From the Industrial Revolution
to Green Chemistry
Chem 1105
Fall 2008
Birmingham England
The Industrial Revolution
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What?
When?
Where?
Why?
Who?
What?
• A period during which major fundamental
and sustained technological and social
changes occurred.
• These changes were associated with
manufacturing, agriculture, economic
policies, social structures, commerce and
transportation.
When?
• A 100-year period starting in 1760 in
Britain.
• This date is somewhat arbitrary as nearly
two centuries of gradual changes
preceded 1760.
• In subsequent years, the consequences of
the Industrial Revolution spread to Europe
and North America, and then around the
world.
Where?
• Ironbridge in Shropshire England (about
1.5 - 2 hours from Birmingham) is called
the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
• Currently there are ten museums at
Ironbridge Gorge that focus on the period
in Britain called the Industrial Revolution.
Why? And Why in Great Britain?
• Numerous and complicated causes many of
which are still debated.
• Political organizations and traditions, natural and
financial resources, stable government,
colonies, naval strength, decline of epidemics,
increase in lifespan, established markets, work
ethic, technological innovations and scientific
discoveries, geography, entrepreneurial ethic
and receptiveness to change are among the
proposed causes of the Industrial Revolution.
Who?
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Technology: Inventors, scientists
Agriculture: farmers, land owners
Business: industrialists, manufacturers
Transportation: builders of roads, canals,
rail lines
• Policy: economics, social, legal, health
care, labor, trade
What Will I Study?
• Technological Innovations
– Scientific basis for these innovations
– The lives of the scientists and innovators
– Impact of the innovations
• Green Chemistry
– Definition
– Current solutions to deleterious effects
Focus of this Course (1)
• Technological innovations
– Iron and Metallurgy
– Steam Engine
– Chemical Industry
– Textiles, Tiles and China
• Scientific basis for these innovations
• Innovators and scientists, especially those
who worked and lived in the Midlands
Field Trips
• Ironbridge Gorge (group trip)
• Soho House
• Birmingham Canals
Focus of this Course (2)
• Green Chemistry: Current chemical and
engineering solutions to undesirable byproducts of industrialization
– Air Pollution
– Land Pollution
– Disease
– Water Contamination
The Big Picture
• From an agrarian economy to
industrialization.
• The big three: textiles, iron and the steam
engine.
• What happened in Birmingham
• Industrialization in the 21st century
Agrarian Economy
• 1700: 80% of England’s population
earned its livelihood from the land.
• 1800: This had dropped to 40% even as
the population doubled.
• http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture
17a.html
Increased Production of Food and
Raw Material
• Enclosure movement (increase in private
land ownership).
• Crop rotation (more crops for food and
animals).
• Improvements in
– farm implements (wood to metal)
– Irrigation
- Insect control
– Livestock breeding
– New crops
- Farming methods
Consequences of Increased Crop
Yield
• Increased food production allowed the migration
from farm to industrial centers thus sustaining a
growing manufacturing economy.
• Increased agricultural raw materials allowed
growth of industrials producing consumer
products (with the development of new
machinery; e.g. textiles).
• Substantial growth in economy, trade, industrial
base.
Textiles
• Pre-IR: Textile production was a cottage
industry with sheep raised on small farms and
artisans spinning and weaving wool into cloth.
• Transition to textile manufacturing involved task
specialization as machines (flying shuttle, roller
spinner, jenny) were invented, improved and
distributed.
• IR: Textile factories became larger, multiplied
and spread.
Coal Mining
• Pre-IR: Mining coal was a labor intensive,
non-mechanized and very dangerous
occupation.
• Introduction of carts on rails, improved
ventilation and lighting, and mechanization
of coal transport (↑ and →) led to
increased coal production. It was still a
very hazardous job.
• Iron production depended on coal.
Iron Mining
• Iron was the major raw material for making
tools, structures and machinery.
• Pre-IR: Iron + charcoal (from wood) 
low grade, impure and brittle material
• IR: Iron + coke (from coal)  superior pig
iron product
• http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/
Iron Bridge
Transportation
• Pre-IR: Roads, canals and rivers were primary
transportation routes.
• IR: Railroads (1000 miles of RR tracks in 1836
and 7000 miles in 1852) and expansion of
existing canal system were designed to move
raw materials and products, thus contributing to
economic growth and increases in population,
especially in towns.
• http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/canals.bcc
See especially History of the Canals link.
Steam Engine
• Pre-IR: There was limited use of steam engines.
• IR: The improvement of the steam engine in
1778 by James Watt “was undoubtedly the
greatest technical achievement of the Industrial
Revolution”.
• Watt increased engine efficiency four-fold. As a
result, industrialization accelerated and spread
to all aspects of human activity.
• http://www.egr.msu.edu/~lira/supp/steam/
• http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/
IR/018.html
James Watt Statue outside
Birmingham Central Library
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt,_James
References
• http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guide
s/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html
• http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/canals.bcc
• http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture
17a.html
• http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/
• http://www.egr.msu.edu/~lira/supp/steam/
References
• http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/
IR/018.html
• See also references in syllabus