Who invented the bicycle

Who Invented the Bicycle?

For most people, the bicycle is the vehicle of choice if you can’t drive a car. Many people don’t know who invented this marvellous machine, though.

Most historians trace its origin back to 1817, when a German aristocrat called Karl von Drais invented a two-wheeled wooden machine that propelled riders with their feet. This invention became popular in England and France and became known as the velocipede. Unfortunately, the machine was soon banned as it became a hazard to pedestrians and was rarely seen after the early 1820s.

Things were quiet for decades, but the bicycle pedals were eventually introduced in 1963 in Paris by Pierre Michaux. It is unclear whether he or his employee, Pierre Lallement should be given credit for the innovation. Lallement moved to the United States, where he patented the idea in 1866. The machines started to be called bicycles by 1869, but many people referred to them as “bone shakers”, which described their clunky movement due to the fact that they had a heavy wooden frame and steel wheels.

In the 1870s brought about the new “ordinary” bicycles, with one big wheel at the front and a small one at the back. The main flaw with these was that they had bad breaking, as the rider could fly off the front with the momentum. Eventually, the English inventor John Kemp Starley designed a "safety bicycle" with two small wheels of equal size, a chain drive, and a set of gears. With the added in pneumatic tyres and better braking system, the bicycle sales and production skyrocketed. Over one million bicycles were created by 1899.

What Would You Want on a Deserted Island?

What Would You Want on a Deserted Island?

We are learning to summarise and rate a text on a scale of 1 to 10.

This text interested me because we are reading a book about being stranded on a deserted island. I rate this text 6/10 because it doesn't show what you would want on an island, but it does show some basic survival skills:

Wonderopolis

So, you're on a deserted island. What could you possibly do? Well, this guide can help you.

Before we get into survival skills, we should tell you that you're not alone. Several people have been stranded and survived and/or escaped. Daniel Defoe's classic 1719 novel 'Robinson Crusoe' remains a popular story even today. The story is about a man whose struggles could give you an insight on your own situation. There was also an old TV show called 'Gilligan's Island'. The show featured the crew of the S.S Minnow and their tourist friends who became shipwrecked on an island.

If you don't think that being stranded on an island is that funny, then here are some tips for your survival.

• Look for a source of fresh water. With today's advancements in technology, you should be found within a few hours or a few days, but you can only last 3-4 days without water.
• Build a fire; creating a fire will allow you to cook food and purify water.
• Search for any edible roots, berries, and fruits. Marine life may also be able to be eaten.
• Use whatever resources you have to create a shelter
• Form a signal made out of wood or rocks for planes overhead.

How Many People are on Earth?

For this task, we were to pick out a task from:              Wonderopolis Planet Earth and summarise the text.

I chose: How Many people are on Earth?

The Earth is covered in humans. We're everywhere from the Americas to Africa to Oceania. If you wanted to know how many humans are on planet Earth, you may be surprised to hear the population of the planet is over 7 billion!

Where do all the 7 billion people live? The 10 most populated countries include China, India, U.S.A, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan. Surprisingly, China and India together account for about two and a half billion people! Today, the world's population continues to increase. This due to the fact that more babies are being born than people are dying out. Scientists believe that the population reached 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) around 1804. It did not reach 2 billion until 1927 - a period of over 120 years.  With advancements in technology, less people will be dying, which means a higher birth - death ratio. Scientists estimate that the population will reach around 11 billion around 2100.

Even though the Earth is covered 70% in water, there's plenty of room for people. Scientists estimate that if all 7 billion people stood shoulder - to - shoulder, they would only fit in a space as big as Los Angeles. If you wanted the same 7 billion people to be able to roam freely, they would only fill an area as big as Rhode Island. If space isn't the problem, then what is? The problem is the fact that the Earth may not have enough natural resources to sustain all those people. Every new person needs food, water, shelter, and much more, not to mention the waste