Jayston+Landon

March 9, 1856 – July 6, 1931
===  Invention: Carborundum  ===

Date Invented: 1893
====The invention of Carborundum is believed to be one of the most crucial parts of the Industrial Age. The Silicon Carbide is one of the hardest and resilient surfaces known to man, and was invented by Edward Goodrich Acheson. Carborundum is a silicone and carbon compound that has similar properties to a diamond. The biggest breakthrough with this invention was the ability to make wear items (moving parts) last much longer than conventional methods. The Carborundum is rated a 9-9.5 on the Mohs scale while diamonds are the perfect 10. Carborundum is also highly conductive, heat resilient, and resembles a diamond when used in jewelry. Carborundum occurs in nature rarely, but when the chance presents itself it is referred to as moissante. Edward received over 70 patents in his life, including a specific furnace to produce Carborundum. He studied under Edison, but left and started his own lab. The United States Patent Office named Carborundum as one of the 22 patents most responsible for the industrial age (1926). ====



**King Corn**
====In King Corn, two college graduates pursue their roots- Farming. The two boys, Ian and Curtis, discover that our bodies are made up of almost 70% corn product. Because of this, the life expectancy of our generation is considerably shorter than that of our parents. Ian and Curtis sought to see how this was possible, and to start their journey they spoke with a Virginia Professor who, through isotopic research, has proven that the carbon content of our bodies is based on the influence of the foods we ingest (i.e. corn).==== ====Corn is produced in the U.S. at such a large scale that the elevators do not have enough volume to store it. When the elevator is full the excess corn is piled nearby, creating a mountain of corn. The reason we produce the corn at such a large scale is the genetically modified plants we use, the farm equipment, and the technology that goes into weed/soil management. Planters use seeds that are immune to the pesticide or weed killer so they can be directly applied to crop. To save time, farmers can also spray ammonia fertilizer to the crop at the same time. This saves fuel, time, and increases productivity.==== ====The government pays each farmer per acre planted. In the boy’s case, they made 28.00 to plant one acre of corn. As the farms get larger, the machinery needed on the farm gets larger. An average acre of corn today contains 31000 seeds, takes 18 minutes to plant, and is planted with a tractor. The acre will make 5 tons of food, but will not be edible off of the cob. In fact, in Iowa, nearly 100% of the corn cannot be eaten off of the cob. Nearly 50% of that corn will be used to feed out animals for slaughter, the other half will be used for corn sweetener products.==== ====This video was extremely informative. I learned the impact that corn has on the economy, why corn has such an impact on livestock prices, and why corn is bad for our bodies. I believe I saw the video from a different point of view, as my background is heavily focused on agricultural means. To me this video has filled in the voids of knowledge I have of the corn market, and bridges the connection between corn prices and corn yield.====



Bridge Design and Construction

The class constructed a balsa wood bridge, using various techniques. The materials included 20ft of balsa wood, issued 'building' glue, pins, and one flashcard. The design I used is an Arched Truss. As noted in the pictures, the weakest point was the joint on which the bridge set. This could have been either reinforced, or avoided in design. Over all, I feel the bridge should have held more and place fault on inconsistent material structure (i.e. some pieces of balsa had a very rigid structure and others would snap if you blew on them.).