Which of the following main industry/industries was/were developed in the second industrial revolution that took place after about 1850?
- (a)Coal and iron
- (b)Cotton spinning and weaving
- (c)Chemical and electrical
- (d)Steam engines
Correct — C, Chemical and electrical. The Second Industrial Revolution (roughly 1850-1914) was driven by new science-based industries — chemicals (synthetic dyes, fertilisers, explosives), electricity (dynamos, motors, lighting and the telegraph) and mass steel (the Bessemer process). Coal-and-iron, mechanised cotton textiles and the steam engine were the hallmarks of the earlier First Industrial Revolution (c.1760-1840), so among the options only 'chemical and electrical' belongs to the second phase.
- (a)Coal and iron — Coal as the fuel and iron as the structural metal powered the FIRST Industrial Revolution (c.1760-1840); by 1850 they were already mature industries, not new developments of the second phase.
- (b)Cotton spinning and weaving — Mechanised cotton textiles (spinning jenny, water frame, power loom) were the flagship industry of the FIRST Industrial Revolution in Britain, not the second.
- (d)Steam engines — The steam engine — Newcomen's, then James Watt's improved engine of the 1760s-80s — is the defining technology of the FIRST Industrial Revolution; the second phase moved on to electricity and the internal-combustion/petroleum engine.
Historians split industrialisation into two waves. The First Industrial Revolution (c.1760-1840) was built on coal, iron, the steam engine and mechanised textiles, and was centred on Britain. The Second Industrial Revolution (c.1850-1914) was science-led — it added steel, chemicals, electricity and petroleum, and spread to Germany and the United States.
Sort each option by era. Anything about coal, iron, steam or cotton mills is first-wave; anything about chemicals, electricity, steel or oil is second-wave. Only 'chemical and electrical' is a second-wave pairing, so it is the answer.
- First Industrial Revolution (c.1760-1840): coal, iron, the steam engine and mechanised cotton textiles; centred on Britain.
- Second Industrial Revolution (c.1850-1914): steel (Bessemer process, 1856), chemicals, electricity and petroleum.
- Germany and the United States led the second wave, overtaking Britain in the new science-based industries.
- Electric power, the internal-combustion engine and the assembly line all belong to the second wave.
- Assuming every 'industrial revolution' fact is about steam and cotton — those are first-wave.
- Treating coal and iron as second-wave because heavy industry continued; the NEW industries after 1850 were chemicals, electricity, steel and oil.
Asked as 'which industry belongs to the first/second industrial revolution', or by naming an inventor/technology and asking for its era.
Which of the following statements correctly explains the impact of Industrial Revolution on India during the first half of the nineteenth century?
- (a) Indian handicrafts were ruined.
- (b) Machines were introduced in the Indian textile industry in large numbers.
- (c) Railway lines were laid in many parts of the country.
- (d) Heavy duties were imposed on the imports of British manufactures.
Answer(a) Indian handicrafts were ruined.
Same theme — the Industrial Revolution. UPSC probes its consequence for colonial India (cheap machine-made British textiles ruined Indian handicrafts), which complements this NDA item on which industries defined each phase.
Which one of the following statements about the Industrial Revolution is correct?
- (a) Thomas Savery invented astrolabe
- (b) Thomas Newcomen invented chemical dyes
- (c) James Watt’s invention converted the steam engine from being a mere pump into one which would provide energy to power machines in factories
- (d) Mathew Boulton discovered the technique of refining gold of impurities
Answer(c) James Watt’s invention converted the steam engine from being a mere pump into one which would provide energy to power machines in factories
Same concept — the Industrial Revolution. That NDA item tests the steam engine (James Watt) of the FIRST wave; this one asks which industries defined the SECOND wave (chemicals and electricity).
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Bessemer process, introduced in 1856, is associated with the cheap mass production of
- (a)Aluminium
- (b)Steel
- (c)Copper
- (d)Cement
Answer(b) Steel — the Bessemer converter blew air through molten iron to make cheap bulk steel, a key Second Industrial Revolution industry.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following nations led the Second Industrial Revolution (after 1850) rather than the first?
- (a)Britain
- (b)Germany
- (c)France
- (d)Netherlands
Answer(b) Germany — with the United States, it led the science-based chemical and electrical industries of the second wave.