User:Elron WolfBane/sandbox

"This is one of the best sites there is on Wikipedia!" - Joshua Lenser

On this webpage, you will find a series of items classified in LESSONS. I teach on Physical Science, Earth Science (rarely Earth Science), and History + Social Studies. I hope you Enjoy. Here is the order the subjects are in: 1. Physical Science 2. History and Social Studies 3. Earth Science Note to Viewers- The content on this page is 100% true. It has been reviewed by pros.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE Elron WolfBane Lesson 1: Magnets By D.B. Magnets and Electromagnets

A regular magnet is a permanent one and electromagnet is an artificially created magnet which behaves as a magnet when current is passed through a wire around a iron bar. Electromagnets are widely used for many purposes.

ELECTROMAGNETS- An electromagnet is a magnet that runs on electricity. Unlike a permanent magnet, the strength of an electromagnet can easily be changed by changing the amount of electric current that flows through it. The poles of an electromagnet can even be reversed by reversing the flow of electricity.

REGULAR MAGNETS- A regular magnet is a permanent magnet. A magnet has a North and South Pole. If you split a regular magnet, it would still be the same magnet, but it would be smaller.

A common way to generate electricity by using magnets is to spin the magnets in a thick coil of wire. Take an electro-magnetic motor for example. It works by creating a magnetic field that changes. The magnets are attracted to different points as the field changes, causing a circular motion. This makes the shaft of the motor to spin. Simply spinning the shaft of such a motor with an outside force reverses the process, the magnet causes the electrons in the motor to move, creating electricity. The good side of simple electro-magnetic motors is that they work both ways, electricity in, force out. Force in, electricity out.

We use Electromagnet induction in almost everything we have that is associated with magnets. Electromagnetic Induction is the principle used in electric generators (also called alternators), microphones, electric guitars, transformers, and Tesla coils. End of Lesson 1

Lesson 2: Black Holes By Elron WolfBane

Black Holes

During a Super-Nova event, stars greater than five solar masses collapse into objects even smaller and denser than neutron stars. Even though these objects would be very hot, their immense gravitation would prevent light from leaving their surface, and consequently, they would literally disappear from site. These interesting bodies have been named, appropriately, Black Holes. Anything that moved anywhere near a black hole would be immediately devoured and lost forever. How can astronomers locate an object whose gravitational field prevents the escape of all matter and energy, you may ask? It so happens that astronomers have found a few likely candidates, one of which is named Cygnus X-1. These apparent black holes are located in binary systems in conjunction with large Red Giants. Gasses are pulled from their giant companion and spiral into the black hole at great speeds. Theories predict that these whirling gases would be heated to very high temperatures and thus emit a flood of x-rays before being engulfed. Using a special device, astronomers can see the x-rays surrounding the black hole, thus locating it. I mentioned a star in the first paragraph called a Neutron star. Theoretical indicate that stars of three solar masses would not become white dwarves. Rather, they would form into the even smaller neutron stars. In the White Dwarf, the electrons are pushed close to the nucleus, whereas in a Neutron star, the electrons, under much greater pressure, are forced to combine with protons to produce neutrons ( Electrons + Protons=Neutrons, hence the name Neutron stars). That is what a Neutron star is. Now onto the second question that needs answering, where is the nearest black hole? Astronomers think there is a black hole in the center of our galaxy. Relatively speaking, that is pretty close. But it's far enough away that we aren't in any danger of being sucked in by it. In my opinion, and probably everyone else’s, it is great that it is far enough that we won’t get affected. As I stated in the first paragraph, basically, some people may think you get transported to another dimension or across space. I don’t really think that anyone can guess what might happen unless someone in a space craft went into one. Even then, I think we would probably loose contact with the craft and loose it forever. End of lesson 2

Lesson 3: Iron By Elron WolfBane

Iron and it’s Properties

Iron Iron (Fe) is a lustrous, ductile, malleable, silver-gray metal (group VIII of the periodic table). It is known to exist in four distinct crystalline forms. Iron rusts in polluted and moist air, but not in dry air. It dissolves readily in dilute acids. Iron is chemically active and forms two major series of chemical compounds, the bivalent iron (II), or ferrous, compounds and the trivalent iron (III), or ferric, compounds. The atomic number of iron is 26. The Atomic Mass is 55.85 g.mol -1 and the density-7.8 g.cm-3 at 20 °C with a melting point of 1536 °C and a boiling point of 2861 °C. . Applications Iron is the most used of all the metals with 95% of all the metal tonnage produced worldwide. Thanks to the combination of it’s low cost and high strength it is indispensable. Iron is used to manufacture basically everything from food containers to family cars, from screwdrivers to washing machines, from cargo ships to paper staples. Steel is the best known alloy of iron, and some of the forms that iron takes include: pig iron, cast iron, carbon steel, and wrought iron, alloy steels, and iron oxides.

Iron in the environment Iron is believed to be the tenth most abundant element in the universe. Iron is also the most abundant element (by mass, 34.6%) making up the Earth. The concentration of iron in the different layers of the Earth ranges from high at the inner core to about 5% in the outer crust. Most of this iron is found in various iron oxides, such as the minerals hematite, magnetite, and taconite. The earth's core is believed to be made up of a metallic iron-nickel alloy.

Iron is essential to most living things, from micro-organisms to humans. World production of new iron is over 500 million tons a year and recycled iron another 300 million tons. Economically workable reserves of iron ores exceed 100 billion tons. The main mining areas in the world are China, Brazil, Australia, Russia and Ukraine, with sizeable amounts mined in the USA, Canada, Venezuela, Sweden and India. Iron-arsenate, pentahydrate may be hazardous to the environment; special attention should be given to plants, air and water. It is strongly advised not to let the chemical enter into the environment because it persists in the environment. Iron ore mining methods vary by the type of ore being mined. There are four main types of iron ore deposits worked currently, depending on the mineralogy and geology of the ore deposits. These are magnetite, titanomagnetite, massive hematite and pisolitic ironstone deposits.

Health effects of iron Iron may cause conjunctivitis, choroiditis, and retinitis if a person comes in contact with it and it remains in the tissues. Working in environments where you inhale excessive concentrations of iron oxide fumes or dusts may result in development of a benign pneumoconiosis, called siderosis, which is observable as an x-ray change. No physical impairment of lung function has been associated with siderosis. Inhalation of excessive concentrations of iron oxide may enhance the risk of lung cancer development in workers exposed to pulmonary carcinogens. A more common problem for humans is iron deficiency, which leads to anemia. An average man needs an approximate daily intake of 8 mg of iron and the average woman 18 mg (pregnant women and nursing mothers need more); a normal diet will generally provided all that is needed. In the human body, iron is present in all cells and has several vital functions -- as a carrier of oxygen to the tissues from the lungs in the form of hemoglobin, as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes, and as an integral part of enzyme reactions in various tissues. Too little iron can interfere with these vital functions and lead to Morbidity and Mortality.

Iron Age The Iron Age did not begin in the Americas until the arrival of the Europeans. Iron beads were worn in Egypt as early as 4000 B.C., but these were made of meteoric iron, evidently shaped by the rubbing process used in shaping implements of stone. The oldest known article of iron shaped by hammering is a dagger found in Egypt that was made before 1350 B.C. This dagger is believed to have been made by the Hittites. The use of melted iron ornaments and ceremonial weapons became common during the period extending from 1900 to 1400 B.C. About this time, the invention of tempering was developed by the Chalybes of the Hittite empire. It is possible that the Hittite kings kept iron working techniques secret and restricted export of iron weapons. After the downfall of the Hittite empire in 1200 B.C., the migrants spreading through Southern Europe and the Middle East insured the rapid transmission of iron technology. In Europe knowledge of iron smelting was acquired in Greece and the Balkans, and later in Northern Italy and central Europe. The Early Iron Age in central Europe, dating from c.800 B.C. to c.500 B.C., is known as the Hallstatt period. Celtic migrations, beginning in the 5th century B.C. spread the use of iron into Western Europe and to the British Isles. The Late Iron Age in Europe (at about the 5th century) is called La Tène. The casting of iron did not become technically useful until the Industrial Revolution. The people of the Iron Age developed the basic economic innovations of the Bronze Age and laid the foundations for feudal organization. They used the crops and domesticated animals that came earlier from the Middle East. Ox-drawn plows and wheeled vehicles became important in changing the agricultural patterns. For the first time humans were able to exploit efficiently the temperate forests. Villages were fortified and warfare was conducted on horseback and in horse-drawn chariots. Distinctive art styles in metal, pottery and stone characterized many Iron Age cultures. End of Lesson 3

Lesson 4: Ellen Richards By Elron WolfBane

ELLEN SWALLOW RICHARDS CHEMICAL ENGINEER

Ellen Swallow Richards was born to an old, but poor family in 1842 and raised on a farm in Massachusetts. Ellen worked hard and saved her money to attend one of the first woman’s college in the United States, Vassar College. At first, Ellen planned to follow in the footsteps of astronomer Maria Mitchell, but instead she chose to focus on chemistry. In the early 1870s, Ellen became the first woman student, and later professor, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Even though she graduated from MIT, they would not give her the PhD she deserved because she was a woman. While at MIT, her interest in the environmental problems associated with rapid urbanization led her to pioneer the field of Sanitary Engineering. She became a chemical engineer and the person who introduced the word ecology in the United States in 1892. She was known as “the woman who founded ecology.” Ellen also made important contributions to industrial chemistry, metallurgy and domestic science and was a founder of the Association of Collegiate Alumni, later to become the American Association of University Women. She started the Women’s Science Laboratory, opened the Sanitary Science Laboratory at MIT, and co-founded the Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In 1875, Ellen married Professor Robert H. Richards, who was the head of the Department of Mining Engineering at MIT, and they started working on the chemistry of ore analysis. This work led to Ellen being elected as the first woman member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers in 1879. From her days at the Women’s Laboratory, Ellen wanted to apply scientific principles to domestic topics like good nutrition, pure foods, proper clothing, physical fitness, sanitation, and efficient practices that would allow omen more time for other pursuits other than cooking and cleaning. In 1882, she published The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning: A Manual for Housekeepers. In 1890, under Ellen’s guidance, the New England Kitchen opened in Boston. It was a model kitchen that offered low-cost and nutritious food to working class families and instructed in people in safe food preparation. Three years later, Ellen created the Rumford Kitchen at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Like its predecessor, it provided inexpensive, but nutritious meals and informed people about nutrition and food preparation. At this same time, Ellen was working as a dietary consultant to hospitals. Richards also worked with the Boston public school system to provide school lunches and to introduce courses in domestic science. She organized a summer conference in Lake Placid, New York, whose goal was to define standards for teacher training and certification in the new field of home economics. In 1908, the attendants of this conference formed the American Home Economics Association and decided to elect Ellen as their first president. In 1910, she started the Journal of Home Economics and she was also assigned to the council of the National Education Association. As a member of this council, Ellen was put in charge of looking after the teaching of home economics in public schools. In that same year, she was awarded an honorary Ph.D. degree by Smith College. Ellen Swallow Richards died in 1911. End of Lesson 4

Lesson 5: Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr

Niels Henrik David Bohr was a renouned scientist and was best known for his research in the field of Atomic Theory. He earned a Nobel Prize for this work in 1922. Niels was born in Copenhagen on October 7, 1885, the son of Christian Bohr, Professor of Physiology at Copenhagen University, and his wife Ellen, Nee Adler. Niels, together with his younger brother Harold, grew up in an atmosphere that was great for the development of a genius. His father was an eminent physiologist and was largely responsible for awakening his son’s interest in physics while still at school, his mother came from a family distinguished in the field of education.

After finishing his early education at the Gammelholm Grammar School in 1903, he became an undergraduate at Trinity College in Cambridge. Then Bohr entered Copenhagen University where he came under the guidance of Professor C. Christiansen, a profoundly original and highly endowed physicist. He then studied under Ernest Rutherford at the Victoria University in Manchester, England. He earned his Master's degree in Physics in 1909 and later his Doctorate in 1911. While he was still a student at the University, The Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen announced of a prize to be awarded for the solution of a certain scientific problem. This caused Niels to take up an experimental and theoretical investigation of the surface tension by means of oscillating fluid jets. This work, which he carried out in his Dad's laboratory and for which he received the prize offered (a gold medal), was published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, 1908. Bohr's studies, however, became more and more theoretical in character, his doctor's disputation being an all theoretical piece of work on the explanation of the properties of the metals with the aid of the electron theory, which remains to this day a classic on the subject. It was in this work that Bohr was first confronted with the implications of Planck's quantum theory of radiation. Bohr published is model of atomic structure in 1913, introducing the theory of electrons traveling in orbits around the atom’s nucleus. Bohr also introduced the idea that an electron could drop from a high-energy orbit to a lower one, emitting a photon (light quantum) of discrete energy. This became the basis for the mechanics of quantum theory. In 1943, Niels fled his home country shortly before he was to be arrested by the German police. He escaped to Sweden and eventually made his way to the United States where he worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. After World War II, he went back to Copenhagen and became and advocate for the peaceful use of nuclear technology. In 1955 he organized the first Atoms for Peace conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Niels was concerned about the nuclear arms race, but he believed that the secrets of nuclear energy should be shared among the scientific community. He visited President Franklin Roosevelt to convince him to share the results of the Manhattan project with the Russians in the hopes of speeding up the results. Roosevelt suggested that he speak with the English about this idea and get their approval. He met with Prime Minister Winston Churchhill, who opposed the idea. He had a wife named Margrethe and they had six children but two of which died young. The rest of his children grew up to be very successful and one of them, Aage Niels Bohr, won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1975. Niels Bohr died in 1962 in Copenhagen. The element bohrium is named in his honor. End of Lesson 5

Lesson 6: Famous Physicists Famous Physicists

Pierre Curie - Pierre was born in 1859 and showed scientific brilliance at an early age. When Pierre was 18, he was working as a laboratory assistant at the Sorbonne in Paris, and at the same time, conducted his first important original research on calculating wavelengths of heat waves. Him and his brother Jacques, conducted important studies of crystal structure and discovered piezoelectricity, a type of electricity that is generated on a crystal by a change of temperature. In 1882, Curie was appointed Supervisor at the School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry in Paris. While there, he worked extensively on his experiments in magnetism and discovered the basic principle of relating magnetic attraction and temperature, which became known as Curie’s Law.

Pierre met his wife, Marie Sklodowska, a Polish-born, French physicist, in 1894 and they were married in 1895. They became one of the most important scientific couples in history. Their scientific curiosity was piqued by Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity. He also studied the effects of radioactivity on living tissue and laid the groundwork for radiation therapy in medicine. He became a lecturer at Sorbonne in 1900 and full professor in 1904. His wife assumed the Sorbonne professorship after his tragic death in April 1906, when he was struck and killed by a speeding wagon in Paris. Because of her dedication to their work, even after Pierre’s death, Madame Curie earned a reputation equal to, or surpassing her husbands.

Marie Curie - was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw Poland. Despite some personal losses in her life (her mom and oldest sister died before she was 11), Marie graduated from high school at age 15 with high honors. In 1891, she attended Sorbonne University and graduated in three years with masters degrees in both physics and mathematics. Marie won a scholarship for her work in physics and she was hired by the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry to investigate the magnetic properties of different steels. In her search for a lab to use for this research, she was introduced to Pierre, who let her work in his lab to complete her research. After their marriage, and Marie completing her work for the Society, Marie began to look for work that would help her earn a doctorate, something no woman in the world had yet earned. She decided to study uranium rays.

Marie was the first person to win two Nobel prizes for her scientific contribution in the field of radioactivity. The first was in collaboration with her husband, Pierre, and physicist Henri Becquerel in 1903. The second, she won alone 1911. Together, Marie and Pierre also discovered the element Polonium. In 1910, Marie published her treaties on Radioactivity. The ‘curie’ is a unit of measurement now used in radiation studies and it was named after them for there great contributions. After her husband’s death, she persuaded the French government and the Pasteur Foundation to fund the Radium Institute in Paris in order to further her and her husband’s research in Radium. On July 4, 1934, Marie Curie died of Aplastic Enemia, a blood disease, which is usually a result of being around too much radiation.

Henri Becquerel – (1852-1908) Antoine Henri Becquerel was born in 1852 into a famous French scientific family, in which including his son Jean, produced four generations of scientists. He attended Polytechnic School and the School of Bridges and Highways in Paris. For many years, he worked as am engineer in the French Department of Bridges and Highways as an experimental physicist.

Henri was a French physicist that discovered radioactivity and identified some of the properties of radioactive materials. For his work on radioactivity, Becquerel shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with Pierre and Marie Curie. Henry wanted to know if he could create any connection between visible and invisible Radiation. He created an experiment to test his idea. In this experiment, he wrapped a photographic plate in lots of layers of heavy paper. Henry then put a phosphorescent crystal of the wrapped plate and shined a light on it. When he later examined the plate, he saw that it had a shadow of the crystal. He noticed that the substance produced a photographic image even when it had not been exposed to light. The radiation had come from the substance without any external action. Later Becquerel started working again on radioactivity, building on the advances made by the Curies. He measured the deflection of Beta particles and found that Beta particles are electrons.

Becquerel published his findings in many papers, principally in the Annales de Physique et de Chimie and the Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. He was the first one to write about the effects of radiation on living tissue. He sufffered radiation burns on his own body from carrying a lump of radium in a pocket. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1889. He became the president of the Academy shortly before his death in 1908. He was a member also of the Accademia dei Lincei and of the Royal Academy of Berlin, amongst others. He was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1900. He was married to Mlle. Janin, the daughter of a civil engineer. He died in August of 1908.

Enrico Fermi – (1901-1954) Enrico Fermi was an Italian born, Americanized, physicist who made fundamental contributions to modern nuclear physics. Fermi was the very first scientist to split the atom, but he did not realize what he had done at this time. Later, Fermi and his co-workers developed the first atomic weapon, which was used in warfare against Japan in 1945. Later in his life, Fermi and other scientists discovered that the way Enrico had split the atom had harnessed atomic energy. During the early years of his career in Rome he occupied himself with electrodynamic problems and with theoretical investigations on various spectroscopic phenomena. But a capital turning-point came when he directed his attention from the outer electrons towards the atomic nucleus itself. Following the discovery by Curie and Joliot of artificial radioactivity, he demonstrated that nuclear transformation occurs in almost every element subjected to neutron bombardment. This work resulted in the discovery of slow neutrons that same year, leading to the discovery of nuclear fission and the production of elements lying beyond what was until then the Periodic Table.

Lord Ernest Rutherford – (1871-1937) Lord Ernest Rutherford was one of the greatest physicists of modern time. For his work in nuclear, Rutherford is known as the “Father of Nuclear physics.” He discovered the basic principals of Radioactivity, Established the nuclear theory of the atom, and achieved the first artificial disintegration of a chemical element. He also deeply influenced several generations of physicists to come. Rutherford had a long carrier in physics. He served the scientific community well, and received many honors. In 1896, Henry Becquerel discovered that the element Uranium gives off radiation. Rutherford identified the new types of radiation, which were different from X-Rays. He named them Alpha and Beta Rays.

Rutherford published several books: Radioactivity, Radioactive Transformations, being his Silliman Lectures at Yale University; Radiation from Radioactive Substances, with James Chadwick and C.D. Ellis - a thoroughly documented book which serves as a chronological list of his many papers to learned societies, The Electrical Structure of Matter; The Artificial Transmutation of the Elements; The Newer Alchemy. End of Lesson 6

HISTORY AND SOCIAL STUDIES For your own benefit, I have included the Decloration of Independance with the series of lessons for History and Social Studies.

The Decloration of Independance IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated: Column 1 Georgia: Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton Column 2 North Carolina: William Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Lynch, Jr.  Arthur Middleton Column 3 Massachusetts: John Hancock Maryland: Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton Column 4 Pennsylvania: Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean Column 5 New York: William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark Column 6 New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett William Whipple Massachusetts: Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton

Lesson 1: Thomas Jefferson- A Biography

Brief Biography of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Thomas Jefferson -- author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, third president of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia -- voiced the aspirations of a new America as no other individual of his era. As public official, historian, philosopher, and plantation owner, he served his country for over five decades. His father Peter Jefferson was a successful planter and surveyor and his mother Jane Randolph a member of one of Virginia's most distinguished families. Having inherited a considerable landed estate from his father, Jefferson began building Monticello when he was twenty-six years old. Three years later, he married Martha Wayles Skelton, with whom he lived happily for ten years until her death. Their marriage produced six children, but only two survived to adulthood. Jefferson, who never remarried, maintained Monticello as his home throughout his life, always expanding and changing the house. Jefferson inherited slaves from both his father and father-in-law. In a typical year, he owned about 200, almost half of them under the age of sixteen. About eighty of these lived at Monticello; the others lived on adjacent Albemarle County plantations, and on his Poplar Forest estate in Bedford County, Virginia. Jefferson freed two slaves in his lifetime and five in his will and chose not to pursue two others who ran away. All were members of the Hemings family; the seven he eventually freed were skilled tradesmen. Having attended the College of William and Mary, Jefferson practiced law and served in local government as a magistrate, county lieutenant, and member of the House of Burgesses in his early professional life. As a member of the Continental Congress, he was chosen in 1776 to draft the Declaration of Independence, which has been regarded ever since as a charter of American and universal liberties. The document proclaims that all men are equal in rights, regardless of birth, wealth, or status, and that the government is the servant, not the master, of the people. After Jefferson left Congress in 1776, he returned to Virginia and served in the legislature. Elected governor from 1779 to 1781, he suffered an inquiry into his conduct during his last year in office that, although finally fully repudiated, left him with a life-long pricklishness in the face of criticism. During the brief private interval in his life following his governorship, Jefferson wrote Notes on the State of Virginia. In 1784, he entered public service again, in France, first as trade commissioner and then as Benjamin Franklin's successor as minister. During this period, he avidly studied European culture, sending home to Monticello, books, seeds and plants, statues and architectural drawings, scientific instruments, and information. In 1790 he accepted the post of secretary of state under his friend George Washington. His tenure was marked by his opposition to the pro-British policies of Alexander Hamilton. In 1796, as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Republicans, he became vice-president after losing to John Adams by three electoral votes. Four years later, he defeated Adams and became president, the first peaceful transfer of authority from one party to another in the history of the young nation. Perhaps the most notable achievements of his first term were the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803 and his support of the Lewis and Clark expedition. His second term, a time when he encountered more difficulties on both the domestic and foreign fronts, is most remembered for his efforts to maintain neutrality in the midst of the conflict between Britain and France; his efforts did not avert war with Britain in 1812. Jefferson was succeeded as president in 1809 by his friend James Madison, and during the last seventeen years of his life, he remained at Monticello. During this period, he sold his collection of books to the government to form the nucleus of the Library of Congress. Jefferson embarked on his last great public service at the age of seventy-six, with the founding of the University of Virginia. He spearheaded the legislative campaign for its charter, secured its location, designed its buildings, planned its curriculum, and served as the first rector. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, just hours before his close friend John Adams, on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was eighty-three years old, the holder of large debts, but according to all evidence a very optimistic man. It was Jefferson's wish that his tomb stone reflect the things that he had given the people, not the things that the people had given to him. It is for this reason that Thomas Jefferson's epitaph reads: HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA BORN APRIL 2, 1743 O.S. DIED JULY 4. 1826 Many good biographies of Jefferson are available. Perhaps the single most respected Jefferson scholar was Dumas Malone, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning six-volume biography, Jefferson and His Time. In 1993 the Thomas Jefferson Foundation published Thomas Jefferson: A Brief Biography, an essay written by Malone. Titles are available from the Monticello Museum Shops at (434) 984-9840. I Rise With the Sun" A typical day for Jefferson started early, because, in his own words, "Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun." He told of a fifty-year period in which the sun had never caught him in bed; he rose as soon as he could read the hands of the clock kept directly opposite his bed. Record-Keeping After rising, Jefferson measured and recorded the temperature. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Jefferson repeated the measurement, as he found "the hottest point of the 24 hours is about four o'clock. . . and the dawn of the day the coldest." He also recorded the direction and speed of the wind and the amount of precipitation. From indoors, Jefferson could see a weathervane (weathervane.qt, 840K) positioned over the Northeast Portico of the house; he could also read the wind direction off a compass rose (connected to the weathervane directly above it) on the Northeast Portico's ceiling. Jefferson made note of the weather and other indexes of climate, such as the migration of birds and the appearance of flowers, throughout his life, wherever he was, including France, Washington, and Philadelphia. He shared his records with others in the hope of creating a national database of meteorological information. Morning Preparations After his record-keeping, Jefferson started his own fire and soaked his feet in cold water. He maintained the foot bath for sixty years and attributed his good health in part to this habit. Jefferson's clothes, according to his granddaughter, were "simple and adapted to his ideas of neatness and comfort . . . and sometimes blending the fashions of several periods." In his pockets, Jefferson carried such a variety of portable instruments for making observations and measurements that he's been dubbed a "traveling calculator." Among his collection of pocket-sized devices were scales, drawing instruments, a thermometer, a surveying compass, a level, and even a globe. To record all these measurements, Jefferson carried a small ivory notebook (pictured) on which he could write in pencil. Back in his Cabinet, or office, he later copied the information into any of seven books in which he kept records about his garden, farms, finances, and other concerns; he then erased the writing in the ivory notebook. "Mechanical Inventions" Jefferson kept clothes in a closet at the foot of his bed, on what his grandson-in-law called a "turning-machine" (shown in conjectural drawing). Another guest reported: "In a recess at the foot of the bed was a horse with forty-eight projecting hands on which hung his coats and waistcoats and which he could turn round with a long stick; a knick-knack that Jefferson was fond of showing with many other little mechanical inventions." Monticello was filled with Jefferson's innovations, many of which he designed or adapted "with a greater eye to convenience." As in the rest of the house, the bedroom's furnishings illustrate many of Jefferson's ideas about the efficient use of time, space, and light, including prominently placed clocks, space-saving alcove beds, and light-maximizing mirrors.

Here is a timeline:

1735	 	Peter Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's father, patented 1,000-acre tract which became Monticello. 1743	 	Thomas Jefferson born at Shadwell. 1757	 	Peter Jefferson died. 1760-62	 	Thomas Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary. 1762	 	Began study of law with George Wythe. 1764	 	Came into inheritance at age of 21. 1767	 	Admitted to practice law before General Court. 1768	Elected to House of Burgesses. Leveling of Monticello mountaintop begun. 1770	 	Construction begun at Monticello. Shadwell burned. Moved to South Pavilion at Monticello. 1772	 	Married Martha Wayles Skelton. Daughter Martha born. 1773	 	Graveyard at Monticello established with the interment of Jefferson's friend and brother-in-law Dabney Carr. 1774	Wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Retired from legal practice. Inherited 11,000 acres of land and 135 slaves from his father-in-law. Laid off ground for kitchen garden. Daughter Jane Randolph born. 1775	Elected to Continental Congress. Daughter Jane Randolph died. 1776	Drafted Declaration of Independence. Elected to Virginia House of Delegates. Appointed to revise Virginia laws. (Get an .mp3 of the Declaration.) Mother Jane Randolph Jefferson died. 1777	Drafted Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, passed by General Assembly in 1786. Unnamed son born and died. 1778	Drafted Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge. Daughter Mary (Maria) born. Brickwork of first home (Monticello) completed. 1779-81	Served as Governor of Virginia. 1780	 	Daughter Lucy Elizabeth born. Began Notes on the State of Virginia. 1781	 	British troops at Monticello. Daughter Lucy Elizabeth died. 1782	 	Second Lucy Elizabeth born. Wife Martha died. First house substantially completed. 1783	Elected delegate to Congress. 1784-89	In France as Commissioner and Minister. 1784	 	Daughter Lucy Elizabeth died. 1787	Published Notes on the State of Virginia. 1790-93	Served as first United States Secretary of State. 1794	 	Began commercial manufacture of nails on Mulberry Row. Manumitted slave Robert Hemings. 1796	 	Remodeling and enlarging of Monticello begun. Manumitted slave James Hemings. 1797-1801	Served as United States Vice President. 1797-1815	Served as president of the American Philosophical Society. 1800	 	Dome constructed on Monticello. 1801-09	Served as United States President. 1803	Louisiana Purchase concluded. Lewis and Clark expedition launched. 1804	 	Daughter Maria Jefferson Eppes died. 1806	Lewis and Clark expedition concluded. House at Poplar Forest begun. 1807	 	Oval flower beds near Monticello laid out. Shadwell merchant mill completed. 1808	 	At Monticello, North Pavilion completed and South Pavilion remodeled. Winding walk and flower beds on West Lawn laid out. 1809	Retired from presidency and public life. Remodeling of Monticello and construction of dependencies largely completed. Vegetable garden platform completed. 1812	 	Garden Pavilion constructed. 1815	Sold 6,700-volume library to Congress. 1817	Cornerstone of Central College (later University of Virginia) laid. 1822-25	 	Monticello roof recovered with tin shingles. 1824	 	Historic reunion with the Marquis de Lafayette at Monticello. 1825	University of Virginia opened. 1826	 	Died at Monticello, July 4.

A re-creation of a spherical sundial designed by Thomas Jefferson is now in place on the North Terrace of Monticello .The device, which features a wooden sphere 10 1/2 inches in diameter, reproduces a sundial made at Monticello sometime between 1809 and 1816. The dial was installed near where the original stood, based on a description by a visitor to Monticello in 1832. The whereabouts of the original Jefferson sundial is unknown. The design for the re-creation was based on drawings by Jefferson and a detailed description in a letter to the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe dated Aug. 27, 1816. Jefferson’s sundial was something of a novelty in its time. There is no evidence that spherical dials were in use in North America before Jefferson produced his version, although various types based on the same principle existed in Europe. The re-created sphere has horizontal lines drawn for the Tropic of Cancer, the Equator, and the Tropic of Capricorn. Vertical lines extending from tropic to tropic represent the hours of the day, indicated by Roman numerals below the Tropic of Capricorn. Progressively shorter vertical lines represent half-hour, quarter-hour, and five-minute intervals. The sphere is mounted on a tapered neck with the Equator tilted on an angle based on the location’s latitude, 38 degrees, I' North. The noon line is aligned with the true north-south axis. Solar time can be determined by moving the meridian, a bar of thin sheet iron that pivots on the north and south poles. Solar time is indicated when the bar casts the least shadow on the sphere. However, to discourage handling and to preserve the mechanism, the meridian has been set in place to indicate noon. The device rests on a classical pedestal of Jefferson’s design and a cast-stone capital modeled on the “corn cob” capitals designed by Latrobe for the old vestibule of the Senate wing in the U.S. Capitol. The original capital, sent by Latrobe as a gift to Jefferson in 1809 has not been located. In an 1817 letter to Latrobe, Jefferson remarked “my dial captivates every body foreign as well as home-bred, as a handsome object & accurate measurer of time.”

While serving as George Washington's secretary of state (1790-1793), Thomas Jefferson devised an ingenious, and secure method to encode and decode messages: the wheel cipher. During the American Revolution, Jefferson had relied primarily on messengers to hand-carry sensitive letters, but codes became an essential part of his correspondence when he was America's minister to France (1784-1789) since European postmasters opened and read all letters passing through their command.

Jefferson's wheel cipher consisted of twenty-six cylindrical wooden pieces, each threaded onto an iron spindle. The letters of the alphabet were inscribed on the edge of each wheel in a random order. Turning these wheels, words could be scrambled and unscrambled. Although Jefferson apparently abandoned use of the wheel after 1802, it was "re-invented" twice: first by a French government official around 1890, and then just prior to World War I by an officer in the United States Army. Designated as M-94, the latter version was used by the Army and other military services from 1922 to the beginning of World War II. Wheel Cipher Disassembled Click Image to Enlarge As an example, the sender of the message shown in the picture, "COOL JEFFERSON WHEEL CIPHER," spells the message out and then looks to any other line of text -- possibly the one directly above, which on this version of the cipher begins with the letter "N." The sender then copies the rest of the letters from that line into the letter to spell out "NKYG NSUS NXML CQYO TYUH HFTD". The recipient of the coded message would spell out these random-seeming letters on his own identical cipher and then begin looking for the one line that made sense. In this case, the line below.

The cipher shown is a reproduction made according to Jefferson's instructions, with the exception that it has only 24 wheels instead of 26. The model is presently in use at Monticello's Education Department. Another model, created by scholar Silvio Bedini, is in the collection of at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. For further information, see Mr. Bedini's Thomas Jefferson, Statesman of Science and Jefferson and Science. Jefferson's Plow Moldboard of Least Resistance Jefferson had an abiding interest in improving the technology of farming. One of his more important contributions to agriculture was the "mouldboard of least resistance" for a plow. While serving as minister to France, Jefferson had the opportunity to observe European plow designs. Their deficiencies inspired him to set down in a memorandum (1788) his plans for an improved moldboard, the wooden part of the plow that lifts up and turns over the sod cut by the iron share and colter. He wished to make that lifting and turning action as efficient as possible, so that the plow could be pulled through the soil with the least expenditure of force. He brought his love of mathematics to his design, which he declared was "mathematically demonstrated to be perfect." By 1794, Jefferson had put his plans into action at Monticello. He had a plow fitted with a wooden moldboard of his design and reported to Sir John Sinclair (23 March 1798) that "an experience of five years has enabled me to say, it answers in practice to what it promises in theory." In addition to offering the least resistance as it was pulled through the soil, Jefferson's moldboard had a further advantage: "It may be made by the coarsest workman, by a process so exact, that its form shall never be varied by a single hair's breadth." Ease of duplication was thus another measure of the usefulness of his design. In 1814 Jefferson began to have his moldboards cast in iron. He informed Charles Willson Peale (21 March 1815) that the plow with his iron moldboard was "so light that the two small horses or mules draw it with less labor than I have ever before seen necessary. It does beautiful work and is approved by everyone." Just how widely Jefferson's moldboard was adopted by others is unclear. He never sought to patent it, and in fact sent numerous models to friends at home and abroad, where his design met with general approval. Jefferson's moldboard was featured in James Mease's Domestic Encyclopedia (Philadelphia, 1803), and the French Society of Agriculture awarded Jefferson its gold medal and membership as a foreign associate. A full-scale model of a plow with Jefferson's moldboard is on display at the Monticello Visitors Center near Monticello. For further reading, see Edwin M. Betts, ed., Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book (pp. 47-64) and Betts, ed., Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book (pp. 649-654). Publishing information is available.