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Natural Resources

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Natural Resources

Natural resources were a key part of the Industrail Revolution and with out them there would have never been an Industrail Revolution. Natural resources were the fuel and power for the Industrail Revolution with all its factories and machines that depended on natural resources. These natural resources brought the world into a new era of tecnology.

Important Natural Resources

Coal: Coal was probably the most important natural resource of the Industrail Revolution. There was a major change in the metal industries so wood power turned to coal. This was started by the innovations by Sir Clement Clerke and others from 1678, using coal reverberatory furnaces known as cupolas. This technology was applied to lead from 1678 and to copper from 1687. It was also applied to iron foundry work in the 1690s, but in this case the reverberatory furnace was known as an air furnace. The foundry cupola was a later innovation. (Wikipedia, Industrial Revolution)

Steel : An improvement was made in the production of steel, which was an expensive commodity and used only where iron would not do, such as for the cutting edge of tools and for springs. Benjamin Huntsman developed his crucible steel technique in the 1740s. The raw material for this was blister steel, made by the cementation process.

The supply of cheaper iron and steel aided the development of boilers and steam engines, and eventually railways. Improvements in machine tools allowed better working of iron and steel and further boosted the industrial growth of Britain. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution)

Copper : Copper became a must have natural resource. It was used from everything piping in buildings to electricity in houses and factories. It was also used for making coins for money and income.

Iron Ore : Iron ore was the natural resource most fought for during the Industrial Revolution. Iron ore ran the factories and powered machines to make the products. It also gave heat to buildings and home.

Wheat : “Wheat was the single most important product of the British economy during the Industrial Revolution, being both the largest component of national income and the primary determinant of caloric intake. This paper offers new estimates of annual wheat production during industrialisation. Whereas other researchers infer wheat production indirectly from demand equations, we estimate production directly from output equations. Our estimates are based on a new time series model of wheat yields, encompassing both environmental and technological variables. We trace the impact of war and population growth on wheat yields, mediated through changes in the economic incentives for wheat cultivation. We test the accuracy of our new wheat output series by modelling the market price of wheat in England between 1700 and 1825.” (http://ideas.repec.org/p/nuf/esohwp/_029.html)

These natural resources were found all over England and Europe but mostly in England around South Wales. Most natural resources were mined out of the ground and were raw materials. “Coal mining in Britain, particularly in South Wales started early. Before the steam engine, pits were often shallow bell pits following a seam of coal along the surface which were abandoned as the coal was extracted. In other cases, if the geology was favourable, the coal was mined by means of an adit driven into the side of a hill. Shaft mining was done in some areas, but the limiting factor was the problem of removing water. It could be done by hauling buckets of water up the shaft or to a sough (a tunnel driven into a hill to drain a mine). In either case, the water had to be discharged into a stream or ditch at a level where it could flow away by gravity. The introduction of the steam engine greatly facilitated the removal of water and enabled shafts to be made deeper, enabling more coal to be extracted. These were developments that had begun before the Industrial Revolution, but the adoption of James Watt's more efficient steam engine from the 1770s reduced the fuel costs of engines, making mines more profitable.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution)

The environment was greatly affected by the used of natural resources. It caused much pollution to the ground and the air. The earth was becoming more and more empty of its natural resources. The working condition for the workers were terrible often unbearable. The pollution and workings conditions cause must problems and hardships for everyone.