The Tunguska Event

                     The Tunguska Event

     The largest explosion ever recorded occurred in the year 1908. It was known as the Tunguska event. Sometime early in the morning on June 30^th an explosion took place. No one to this day knows what it was exactly, but it was believed to be a comet or meteoroid. This explosion was found near the Tunguska River in Russia. Many scientists have studied this explosion and it appeared to have exploded before impact of the surface of the earth. Because it did not hit the earth before it exploded there was no crater and there have not been any fragments of the crater or meteor found either. The explosion was so great that it could be measured to be the same as 15 megatons of TNT. The explosion covered 500,000 acres and catching 100 square kilometers of forest to flame. Lake Cheko, which is about 5 miles from the point where the crater was thought to be, was later discovered to be the crater.

Sources:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071107-russia-crater.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/609132/Tunguska-event

Ford Model T

                                  Ford Model T

     The ford model T revolutionized travelling in the United States. It was the first affordable automobile for the middle classmen. It also accommodated the family in their travels because it had the seating space. The object of Henry Ford was to build a car that would take the place of horse and buggies and therefore become the main form of transportation. In order for Ford to do this he knew he had keep the price of the vehicle low. Ford came out with the model T on October 1 at a price of $825.00. Over 10,000 models T’s were sold in the first year that they were released to the public.

 After 4 years, Ford dropped the price to $575.00 making it even more affordable and he was able to transform American transportation. Minimum wage was raised by Ford from $2.83 for a 9-hour day to $5.00 for an 8-hour day, therefore making happy workers.

The development of the assembly line occurred in the Ford factory and made the production of the model T significantly faster. The assembly line is where every worker has one specific job and instead of going to the car the car came to him or her. When the car got a worker the worker would do his/her specific job and then the car would go one to the next worker. After the development of the assembly line the production was doubled because instead of it taking 12 hours to complete one model T it took only 6 hours.

Sources:

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ford.htm

United States President in 1908

                                               United States President in 1908

     1908 was election year in the United States and for many people it had come too soon. Teddy Roosevelt was coming to the close of his second year, yet the people of the United States wanted him to serve a third term. The amendment that would handicap a president from serving a third term was not yet established at that time. There was nothing keeping Roosevelt from running as candidate for another term. Roosevelt however declined to run again. He wanted to keep the tradition that no president had exceeded 2 years in office. Roosevelt didn’t want to lose all he had worked for and therefore began establishing a reputation for his good friend William Howard Taft in order to try to keep a republican in office. He succeeded in his task and Taft was elected president.

http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/Olympika/Olympika_2000/olympika0901h.pdf

New Artistic Movement

                           New Artistic Movement of 1908

    Art by way of painting was very popular in 1908 and people had a certain fondness in seeing the different ways artists depict various things through their paintings. People were always interested in a different or new form of painting that can capture unique emotions. Cubism is a form painting thought of by Paul Cezannes. It was meant to capture the world in no other way than exactly as it appears. It uses geometric shapes and shows it at different views. Cubism is essentially trying to paint a forth dimension. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were the founders of the cubism style of painting. The movement was first recognized when Picasso revealed a recently finished painting in France, it’s disfiguring and use of many shapes and dull colors was the first painting acknowledged in the Cubism style.

Cubism was more officially discovered in Georges Braque’s paintings a couple months later in 1908. Braque produced several paintings of landscapes. In his paintings everything was more of a cubic resemblance and the trees had more of an architectural appearance. Louis Vauxcelles, a French critic, called it “bizarreries cubiques” thus giving the style it’s name.

Sources:

http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name

http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/cubism_10one.htm

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-cubism.htm