Unit 5 Lab 5: Computing in War, Page 1

BH: I think 5.5 is the best lab in the whole curriculum!

MF: I still have concerns about the only thing a POC invented in this course being a children's toy (that POC children are killed for playing with)

In this lab, you will consider the implications of technology on warfare.

On this page, you will consider the importance of pre-computer technologies in warfare.

Brian, what is this "Explain" text? Are we planning to do something with it? --MF, 9/6/18

Explain: "War is all about technology" - in what ways is war related to technology?
- Who wins a war is largely determined by technology, more than by the size of armies, etc. Students may know the example of the importance of metal-clad warships in the Civil War.
  - New technology changes the rules. For a long time you could make a clear distinction between soldiers and civilians, and just do battle with soldiers. But the ability to drop bombs from airplanes undid that.

Please do not use tables for anything other than tablular data. --MF 12/15/16

W3schools: "The width attribute of <td> is not supported in HTML5. Use CSS instead." --MF, 9/6/18

Super Soaker inventor Lonnie Johnson is a career engineer whose professional activities are mostly in energy production, especially solid-state batteries and solar panels. His earliest professional work was in the U.S. Air Force, and then at Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Galileo mission to Jupiter.

(U.S. Government photo in the public domain, downloaded from Wikimedia.)

Technology affects real wars, too. The outcome of individual battles may be decided by numbers of soldiers, the strategies of generals, and other human factors. But, with rare exceptions, if one side has better technology, they win in the long run. For example, in the Seventh Century, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire was militarily weak until its invention of "Greek fire," a flammable chemical that was fired through hoses or in projectiles, with the special property that it would keep burning in water, so it was valuable in naval battles. This weapon was very important to the survival of the empire, which lasted until the 15th Century.

What happens if you have the latest Super Soaker and your friend can only afford an old-fashioned squirt gun?
See how many important military technologies you can list in two minutes. (Don't neglect defensive technologies such as thick castle walls.)
With a partner, pick one of these examples to research online, then share your results with the class.
- Why were metal-clad ships important in the (U.S.) Civil War?
- Why did armies generally have bright-colored uniforms through the 19th Century but dull-colored uniforms after that?
- How did airplanes change the rules of war for civilians?

Water guns used to look like this:
	Flickr: Dean Hochman, CC-BY-2.0

	Because all the water pressure came directly from your trigger finger, you had to be practically on top of the other person.
S.Tezel, CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

But in 1982 the Super Soaker was invented. It has a pump that you operate with repeated back-and-forth motions, accumulating a much greater water pressure.
	The Strong, CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

	This invention totally changed the character of water fights. Now you can hide behind things across the yard from your target, and everyone ends up utterly drenched.
Flickr: John Shedrick, CC-BY-2.0

War and Technology