Technology Assignment #2: How Technology Works
Your assignment is to research one technology, summarize and explain 
how it works. You may add photos, links, or quotes to compose your answer. Please use your own words for the response – do not copy and paste.
Some helpful websites include: Wikipedia, How Stuff Works, and Google.
The answer should be long enough to accurately describe the technology to someone who may never have heard of it.
Some things to consider and include in your answer:
- When was the technology developed?
- Where would you find this technology?
- Do you personally own a device with this technology?
- What are the main uses for this technology?
- Are there other uses that you can think of?
- Do you feel this technology will still be used in 10 years from now or be replaced with something better?
1. When was the technology developed?:
The first metal detector was invented in 1881 by Alexander Graham Bell. He invented on as President James Garfield was dying after being shot. His attempt to find the bullet wasn’t successful. The metal detector he first invented was an electromagnetic device, and he called it “induction balance”.
Then in 1925, Gerhard Fischar invented a metal detector that was portable. This model was sold in commercials by 1931. He was the man who started the first grand- production of metal detectors.
Very low Frequency (VLF) is also induction balance. It’s the most popular kind of metal detector used today. There are two main coils used and they are the transmitter coil and the receiver coil. In both of them, there is also another coil of wire! Electricity is sent through the coil of wire in the transmitter coil. The wire coil in the receiver coil acts lik the antenna which picks up these frequencies from the burried metal objects.
2. Where would you find this technology?:
You would find a lot of metal detectors in airports since the workers there carry them around to make sure you aren’t carrying any weapons on the plane and to other countries. In some countries, you’ll see people of all ages in the beach with a metal detector to hopefully find treasures, but sometimes they find junk instead! You might see them when a security guard checks your car for bombs before entering a building (ex. mall, museums, schools, etc.)
3. Do you personally own a device with this technology?:
No, I don’t own a metal detector or anything like that since they don’t sell them here in Indonesia. Now, some smaller and lighter metla detectors are created into a size a child could use, but I’d have to then buy one off the internet, and it might get lost during the shipping!
I wish I owned one because some people found amazing things like a chest filled with Roman coins, arrow heads, jewelled daggers, and prehistoric gold ornaments were found. If you sold all that, you could earn billions of dollars easily!
I do have metal objects like everyone else that would make a metal detector beep though… After knowing what this device can find, companies from America and Britain made more of them so demanding people will by their products! Maybe one day I’ll try build my own using instructions on the internet.
4. What are the main uses fro this technology?:
The main uses of a metal detector can include demining (detecting land mines), detecting weapons like knives and guns usually at airports, jails, buildings, agencies, stadiums, and hotels to keep us safe from bombs or guns. Another use is geophysical prospecting- looking for gold or silver, archaeology, and hunting for treasure hidden beneath the ground. They are also used in industries for creating a building to find some “steel reinforcing bars” found in pipes made of concrete and to find wires in walls and floors. How deep a metal detector can detect things will depend on the size of the object, the type of metal it is, and the type of metal detector it is.
5. Are there other uses you can think of?:
Another use of the metal detector would be to try and find coins after an even happens where many people are there (ex. concert). Some coin shooters who try and find coins for research or work will try find lost sites that might have historical coins or ones that are collectable.
Relic hunting is another use. It’s like hunting for coins, but the hunter will try to find any type of artifact from historical times. they also try to save them. Some people look for lost jewelry in beaches too. They might even find a bullet!
Archaeologists also use metal detectors to find items made of metal from long ago. You can find buckles, coins, axe heads, and buttons. For geologists, they can use this device to detect a composition of rock formations or soil.
6. Do you feel this technology will still be used in 10 years from now or be replaced with something better?:
I think that the metal detector will be replaced with a smaller device which is easier to use. People are always trying to make these technologies better. Manufacturers usually add their won ideas to this device. The Whites Electronics of California started in the 50’s by constructing a machine called the Oremaster Geiger Counter. Charles Garrett is also a creater of a type of metal detector called the BFO (Beat Frequency Oscillator) machine.
BFO technology: There are two wire coils in a BFO. The big coil is in the searching head while the small coil is in the control box. They are connected to the oscillator which creates many pulses of current per second. When the pulse travels through a coil, the coil makes a radio wave. If the big coil passes over a metal object, the magnetic field formed by the current will create a magnetic field around the object.
In the future, these detectors will get lighter and smaller- just like a gigantic computer to a laptop. The circuits in a metal detector will also improve! Some say that, “Modern top models are fully computerized, using microchip technology…” This will let the user find metal faster, and they might even use less battery power.
If I were to design one that will be used in 10 years, I’d want to invent something like a scanner and x-ray to see into the ground combination. It would be the size of an average T.V. remote control with a button that lets out a red lazer beam. Once it detects or lands on metal, it will let out a ringing noise and the lazer beam will turn blue on the area. A small screen on the remote will show you how far or close you are from the metal as you go along. They should be solar powered so it won’t affect the environment and water-proof so you can search for metal on the sea floor while scuba diving. A small camera will be built in it so that you can take pictures of where you found your treasures and of your vacation trips.
Source:
>http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/metal-detector.htm
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_detector
>http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/Metal_Detector.htm
