systematic study of maths in its own right began with the Ancient Greek between 600 and 300 BC.

Maths continued to develop, for example, in China in 300 BC, in India in 100 A.D. and in the Muslim world in AD 800 until the Renaissance when mathematical innovations interacting with new scientific discoveries led to a rapid increase in the present day.

Mathematics is used throughout the world as an essential tool in many fields, including natural science engineering, medicine, and the social sciences.

Nowadays, all sciences suggest problems studied by maths and many problems arise within Maths itself. Often Maths inspired by one area proves useful in many areas. A distinction is often made between pure maths and applied Maths. However pure Maths topics often turn out to have applications, e. g. number theory in cryptography and computer science.

Many mathematicians talk about the elegance of maths, its inner beauty. Simplicity and generality in Maths are valued.

UNIT 8