Second Industrial Revolution

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/second-industrial-revolution

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the dominant energy transitions?Shift from coal and steam to electricity and petroleum
2. What is the key material advancements?Mass production of high-quality steel and development of synthetic chemicals
3. What was the Second Industrial Revolution and when did it happen?The Second Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid inventions and new ways of making things that lasted from about 1870 to 1914. It built on the earlier Industrial Revolution and made the world faster and more connected.
4. How did electricity change factories and cities during this time?Electricity let factories use electric motors and run longer, and cities lit up with electric lights instead of gas lamps, making streets safer and allowing people to stay out later.

Alternating Current (AC): An electric current that periodically reverses direction, enabling efficient long-distance transmission.
Bessemer Process: An early industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron.
Internal Combustion Engine: A heat engine where the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit.