Most families could not afford to live with only working parents, so children over the age of eight worked alongside their parents in factories more than 12 hours a day. The working conditions that young children were forced to endure sparked the start of legislative reforms. In 1833, the Factories Act was passed, limiting the number of hours a child could work based on their age (Mack, 2005). ConclusionThe industrial revolution that began in Britain in the early 18th century brought us many scientific advances. Mechanization of the cotton textile industry reducing the need for manual labor, new ironmaking techniques, the introduction of steam engines combined with improved transportation methods led to the expansion of trade in Europe. It was the result of the convergence of technological advances in many different fields and not a simple invention. These scientific advances are at the origin of the leap of the West