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Scientific and Industrial Revolutions

Trace how scientific thinking, inventions and the factory system transformed work, cities and labor, and how technology built today's information economy.

Practice this skill 30 min Scientific and industrial revolutions Leer en español
Key idea

What you'll learn

In plain words: New ideas in science led to new machines. New machines changed how people live and work.

In a few hundred years, people changed how they understand nature and how they make things. These changes were bigger than in the thousands of years before. In this lesson you will learn:

  • how the Scientific Revolution (1500s–1600s) created a new method for understanding the world;
  • how the Industrial Revolution began in Britain (around 1760) and spread to the United States, and how the factory system changed work;
  • how industry caused urbanization and how workers formed the labor movement;
  • how the second Industrial Revolution (steel, electricity, mass production) and later the information revolution (computers, the internet) reshaped the economy.

How it appears on the GED: Expect bar and line graphs of population or jobs, tables of prices or production, readings about working conditions, and timelines of inventions and laws. Questions ask you to:

  • identify causes and effects;
  • put events in order;
  • compute a percent change; or
  • pick the detail that best supports an idea.

Technological change is a theme across the whole test. So this background will help you on many questions.

Words to know

  • Scientific Revolution — 1500s–1600s shift to explaining nature through observation, experiment and math.
  • scientific method — question, hypothesis, experiment, observation, conclusion.
  • heliocentric — the sun-centered model of the solar system (Copernicus, 1543).
  • Industrial Revolution — the shift from hand tools and home production to machines and factories, beginning in Britain around 1760.
  • factory system — producing goods in a central building with machines, wage workers and fixed hours.
  • division of labor — splitting a job into small tasks, each done by a different worker.
  • interchangeable parts — identical parts that fit any copy of a product (any Model T wheel fits any Model T).
  • mass production — making large numbers of identical goods quickly and cheaply.
  • assembly line — a system where the product moves past workers who each do one task.
  • urbanization — the growth of cities as people move from rural areas.
  • labor union — an organization of workers that bargains with employers.
  • collective bargaining — negotiation between a union and an employer over pay and conditions.
  • strike — workers refusing to work to pressure an employer.
  • automation — using machines or computers to do work once done by people.
  • information economy — an economy in which much of the value comes from knowledge, data and services rather than physical goods.
  • service sector — jobs that provide services rather than goods (nursing, teaching, retail, software).

All Social Studies words in the glossary

1. The Scientific Revolution

In plain words: Thinkers stopped just trusting old books and started testing ideas for themselves.

In the Middle Ages, Europeans mostly relied on ancient writers and religious teaching to explain nature. In the 1500s and 1600s, thinkers began to test ideas through observation, experiment and mathematics. It is like the difference between believing a rumor and checking the facts yourself.

YearThinkerContribution
1543Nicolaus CopernicusArgued the Earth orbits the sun (heliocentric model)
1609–1610Galileo GalileiUsed a telescope to observe Jupiter's moons, supporting Copernicus
1620Francis BaconPromoted reasoning from careful observation (the basis of the scientific method)
1687Isaac NewtonLaws of motion and universal gravitation
Timeline of the Scientific Revolution: 1543, Copernicus argues the Earth orbits the sun; 1609 to 1610, Galileo observes Jupiter's moons with a telescope; 1620, Francis Bacon promotes reasoning from careful observation; 1687, Isaac Newton publishes the laws of motion and universal gravitation. The Scientific Revolution 1543 Copernicus Earth orbits the sun 1609–1610 Galileo telescope: Jupiter's moons 1620 Bacon observation-based method 1687 Newton laws of motion, gravity

Why it matters economically: The habit of testing and measuring led to practical inventions and better navigation. In time, it led to the machines of the Industrial Revolution. It also inspired the Enlightenment, a movement of new ideas. Enlightenment ideas about natural rights shaped the Declaration of Independence.

Example: A question might ask what Galileo's telescope observations show about the Scientific Revolution. The answer: knowledge came from evidence, not from accepted authority.

2. The first Industrial Revolution and the factory system

In plain words: Machines and factories replaced work done by hand at home.

Why did it start in Britain (around 1760)? Britain had:

  • plenty of coal and iron;
  • a growing population;
  • money to invest (capital) from trade and empire;
  • good rivers and ports;
  • a government that protected property and patents.

Key inventions:

InventionInventor, yearEffect
Spinning jennyJames Hargreaves, about 1764One worker spins many threads at once
Improved steam engineJames Watt, 1769 patentPowers factories, later trains and ships
Cotton ginEli Whitney, 1793Cleans cotton fast; expands Southern cotton and slavery
SteamboatRobert Fulton, 1807Fast river transport
TelegraphSamuel Morse, 1844Instant long-distance communication
Timeline of first Industrial Revolution inventions: spinning jenny about 1764 (Hargreaves); improved steam engine patented 1769 (Watt); cotton gin 1793 (Whitney); steamboat 1807 (Fulton); telegraph 1844 (Morse). Key inventions of the first Industrial Revolution ≈1764 spinning jenny 1769 Watt steam engine 1793 cotton gin 1807 steamboat 1844 telegraph

The factory system replaced the domestic (cottage) system. In the old system, families made goods at home. Factories brought workers and machines together under one roof. They used division of labor — each worker did one small task. They paid wages and enforced fixed hours by the clock and bell. In the United States, the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts (1820s–1840s) hired young women from New England farms.

Comparison chart of the domestic or cottage system and the factory system. Cottage system: families make goods at home with hand tools, one worker does many steps, and the family sets its own pace. Factory system: workers and machines under one roof, division of labor with each worker doing one small task, wages paid, and fixed hours set by the clock and bell. Cottage system vs. factory system Cottage (domestic) Factory system Where At home Under one roof with machines Power Hand tools, human power Water and steam power Tasks One worker does many steps Division of labor: one small task Pay Sell finished goods Wages Time Family sets its own pace Fixed hours: clock and bell

Effects: Goods became cheaper and more plentiful. But early factory work was hard:

  • 12–14-hour days;
  • unsafe machines;
  • child labor;
  • little job security.

The cotton gin shows a darker link. It made cotton so profitable that slavery expanded across the South. Enslaved people grew the cotton that supplied Northern and British mills.

Example: Cloth once took a family weeks to spin and weave by hand. A mill could make it in a fraction of the time, so its price fell.

3. The second Industrial Revolution, cities and workers (about 1870–1920)

In plain words: Steel, electricity and the assembly line built big businesses and big cities. Workers joined together to demand better treatment.

New technologies:

  • the Bessemer process made cheap steel (1850s);
  • the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell, 1876);
  • Thomas Edison's practical electric light bulb (1879);
  • electric power plants;
  • the automobile;
  • Henry Ford's moving assembly line (1913).

The assembly line cut the time to build a Model T chassis (the car's frame) from about 12½ hours to about 1½ hours. The car's price fell from $850 (1908) to $260 (1925).

Two bar graphs about Ford's moving assembly line. Time to build a Model T chassis fell from about 12 and a half hours to about 1 and a half hours, about 8 times as fast. The car's price fell from 850 dollars in 1908 to 260 dollars in 1925, a 69 percent decrease. The assembly line: faster and cheaper 0 h 2 h 4 h 6 h 8 h 10 h 12 h 14 h Hours Hours to build a chassis about 12.5 h Before about 1.5 h Assembly line 12.5 ÷ 1.5 ≈ 8 times as fast $0 $200 $400 $600 $800 $1,000 Dollars Price of a Model T $850 1908 $260 1925 (260 − 850) ÷ 850 ≈ −69%

Big business: Railroads, steel (Andrew Carnegie) and oil (John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil) grew into giant corporations. Some became monopolies — one company controlling a whole market. This led to the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890).

Urbanization: Factory jobs and immigration made cities grow very fast. About 20% of Americans lived in cities in 1860. By 1920, just over 51% did. Cities faced crowded tenements (cheap, packed apartment buildings), disease and pollution. Progressive reformers pushed for building codes, sanitation and safety laws.

Line graph of the share of Americans living in cities: about 20 percent in 1860, 28.2 percent in 1880, 39.6 percent in 1900, and 51.2 percent in 1920, when just over half of Americans lived in cities. A dashed line marks 50 percent. Share of Americans living in cities, 1860–1920 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 1860 1880 1900 1920 Year (U.S. census) Urban share of population half (50%) about 20% 28.2% 39.6% 51.2%

The labor movement: Workers formed labor unions to bargain for better pay and safer jobs.

  • Knights of Labor (1869); American Federation of Labor (1886, Samuel Gompers).
  • Violent conflicts: Haymarket (1886), Homestead (1892), Pullman (1894).
  • Triangle Shirtwaist fire (1911): 146 workers died, leading to new safety laws.
  • New Deal laws: The Wagner Act (1935) protects union rights. The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) sets a minimum wage and child-labor limits. It also requires overtime after a standard workweek (40 hours by 1940).

Example: Urban share 28.2% (1880) → 51.2% (1920) = a 23-percentage-point increase.

4. Technological change and the information economy

In plain words: Computers and the internet changed work again. Most jobs moved from factories to services.

The 20th century brought another revolution — in information.

YearDevelopment
1947Transistor invented at Bell Labs
Late 1950sIntegrated circuit (microchip)
1970s–1980sPersonal computers spread to homes and offices
1989–1991World Wide Web created by Tim Berners-Lee
2000sSmartphones, e-commerce, social media, cloud computing
Timeline of the information economy: 1947, the transistor is invented at Bell Labs; late 1950s, the integrated circuit or microchip; 1970s to 1980s, personal computers spread; 1989 to 1991, Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web; 2000s, smartphones, e-commerce, social media and cloud computing. The information revolution 1947 transistor late 1950s microchip 1970s–1980s personal computers 1989–1991 World Wide Web 2000s smartphones, cloud

Effects on work:

  • Automation replaced many factory and office jobs. Think of self-checkout lanes or robots on a car line. Manufacturing employment fell as a share of all jobs.
  • Globalization: Cheaper shipping and communication let companies move production overseas.
  • New jobs grew in health care, education, finance, software and data. Today most U.S. workers are in the service sector.
  • Workers with more education and digital skills tend to earn more. This has widened some income gaps.

Economists see a long pattern. Each wave of technology:

  • destroys some jobs;
  • creates others;
  • raises productivity (how much each worker produces);
  • moves workers between sectors.

Workers moved from farms to factories to offices. About 4 in 10 workers farmed in 1900. Today it is under 2 in 100.

Example: Say manufacturing falls from 34 of 88 thousand jobs to 15 of 113 thousand jobs. Its share falls from about 39% to about 13%. This happens even though total jobs grew.

Illustrative stacked bar graph of jobs in a region. Earlier: 34 thousand manufacturing jobs out of 88 thousand total, about 39 percent. Later: 15 thousand manufacturing jobs out of 113 thousand total, about 13 percent. Total jobs grew while manufacturing's share fell. Manufacturing's share of jobs falls 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Thousands of jobs Mfg 34 Other 54 Total 88 Earlier 34 ÷ 88 ≈ 39% mfg Mfg 15 Other 98 Total 113 Later 15 ÷ 113 ≈ 13% mfg Illustrative numbers from the example
Formula

Calculations you may need

  • Percent change: (new − old) ÷ old × 100. Model T price $850 → $260: (260 − 850) ÷ 850 ≈ −69%, a 69% decrease.
  • Percentage-point change: new % − old %. Urban share 39.6% → 51.2% = 11.6 points.
  • Share of a total: part ÷ total × 100. 96 service jobs ÷ 113 total ≈ 85%.
  • How many times as fast: old time ÷ new time. 12.5 hours ÷ 1.5 hours ≈ 8 times as fast.
Worked example

Example 1: Reading an invention timeline

Stimulus: 1793 cotton gin → 1800–1860 U.S. cotton production rises sharply → the number of enslaved people in the South grows from about 0.9 million (1800) to about 3.95 million (1860).

Bar graph of the number of enslaved people in the U.S. South: about 0.9 million in 1800 and about 3.95 million in 1860, after the 1793 cotton gin made growing cotton more profitable. Enslaved people in the South, 1800 vs. 1860 0 1 2 3 4 5 Millions of people about 0.9 million 1800 about 3.95 million 1860 1793: the cotton gin makes cotton more profitable

Question: What does the timeline suggest about the cotton gin?

Think aloud:

  1. The gin made cleaning cotton fast and cheap.
  2. Cotton became more profitable, so planters grew much more.
  3. More cotton fields → more demand for enslaved labor.
  4. Answer: the cotton gin increased the profitability of cotton and contributed to the expansion of slavery. Trap: "The gin reduced the need for enslaved workers"—it saved labor in cleaning cotton but increased demand for labor in growing it.
Worked example

Example 2: Detail that best supports an idea

Stimulus (short excerpt, fictional): "We start at six when the whistle blows. If we are five minutes late, the foreman docks an hour's pay. The machines never slow down, and neither may we."

Question: Which detail best shows that workers lost control over the pace of their work?

A. Work starts at six. B. Lateness costs an hour's pay. C. "The machines never slow down, and neither may we." D. A whistle signals the start.

Think aloud: A, B and D are about time (starting and lateness). Only C is about pace—the speed of the machines sets the worker's speed → C. Always match the exact idea in the question.

Worked example

Example 3: Percent change from a table

Stimulus:YearCost of a 3-minute New York–San Francisco phone call (illustrative)
1930$15
1970$3

Question: By what percent did the cost fall?

Think aloud:

  1. Decrease: 15 − 3 = 12.
  2. Divide by the original: 12 ÷ 15 = 0.8.
  3. 80% decrease.
  4. Trap: 12 ÷ 3 = 400% divides by the new value. A decrease can never exceed 100%.
Illustrative bar graph of the cost of a 3-minute New York to San Francisco phone call: 15 dollars in 1930 and 3 dollars in 1970. The cost fell by 12 dollars; 12 divided by the original 15 is an 80 percent decrease. Cost of a 3-minute coast-to-coast call $0 $4 $8 $12 $16 Dollars $15 1930 $3 1970 Illustrative prices from the example −$12 12 ÷ 15 = 80% less
Worked example

Example 4: Cause and effect across two sources

Source 1: "By 1900, about one in five children aged 10–15 worked for wages, many in mills and mines." Source 2: "The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 limited the employment of children under 16 in most industries."

Question: How are the sources related?

Think aloud: Source 1 describes a problem created by industrial work (child labor). Source 2 describes a later federal response. Answer: Source 2 describes a law that responded to the conditions in Source 1. Eliminate choices that reverse the order ("child labor increased because of the law") or claim the law ended all child work everywhere (too absolute).

Common mistake

Common mistakes

  • Thinking the Industrial Revolution began in the United States. It began in Britain around 1760 and spread to the U.S. in the early 1800s.
  • Saying the cotton gin reduced slavery. It made cotton more profitable and slavery expanded.
  • Confusing number with share. Manufacturing jobs can grow in number while shrinking as a share of all jobs, and the reverse.
  • Mixing up laws. The Wagner Act protects the right to unionize; the FLSA sets minimum wage, overtime and child-labor rules; antitrust laws target monopolies.
  • Percent change vs. percentage points. 28.2% → 51.2% is a 23-point rise but about an 82% increase.
  • Picking a true but irrelevant detail. In "best supports" questions, the detail must match the specific idea asked about.
Test strategy

GED test strategy

  • Read the question first, then scan the graph or text for the exact data it needs.
  • Use legends and reference lines on graphs; compare same-color bars across groups.
  • Anchor dates: first Industrial Revolution (about 1760–1850), second (about 1870–1920), information age (after 1950). Many answers can be eliminated just by date.
  • Trace cause and effect in order: invention → lower cost → more production → changes in jobs and cities.
  • Watch absolute words (all, never, only) in answer choices.
  • Calculator: use it for percent change, but write the setup on your erasable note board first so you divide by the right value.

Check yourself

Scientific and industrial revolutions
Moving to the City

(1) In 1800, almost all Americans lived on farms or in small villages. During the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution changed that. Factories, mills, railroads and steel plants were built in and near cities, and they needed thousands of workers. Machines such as the mechanical reaper also meant that fewer workers were needed on farms. Millions of rural Americans and millions of immigrants from Europe moved to cities for jobs.

(2) The U.S. Census counts a place as urban if it has 2,500 or more people. The graph shows the share of Americans living in urban areas.

Bar graph of the percent of the U.S. population living in urban areas (places of 2,500 people or more), from the U.S. Census: 1800, 6.1 percent; 1840, 10.8 percent; 1860, 19.8 percent; 1880, 28.2 percent; 1900, 39.6 percent; 1920, 51.2 percent. A dashed line marks 50 percent. Share of Americans living in urban areas, 1800–1920 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 6.1% 1800 10.8% 1840 19.8% 1860 28.2% 1880 39.6% 1900 51.2% 1920 Census year Percent of population 50%

According to the graph, in which census year did more than half of Americans first live in urban areas?

Answer choices
Hint

Find the first bar that rises above the dashed 50% line.

Check yourself

Scientific and industrial revolutions
Moving to the City

(1) In 1800, almost all Americans lived on farms or in small villages. During the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution changed that. Factories, mills, railroads and steel plants were built in and near cities, and they needed thousands of workers. Machines such as the mechanical reaper also meant that fewer workers were needed on farms. Millions of rural Americans and millions of immigrants from Europe moved to cities for jobs.

(2) The U.S. Census counts a place as urban if it has 2,500 or more people. The graph shows the share of Americans living in urban areas.

Bar graph of the percent of the U.S. population living in urban areas (places of 2,500 people or more), from the U.S. Census: 1800, 6.1 percent; 1840, 10.8 percent; 1860, 19.8 percent; 1880, 28.2 percent; 1900, 39.6 percent; 1920, 51.2 percent. A dashed line marks 50 percent. Share of Americans living in urban areas, 1800–1920 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 6.1% 1800 10.8% 1840 19.8% 1860 28.2% 1880 39.6% 1900 51.2% 1920 Census year Percent of population 50%

Which statement best explains the trend shown in the graph?

Answer choices
Hint

Paragraph 1 gives two reasons people left farms and moved to cities.

Summary

  • The Scientific Revolution (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton) made observation and experiment the basis of knowledge.
  • The Industrial Revolution began in Britain about 1760. Steam power, textile machines and the factory system made goods cheaper. They also brought long hours and harsh conditions.
  • The second Industrial Revolution (steel, electricity, the assembly line) created mass production and big business. The urban share of Americans passed 50% by 1920.
  • Workers organized unions. Struggles such as Haymarket, Pullman and the Triangle fire led to the Wagner Act (1935) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938).
  • The information revolution (transistors, computers, the internet) and automation shifted jobs from manufacturing to services.
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