1. TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS What is a System?
A system is a group of parts that work together to achieve a goal. These parts are:
Inputs
Processes
Outputs
Feedback

2. WHAT IS AN INPUT?
An Input includes anything that is put into the system, and comes from the system’s resources.
A Resource is anything that provides support or supplies for the system.
There are seven types of resources that provide input for all technological systems:
1. People
2. Information
3. Materials
4. Tools and Machines
5. Energy
6. Capital
7. Time

3. PEOPLE People are the most important resource.
Without people, technologies wouldn’t even begin to exist.
People decide that problems exist and use the problem- solving process to develop workable solutions.
For example:
People who wanted to download and listen to music without having to buy the whole CD spurred on the invention of MP3 players. If people had not created this demand, the product would never have been invented.
People created the demand for this product, and it also took people to figure out how to make a product that would provide a solution for this demand.

4. INFORMATION
Information is needed in order for people to design and make what is needed to solve a problem.
In Chapter 1, we learned how technologists need to use information from math, science, social studies, and language arts when they solve problems.
To develop MP3 players, technologists used information from digital audio and computing technologies to come up with a new form of recording system that allowed people to download and listen to music of their choice in a compact, light, and easy to carry device.
Manufacturing workers need information, such as:
Quantities
Sizes and Shapes
Types of parts
Assembly information in order to put the MP3 players together

5. MATERIALS Materials are all the things that make up a product.
Materials are either natural or synthetic.
Natural materials are those that are found in nature, such as wood, metal, and petroleum.
All natural materials are either renewable or non- renewable.
Renewable: means that new amounts can be produced (like wood – new trees can be grown to replace the ones that are cut down and used for various things).
Non-Renewable: means that the item cannot be replaced. We have only a limited supply, and once that supply is exhausted, it cannot be replaced. Petroleum is an example.
Synthetic materials are human made.

6. MATERIALS (continued)
Synthetic materials cannot be found in a mine or growing on a tree. However, they are made from materials that came from nature.
Examples are plastics (made from petroleum), ceramics, and composites.
Raw and Industrial Materials
Raw materials are natural materials that have not been processed; they are obtained by harvesting, mining, or drilling.
Examples are trees, cotton, crude oil
Industrial Materials are raw materials that have been changed to a usable form and are then made into a finished product.
Examples are sheet metal, sheets of plywood, fabric, gasoline

7. MATERIALS (continued)
Raw and Industrial Materials
Primary Processes are the processes used to convert raw materials into industrial materials.
Example: Removing bark from a tree and cutting the log into boards or sheets
Secondary Processes are the processes used to convert industrial materials into finished products.
Example: Taking the wood board or sheet and using it to make furniture

8. TOOLS AND MACHINES
Tool and machines are used to make materials take on the size and form needed to make the product.
Tools and machines are also used to transport materials, parts, and the final product.
Tools and machines can be classified into categories:
Measuring Tools: used to find out the size and shape of an item
Layout Tools: used to make lines, angles, circles on material to show how the material needs to be cut
Separating Tools and Machines: used to cut material to a certain size or shape
Forming Tools and Machines: used to change the shape of materials
Combining Tools and Machines: used to join parts

9. ENERGY Energy: defined as the ability to do work.
Three sources of energy:
Inexhaustible Sources: those sources that can never be used up by human action.
We can use the sun’s energy (directly) for solar heating; the sun’s energy also creates wind and influences tides, which can be used as energy sources for technology
Renewable Energy Sources: those sources that can be replenished or re-supplied
Human and animal energy; trees and plants
Non-renewable Energy Sources: those sources that cannot be replenished by human action
Fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas)

10. ENERGY (continued) Energy comes in several forms;
Heat -- Light
Sound -- Chemical
Nuclear -- Mechanical
Electrical
Energy cannot be destroyed and it can only be created in a nuclear reaction; however, energy can be converted (changed) from one form to another and it can be transmitted (moved) from one place to another
Lamps: the electrical energy is changed to light and heat energy
Elec. energy was transmitted to the house from a power station
Elec. energy might have started out as heat energy produced by burning a fossil fuel
The heat produced steam, which turned the blades of a turbine, which converted the mechanical energy to electrical energy

11. CAPITAL
Capital includes the money, land, and equipment needed to set up the technological system.
Without capital, most technological ideas would remain just that – an “idea” and not an actual technology.

12. TIME
Whenever a company decides to make a technological product, it invests time in that particular system.
Time is one factor used to determine productivity.
Productivity: the amount of goods or services compared to the amount of resources that produced them. The more goods or services a worker can produce in an hour, the higher the productivity.

13. WHAT IS A PROCESS?
A Process includes all the activities that need to take place for the system to give the expected result.
Includes all of the following:
Research and Development
Management
Marketing
Quality Assurance
Accounting and Finance

14. WHAT IS AN OUTPUT?
An Output includes everything that results when the input and process parts of the system go into effect.
Outputs may be intended or unintended
Intended: the output that was expected to result from the inputs and processes (such as the MP3 player)
Unintended: outputs that occurred as a result of the inputs and processes that weren’t expected (such as waste, pollution, changes in society)

15. WHAT IS FEEDBACK?
Feedback is information about output that is sent back to the system to help determine whether the system is doing what it is supposed to do.
Feedback is critical because systems must be watched to be sure it is solving the problem(s) it was created to solve.
Feedback can come from:
Internal error-checking features
From customers
From suppliers
Feedback is used to make improvements in systems or can be used to create new systems.