ENGINEERING/TECHNOLOGY –
The philosophical debate “will instant access to information make people happier or better off?” not only occurred in the 1850s with the implementation of the Transatlantic Cable but continues today with smartphones and other digital devices. From Telegraph to Text will review the design of the cable itself to practice the first two steps of the engineering design process, learn how to properly cite scientific sources and communicate our claims with evidence.
This activity can be done remotely or in class. The instructor will introduce the topic before students break into collaborative groups. Students will do a reflection piece at the end; a comprehensive rubric is included.
From Telegraph to Text lesson written in collaboration with Patricia Pishock, Science Instructor, VLACS, Northbridge High School.
Education Standards
Next Generation Science Standards – High School (9-12)
- HS-ETS1-1 Engineering Design -Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
- HS-PS2-3 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions – Apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate, and refine a device that minimizes the force on a macroscopic object during a collision.*
- HS-PS2-5 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions – Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.
- HS-PS2-6 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions – Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials.*
- HS-ETS1-2 Engineering Design – Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
- HS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design -Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
Learning Objectives:
- Practice the engineering design process
- Learn to formulate a sound problem statement
- Properly cite website sources using APA format
- Practice writing a strong supportive paragraph or CER.
Colored print of Robert Charles Dudley’s ‘Searching Fault’ (scene on Great Eastern during laying of the first Atlantic cable). Courtesy of the Science Museum, UK.
Materials:
- The Undersea Cable That Linked The World video (below or view on YouTube)
- PowerPoint Presentation
- Student Worksheet/Rubric
Instructions:
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Have your students watch the Bloomberg video “The Undersea Cable That Linked The World” below to introduce the topic of laying the transatlantic telegraph cable.
- Ask your students to read the background article online or print it here and hand it out.
- Go through the PowerPoint presentation with your students.
- Separate them into groups and have them complete the assignment.
From Telegraph to Text Background Reading
The first message sent over the new transatlantic telegraph cables was on August 16, 1858, when Queen Victoria and President James Buchanan exchanged pleasantries, signaling a successful connection of North America to Ireland, and in turn England and the rest of Europe. Although this particular cable lost effectiveness in just a matter of weeks and failed, it proved that what one man set out to do was possible. That man was Cyrus West Field.
Unlike the instant messaging of today that still uses undersea cables, the Queen’s message to the U.S. President took almost 16 hours to send over the 3,200-kilometer cable. Prior to this first successful attempt at connecting the continents, though, ships carried messages, taking anywhere from ten days to two weeks depending on the weather. This meant that if you sent a letter to America from Europe it could take up to four weeks to get a reply.
Samuel F. B. Morse, an artist-turned-inventor developed the first commercially successful telegraph. Many others before him had attempted this, but by the mid-1830s, he had created Morse Code, a set of signals representing language in telegraph messages. In May 1844, Morse sent the world’s first commercial telegraph line with the message “What hath God wrought,” from the U.S. Capitol to a railroad station in Baltimore. In just a decade’s time, more than 20,000 miles of telegraph cable spanned the United States.
In 1850, the world’s first submarine telegraph cable was laid and connected Britain to mainland Europe. Two years later, in 1852, Britain and Ireland became the next to get connected. This line, however, didn’t last long. It broke after one three days! By the following year, though, Ireland was connected with Scotland and the idea of the next logical step to connect America with Europe was percolating by 1854 in Cyrus Field’s mind.
Field convinced the United States and British governments of the feasibility of the plan and each country agreed to lend ships to see it through. Britain loaned the Agamemnon and the U.S. supplied the Niagara. The first attempt to link the countries came in 1857, but too much slack was being used and the paying out gear malfunctioned causing breaks in the cable. The following year saw success with pleasantries expressed to one another between the Queen and President Buchanan. This line did not last long, though, and within just a few weeks the signal weakened and died once again.
But Cyrus Field did not give up. He made several attempts in the 1860s as new companies formed. The Gutta Percha Company that manufactured the insulation came together with Glass & Elliot that made the cable core to form the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. Instead of using two ships, which caused logistical issues, they decided to employ the Great Eastern, the only ship in the world capable of carrying the complete ocean section of the cable on board. Three large tanks to hold the coils of cables replaced the luxury furnishings of the former passenger liner. Although this voyage in 1865 ultimately proved unsuccessful, with the improved machinery and equipment, it demonstrated that the transatlantic cable was indeed possible, and plans began for the next try before the ship even reached the shores of England.
Brunel, Great Eastern Launch – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, far right, with his colleagues at the launch of his ship the SS Great Eastern, 1857
In 1866, learning from the technical issues of the previous journeys, the crew and Field were able to spot dangers quickly and rectify them before disaster. They succeeded in recovering the lost cable of 1865 through some skillful navigating by Robert Halpin and testing proved the cable still functioned. Finally, a permanent cable connection linked the continents of America and Europe. Improved materials helped the speed at which communication could be sent. The slogan “Two weeks to two minutes” was coined to demonstrate just how much improvement the telegraph cable was over dispatches sent by ship. The cable was revolutionary, altering personal, commercial, and political relations between people across the Atlantic Ocean.
Resources:
Cowan, Mary Morton (2018). Cyrus Field’s Big Dream: The Daring Effort to Lay the First Transatlantic Cable (1st ed). Calkins Creek.
Enrichment activities for teachers using Cyrus Field’s Big Dream book can be found here.
Read the article, “Revisiting the Great Eastern” by Edward Mueller from Steamboat Bill, Issue 215, Fall 1995.
Gordon, John Steele (2002). A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable (2nd ed). Walker.
Freezee, W. (1978). The First Trans-Atlantic Cable. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 68(1), 3-13. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
Glover, Bill (2020, Oct 28) History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network.Cabot Strait Cable and 1857-58 Atlantic Cables.
Made of a 5mm copper wire ‘core’ wrapped in a protective casing of tar, hemp and steel, this short section of the first Transatlantic Telegraph Cable was salvaged from the ocean floor off the west coast of Ireland in 2003. It had lain there disused (and superseded by many successive cables) for 137 years.
Read more about Gutta Percha, “The story of the humble latex, which laid the foundation for the global web”
State Education Standards
Massachusetts Curriculum Framework
High School Chemistry
HS-PS1-3. PS1. Matter and Its Interactions. Cite evidence to relate physical properties of substances at the bulk scale to spatial arrangements, movement, and strength of electrostatic forces among ions, small molecules, or regions of large molecules in the substances. Make arguments to account for how compositional and structural differences in molecules result in different types of intermolecular or intramolecular interactions.
HS-PS 2-6. PS2. Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions. Communicate scientific and technical information about the molecular-level structures of polymers, ionic compounds, acids and bases, and metals to justify why these are useful in the functioning of designed materials.*
