1. John Loudon McAdam 1756 – 1836, Engineer
John Loudon McAdam was born in Ayr, and was the youngest of ten children.
His father died when he was fourteen, so John was sent to New York to live with his uncle.
He made his fortune working at his uncle's 'counting house'.
This was the name given to the accountancy office of a company.
In 1783 he returned to Scotland and became involved with the construction of roads, then moved to Bristol.

2. Building roads
John developed a method for building roads that involved putting larger stones in first, then a top layer of crushed stones bound with gravel, giving a much harder and longer lasting surface.
This process was called 'macadamisation' or 'macadam'.
The process soon spread around the world, and the first macadam road in North America was completed in the 1830s.

3. ‘Tarmacadam’
He also built the roads with a slight camber, so they sloped down at the outside and rainwater could run off.
By the end of the 19th century most roads in Europe had been done this way.
The process was later developed to include putting tar on top of the surface.
This is where the word 'tarmacadam' comes from, or 'tarmac'.

4. Travelling by road
John Loudon McAdam's technique for producing stronger and longer lasting roads helped to improve travel by road. We now have a network of roads that we can travel on by bus or car, helping us to get to where we want to go. Imagine if we didn't have roads to travel around on. Our lives would be much more difficult, and we wouldn't be able to plan our days like we do at the moment. It would be much more difficult to follow a timetable every day if we didn't have roads, and cars and buses to travel in.

5. The John Loudon McAdam challenge
MNU 2-10a
The John Loudon McAdam challenge
John is going to his friend's birthday party at the funfair. He is going to get the train then walk from the station to the funfair. The party starts at 2pm.
John looks at the timetable for the trains.
How often are the trains?
How long does the train take?
Train times
Departs
Arrives
12:05
12:40
12:20
12:55
12:35
13:10
12:50
13:25
13:05
13:40
13:20
13:55

6. The John Loudon McAdam challenge
It will take John 10 minutes to walk from the station to the funfair.
What is the latest train that John can get?
It will take John 5 minutes to walk from his house to the station, and another 5 minutes to buy his ticket and get to the right platform.
What time should he leave the house?

7. The John Loudon McAdam challenge
John's friend James lives further away, so he is going to get a bus to the train station and meet John there. James looks at the timetable to see which bus he needs to get.
How long does the bus take?
How often are the buses?
Which bus should James get, to give himself time to buy his train ticket when he gets to the station?
Bus times
Departs
Arrives
12:23
12:35
12:30
12:42
12:37
12:49
12:44
12:56
12:51
13:03
12:58
13:10
13:05
13:17

8. The John Loudon McAdam challenge (answers)
Every 15 minutes
35 minutes
13:05
12:55
12 minutes
Every 7 minutes
12:44

9. James Hutton 1726 – 1797, Geologist
James Hutton was born in Edinburgh.
He went to university in Edinburgh, then in Paris, France and Leiden in Germany.
He returned to Edinburgh in 1750 and worked on chemical experiments with his friend James Davie, and they managed to make some money producing a salt which they could sell.

10. Geology
In the 1750s he moved to a farm in Slighhouses in the Borders, and became interested in how the forces of the wind and rain changed the land.
In 1753 he became interested in studying the surface of the Earth.
At the time Geology was a new subject, and was not really seen as being a science.

11. The age of the Earth
In 1764 Hutton went on a geological tour of the north of Scotland, and he then got a job working on the construction of the Forth and Clyde canal.
He travelled a lot in Britain and abroad, and he saw many different types of rocks.
He was very surprised when he found fossilised shells high above the sea level, and wondered how they could possibly have got there.
He started to think that maybe the Earth was very hot inside, and this made him think that the Earth must be millions of years old.
When he said this, the Church was very angry, because they believed that the Earth was only about 6,000 years old.

12. The ‘Theory of the Earth’
Hutton's idea was called the 'Theory of the Earth'.
He said that the changes we can see in the Earth happen very gradually, over a very long time.
Before this, people had thought that changes in the Earth, like the formation of mountains, happened very suddenly, when catastrophic events (like earthquakes, volcanoes erupting or meteorites hitting the Earth) took place

13. The ‘Theory of the Earth’
In 1785 Hutton spoke at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and told everyone his ideas.
It was later proved that he was right, and that the Earth was actually millions of years old.
Hutton was the first person to make people see that geology was really a science, so he is sometimes called 'the father of modern geology'.

14. Scotland’s landscape
The landscape of Scotland varies a lot in different parts of the country.
The country can be split in two along a line called the Highland Boundary Fault.
To the north and west of this line is the Highlands.
To the south and east of this line is the Lowlands.
There are lots of mountains in the Highlands, while the Lowlands are much flatter.
Ben Nevis, near Fort William, is the highest mountain in Scotland, and in the United Kingdom.

15. Scotland’s landscape
Scotland has a very long coastline, with lots of little bays.
Including all the islands, Scotland's coastline is over 10,000 miles long.
There are nearly 800 islands around Scotland's coastline.
There are also lots of lochs in Scotland.
The largest is Loch Lomond.

16. The Highland Boundary Fault
The Highland Boundary Fault marks the place where two ancient continents collided.
When the two continents bumped into each other, some of the land was very slowly pushed upwards.
This is why there are so many high mountains in the area around the fault line.
Millions of years ago, the mountains may even have been as high as the Alps are now.
Although earthquakes are very rare in Scotland, there is occasionally an earthquake that is strong enough to be felt.

17. The ice shapes the land
There are also many deep valleys, or glens, in Scotland.
These glens were formed millions of years ago, during the ice ages, when Scotland was covered in ice.
As the giant ice sheets move, they scrape away at the surface of the land.
The ice carries stones and rocks with it, and these also scrape at the land, leaving big holes in it.

18. The James Hutton challenge
SOC 2-07a
The James Hutton challenge
Fill in the blanks with the correct word.
The landscape of Scotland is very _____in some areas compared to others. The country can be split into two parts, the _____ and the _____. There are lots of _____ in the Highlands, while the Lowlands are _____. The highest mountain in Scotland is called _____.

19. The James Hutton challenge
Scotland's _____ is over 10,000 miles long, and there are nearly 800 _____. The largest loch in Scotland is Loch _____. There are also lots of glens. The glens were formed millions of years ago when huge sheets of _____ scraped across the land.

20. The James Hutton challenge
The line that separates the Highlands from the Lowlands is called the Highland Boundary _____. This line marks the place where two _____ collided with each other millions of years ago. The two continents _____ together so hard that land was forced up in the air, forming mountains. Very rarely it is possible to feel _____ around the area of the Highland Boundary Fault.

21. The James Hutton challenge (answers)
The landscape of Scotland is very DIFFERENT in some areas compared to others. The country can be split into two parts, the HIGHLANDS and the LOWLANDS. There are lots of MOUNTAINS in the Highlands, while the Lowlands are FLATTER. The highest mountain in Scotland is called BEN NEVIS.

22. The James Hutton challenge (answers)
Scotland's COASTLINE is over 10,000 miles long, and there are nearly 800 ISLANDS. The largest loch in Scotland is Loch LOMOND. There are also lots of glens. The glens were formed millions of years ago when huge sheets of ICE scraped across the land.

23. The James Hutton challenge (answers)
The line that separates the Highlands from the Lowlands is called the Highland Boundary FAULT. This line marks the place where two CONTINENTS collided with each other millions of years ago. The two continents BUMPED together so hard that land was forced up in the air, forming mountains. Very rarely it is possible to feel EARTHQUAKES around the area of the Highland Boundary Fault.