Gyroscope

This gyroscope is designed so that the flywheel and axle are free to point in any direction. Gyroscopes are useful in
guiding rockets because they are “rigid in space;” a spinning gyroscope mounted within a rocket always points in
the same direction. Thus a gyroscope provides a means to determine a rockets’s orientation automatically.
© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Solid-Fueled Rocket
When the fuel in a solid-fueled rocket is ignited, the gases formed during combustion are forced out the nozzle and
the rocket moves forward. The fuel is called the grain and is often formed with a hollow core for longer burning
times.
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Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Early Hunting and Gathering Tools

An assortment of prehistoric tools provides evidence of the hunting and gathering methods of early peoples. Slabs
of bark were often used to gather nuts and berries and functioned as crude dishes or bowls (top left). Reproductions
of fishing tackle and arrows believed to have been used around 8000 bc are displayed on the lower left. Recovered
tools for digging and cutting (right) are shown with recreated wooden handles. The heads of the adzes are made
from flint, as is the fire-starter shown below them.
Dorling Kindersley
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Flyer Spinning Frame

Introduced by Richard Arkwright in 1769, the flyer spinning frame (also called the throstle or roll-drawing machine)
reflects the move toward automation that characterized the Industrial Revolution. The machine is powered by the
drive wheel at the bottom, drawing out the fiber into thread, then twisting it as it is wound onto the bobbins.
Dorling Kindersley
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Early Agricultural Tools

Humans began farming about 12,000 years ago. The ability to control their food supply freed people from a
nomadic lifestyle, which allowed for the beginning of cities and towns. These early farming tools date from about
6,000 bc. The picture portrays an axe (bottom) used for clearing; flint sickles (left), used for harvesting cereal crops;
a flat rock and rounded stone (center), used for grinding flour; and perforated clay slabs (upper right), probably
used to ventilate bread ovens.
Dorling Kindersley
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
William Harvey Explains Blood Circulation
A groundbreaking work in the history of medicine, English physician William Harvey’s “Anatomical Essay on the
Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals” named the heart as the organ responsible for pumping blood. Although
criticized when first published in 1628, Harvey’s work was soon accepted by scientists and laid the groundwork for
modern physiology.
Science Source/Photo Researchers, Inc.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.