An English Reader on Science 2 страница

f) What experiments with oxygen did Priestley carry out?

g) What is phlogiston?

h) What happened after Priestley discussed his work with Antoine Lavoisier?

2. In the text find words that have the following meanings:

a) “to produce or create smth”;

b) “heavy in relation to its size”;

c) “the process of communicating with smb”;

d) “to mix with a liquid and become part of it”;

e) “the way smth develops”;

f) “to make a fire stop burning or a light stop shining”;

g) “a round piece of glass with a handle”;

h) “turned upside down”;

i) “based on ideas which are possible rather than real”.

3. Study the collocations in which some of the general scientific words from the text are used:

a) to deduce: to deduce easily/logically, to deduce smth from, to be able to deduce, to be possible to deduce;

b) interaction: complex interaction, interaction processes, patterns of interaction, interaction among/between/with smth(smb);

c) material (n): toxic/flammable['flæməbl]/inflammable /radioactive/fissionable materials;

d) to study: to study carefully/closely/in depth/in detail/intensively/extensively/widely/fully/thoroughly/systematically, to be well studied, to study under/with smb;

e) to produce: to able/unable to produce, to be expected to/be likely to produce smth, to be designed to produce smth, to combine to produce smth;

f) invention: latest/new/modern/brilliant/ingenious/wonderful successful invention, to come up with/design an invention, to register/patent an invention.

4. Fill in the gaps using the words from ex.3:

All of these processes combine to _____ a particular form of radiation. He failed to ____ his invention and never made a dollar from it. In the third year at the physics faculty a number of areas are _____ in detail. This technology was designed to ____ interactive educational programmes. Higher radioactive ____ costs have pushed up the price for many scientific experiments. Which method is likely to ____ the best results? He ____ the physics of subatomic particles under Professor Sager. The total amount can be _____ logically from the figures available. The influence of heredity is best _____ in genetically identical twins. The study focuses on studying the complex ______ between living organisms and their environment. We ____ from the behaviour of the particles that they are charged. The group has observed some specific patterns of _____ in this group of particles.

5. Make up your own sentences in English with the collocations from ex.3. Translate them into Russian, and ask your groupmates to translate them back into English.

6. Translate into English:

a) Пристли нравилось общаться с великими мыслителями своего времени.

b) Незадолго до этого Франклин разработал эксперимент, в котором во время грозы был запущен воздушный змей, и в результате он сделал вывод, что молния состоит из электричества.

c) Открытие Пристли того, что электричество проходит через графит, легло в основу электроники и привело к созданию резистора задолго до изобретения кремниевого чипа.

d) Из-за того, что ртуть обладает большой плотностью, другие вещества поднимались к поверхности.

e) Многие вещества производили газ, который собирался на поверхности ртути, и Пристли изучал этот газ.

7. The following contexts are about chemical elements (titanium, arsenic, magnesium, antimony, fluorine, manganese, silicon, helium, ferrum, mercury, sulphur, fluorine, nickel, caesium, iodine and argentum). Fill in the gaps:

a) ___ is a grey-white metal that breaks easily; it is found as a free element in nature (often in combination with iron), and in many minerals. It is a metal with important industrial metal alloy ['ælɔɪ] uses, particularly in stainless steels. Historically, ___ is named for various black minerals from the same region of Magnesia in Greece which gave names to similar-sounding magnesium, Mg, and magnetite[11], an ore of the element iron, Fe;

b) the main use of metallic ___ is for strengthening alloys of copper and especially lead (for example, in car batteries). ___ is a common n-type dopant (диффузант)[12] in semiconductor electronic devices, and the optoelectronic compound gallium arsenide is the most common semiconductor in use after doped silicon;

c) ___ is a silver-white metal used in making various strong light materials; ___ was discovered in Cornwall, Great Britain, by William Gregor in 1791 and named for the Titans of Greek mythology;

d) liquids containing ___ are sometimes used as antiseptics;

e) ___ is a greyish-white precious metal used for making coins, decorative objects, etc.;

f) ___ is a pale yellow substance that produces a strong and unpleasant smell when it burns, and is used in medicine, industry, etc.;

g) ___ is a poisonous silver liquid used for making thermometers;

h) ___ is a poisonous greenish gas with a strong smell, often used in swimming pools to keep the water clean;

i) ___ is a light, silver-white metal, it burns with a bright white flame. Its common oxidation number is +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and ninth in the known universe as a whole;

j) ___ exists as a grey solid or as a brown powder, found in rocks and sand, used in making glass, transistors, etc. It is less reactive than its chemical analogue carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table.;

k) ___ is a soft silver-white metal that reacts strongly in water, it is used in photoelectric cells;

l) ___ is a poisonous pale yellow gas, very reactive;

m) ___ is a silver-white metal which breaks easily, especially in making alloys. ____ compounds have been known since ancient times and were used for cosmetics;

n) ___ is a very light gas that is often used to fill balloons, to freeze food, etc.;

o) ___ is a hard silver-white metal, used in making steel and other types of alloys; on Earth, native ___ is always found in combination with iron, a reflection of major end products of supernova nucleosynthesis; an iron–___ mixture is thought to compose Earth's inner core;

p)___ is a hard strong metal used in making steel, found in small quantities in blood, food, etc.

8. Make a written resume of the text about Joseph Priestley (10-15 sentences) and retell the text orally relying on what you have written.

Alessandro Volta[ˌælɪ'sæːndrəu 'vɔːltə]

A world without batteries is almost impossible to imagine, but when Allesandro Volta was born in Italy, no such thing existed. Although Volta didn’t speak for the first four years of his life and his family became convinced that he had a mental disability, at the age of twenty-nine he started teaching physics at the local high school, and within months of arriving at the school he had built his first invention.

Born: 1754, Como, Italy.

Education: no university education.

Major achievement: created the first electrical battery.

Died: 1827, Como, Italy.

Before reading the text, study the words in the right column (practise pronouncing those which are transcribed):

Named an eletrophorus, this device produced an electric charge from friction in a manner similar to the action of rubbing a party balloon on a sweater.   Soon Volta was promoted to Professor of Physics and three years later moved to the same position at Pavia University. Here he came into contact with Luigi Galvani [lu'ɪʤɪ gæl'vɑːni] (1737–1798), a fellow researcher who had stimulated muscles in the limbs of recently dead animals using electricity. One day, while cutting a frog’s leg, Galvani’s steel scalpel had touched a brass hook that was holding the leg in place. The leg twitched. Galvani was convinced that this twitch had revealed the effects of what he called ‘animal electricity’– the life force within the muscles of the frog.   Volta was sceptical and studied whether the electric current could have come from outside the animal. He discovered that bringing two different metals together sometimes caused a small electric current to run, and he correctly guessed that this had occurred when Galvani’s scalpel touched the hook.   The fact that you could produce electricity without the presence of animal tissue proved that Galvani’s idea of animal electricity was wrong, but equally showed that muscles could respond to external stimuli.   Taking the idea further, Volta created a column of alternating silver and zinc discs. He separated the discs with sheets of cardboard soaked in salty water. This stack produced a constantly flowing electric current, and building stacks of varying numbers of elements produced more or less powerful currents.   His largest column consisted of 60 layers, but he soon found that having more than 20 elements in the stack produced a current that was painful if you held on to the wires attached to either end. What Volta didn’t know was that all metals hold on to their electrons with different degrees of tenacity. If you place two different metals next to each other, electrons will flow from the one that is relatively more keen to give them up – this is the start of an electrical current.   When Volta demonstrated his stack to the French Academy of Science, the onlookers were so impressed that Napoleon [nə'pəulɪən] made him the Count of Lombardy. His contribution to the understanding of electricity was so significant that a key measurement unit of electricity, the volt, was named after him.

Electrophorus – электрофор (прибор для получения электричества, основанный на возбуждении электрического состо-яния через индукцию) Party balloon – воздушный шарик Sweater ['swetə] To promote – (зд.) повышать Fellow – принадлежащий к той же группе, имеющий нечто общее (fellow student, fellow citizen) Muscle ['mʌsl] –мышца Steel – сталь Scalpel ['skælp(ə)l] Brass [brɑːs] –латунь Hook – крюк To twitch – дергаться Sceptical ['skeptɪk(ə)l] Occur [ə'kɜː] – случаться, происходить Tissue ['tɪʃuː] – ткань (биол.) External – внешний (антоним – internal) Stimuli ['stɪmjəlai] (sg. stimulus ['stɪmjələs]) Column ['kɔləm] To alternate ['ɔːltəneɪt] –чередоваться Zinc [zɪŋk] Cardboard – картон To soak – вымачивать Stack – (зд.) столб Tenacity [tɪ'næsətɪ] – упорство, стойкость Keen – (зд.) готовый, склонный Onlooker ['ɔnˌlukə] – зритель, наблюдатель, зевака Count of Lombardy ['lɔmbədɪ] – граф Ломбардский (область в Сев. Италии) Contribution [ˌkɔntrɪ'bjuːʃ(ə)n] – вклад Volt [vɔlt]

Tasks and exercises

1. Answer the following questions:

a) What device did Volta make before becoming a teacher at high school?

b) What did Luigi Galvani call ‘animal electricity’?

c) What was Volta sceptical about in Galvani’s conclusions? How did he find out that Galvani was mistaken?

d) Describe Volta’s ‘stack’.

e) What did Volta’s discoveries lead to?

2. In the text find words that have the following meanings:

a) “smth that helps smb/smth to develop better or more quickly”;

b) “place, location, status”;

c) “persistency, determination”;

d) “disclose, display”;

e) “an action or a service that helps to cause or increase smth”;

f) “opposite of internal”;

g) “a collection of cells that form tha different parts of an organism”.

3. Study the collocations in which some of the general scientific words from the text are used:

a) effect [ɪ'fekt][13]: far-reaching/important/strong/significant/ minimal/main/principal effects, damaging/destructive /harmful effect, positive/desired/remarkable effect; to produce an effect, to observe/assess/examine/measure/study an effect;

b) to affect [ə'fekt]: to affect smth(smb) greatly/radically /significantly/very much/slightly/clearly/seriously, to be likely to affect;

c) similar: to be similar in smth, to be similar to, extremely/strikingly similar, basically/roughly ['rʌflɪ]/somewhat similar, superficially similar, qualitatively similar;

d) position (n): in a favourable/ideal/perfect/weak position;

e) to position: centrally/correctly/wrongly;

f) fact: obvious/important/inescapable fact, to establish/find out a fact, to collect/gather/select facts, to recognise/accept a fact, to deny/dispute a fact, draw attention to the fact that;

g) idea: valuable/innovative/constructive/brilliant idea, to come up with an idea, to contribute an idea, to generate ideas, to put forward an idea, to occur to smb, to clarify an idea, to be open to ideas;

h) stimulus: a powerful/major/negative/positive stimulus, an internal/external stimulus, to act as/give provide a stimulus, in response to a stimulus;

i) to separate: to separate completely/clearly/easily/formally, to be difficult/impossible to separate, sharply separated;

j) degree: considerable/great degree, low/small/minimal degree, to a lesser degree, with varying degrees of success, in an equal degree, with a fair degree of accuracy.

4. Fill in the gaps:

We can measure these values with a fair ____ of accuracy. Giving grants should act as a _____ to scientific activity. Brainstorming is a good way of _____ ideas. No one can deny this ____. A magnet _____ out scrap iron from the rubbish. Our laboratory has been working on these problems with varying _____ of success. A brilliant new idea occurred to him during the seminar. This phenomenon will especially ____ large animals greatly, and to a lesser ____, birds and insects. These two branches of science have now become clearly _____. Could you, please, clarify this ___ for me? The two experiments are _____ in their results. The drug produces a powerful ____ on the brain. Students need time to collect the ____. Theoretical and experimental physics are not always sharply _____. The smell of this chemical is ____ to nitric ['naɪtrɪk] acid. Recent discoveries have drawn the scientists’ attention to this ___. The emission of these gases is likely to ____ the environment. That is precisely the ____ I was aiming at. The three objects are extremely _____. We had problems with this experiment, but this chemical gave the desired effect. These are elements with basically ____ properties. Clarke realised that if you ______ a rocket containing a satellite and orbiting the Earth at approximately 42,164 km from its centre, then the speed with which it moved would be the same as that of the Earth’s rotation.

5. Make up your own sentences in English with the collocations from ex.3.

6. Translate into English:

a) Вскоре Вольта получил повышение до профессора физики и через три года переехал в университет Падуи, где занял аналогичную должность.

b) Гальвани был убежден, что в ходе экспериментов сумел получить эффект того, что он называл «животным электричеством».

c) Тот факт, что получить электричество можно было и без животной биологической ткани, доказал, что идея Гальвани была ошибочной, и в то же время показывал, что мускулы реагировали на стимулы извне.

d) Он разделил диски слоями плотной бумаги, пропитанной соленой водой.

e) Чего Вольта не знал, так это, что атомы различных металлов с разным ‘упорством’ расстаются с электронами.

7. Below you can see a list of some of the key events in the history of electricity. Can you match these events with the names of the scientists who were involved in them?

· 1746. Leyden jars are invented in Holland. · 1751. The word ‘electrician’ is first used in print. · 1752. The kite experiment in Philadelphia is carried out: atmospheric electricity is conducted down a wet string of the kite and charges a Leyden jar. This leads to the invention of the lightning conductor. · 1791. Commentary on the Effects of Electricity on Muscular Motion is published. · 1800. The first electric battery is made of piles of alternate plates of silver and zinc. · 1820. The link between electricity and magnetism is discovered. · 1831. Electromagnetic induction is discovered. · 1830s-1840s. The idea of an electrical or magnetic field created by ‘lines of force’ between charged particles. · 1837. The first electric telegraph is invented. · 1837. The alphabetic code of dots and dashes is invented. · 1864. Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field is published. Faraday’s qualitative descriptions of the electromagnetic field are translated into mathematics in the form of wave equations. They explain the propagation of electrical and magnetic forces across the whole spectrum from gamma waves to radio waves and show that light too is electromagnetic radiation. · 1867. A revolutionary dynamo[14] is announced, which results in cheap electric lighting and power. · 1879. The incandescent light bulb is invented. · 1887-8. Maxwell’s prediction that electromagnetic waves can be transmitted is confirmed. Radio waves are discovered. · 1895. Wireless telegraphy is developed.

Benjamin Franklin Hans Christian Oersted Heinrich Hertz Michael Faraday Samuel Morse Charles Wheatstone James Clerk Maxwell Ernst Werner von Siemens ['siːmənz] Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan Alessandro Volta Luigi Galvani Guglielmo Marconi Pieter van Musschenbroek

8. Make a written resume of the text about Alessandro Volta (10–15 sentences) and retell the text orally relying on what you have written.

Michael Faraday ['maɪk(ə)l 'færədɛ]

Some people rise to fame by being born into the right family. Michael Faraday did so because he was brilliant and determined. Born in the area of London now called Elephant and Castle [15], Faraday grew up in a poor, but highly religious environment that led him to expect to find a unifying order in the way the world was made.

Born: 1791, Newington, England.

Education: no formal education.

Major achievement: pioneered work in electricity and magnetism.

Died: 1867, Hampton Court, England.

Before reading the text, study the words in the right column (practise pronouncing those which are transcribed):

Aged fourteen, Faraday started work as an apprentice bookbinder, but enjoyed reading the books more than binding them. In one book he found instructions that enabled him to build his own electrostatic machine and join the City Philosophical Society, which met every week to hear and discuss lectures on scientific topics. After attending a Royal Institution lecture given by Humphry Davy (1778–1829), Faraday became Davy’s chemical assistant and toured the continent as Davy’s valet. Among many scientific luminaries he met on his travels was the aged Volta, who inspired Faraday to investigate electricity when he returned to London in 1815. In 1820 the Danish ['deɪnɪʃ] natural philosopher Hans Christian Oersted (1777–1851) ['ɜːstəd][16] wrote a paper describing how a compass needle deflects from magnetic north when an electric current is switched on or off in a nearby wire. This showed that electricity passing through a wire generated a magnetic field. In 1821 Faraday took this a step further. He pushed a piece of wire through a cork and floated the cork on water. The ends of the wire made a contact with blobs of mercury and through these he was able to transmit electricity to the wire. When a magnet was nearby the wire moved each time he applied a current. Bending the wire, he found a way of making it and the cork rotate when he fed electricity through it and hence discovered electromagnetic rotation, a discovery that led to the invention of electric motors.   Convinced that energy was always conserved within a system, he decided that if electricity could produce a magnetic field, the reverse should also be true – magnetism should be able to produce electricity. It wasn’t until almost ten years later that he showed that moving a powerful magnet near a coil of wire could cause a brief pulse of electricity to flow in a wire – he had discovered electromagnetic induction, the principle behind the electric transformer and generator. This discovery, more than any other, allowed nineteenth-century scientists to turn electricity from a scientific curiosity into a powerful technology.   As Faraday gained fame and reputation he never forgot the excitement of science he had felt as a child, and in 1826 gave the first Royal Institution Christmas lecture for children – a concept that still carries on to the present day.

Apprentice [ə'prentɪs] – подмастерье, ученик Bookbinder ['bukˌbaɪndə] переплетчик City Philosophical Society – Лондонское философское общество Royal Institution of Great Britain (often abbreviated as the Royal Institution or RI) Королевский институт Великобритании Valet ['væleɪ], ['vælɪt] – слуга, лакей Luminary ['luːmɪn(ə)rɪ] – светило Aged – в возрасте To inspire – вдохновить Compass ['kʌmpəs] needle стрелка компаса To switch – переключать Nearby – ближний Take smth a step further – продвинуться в чем-либо Cork – пробка To float – плавать, держаться на поверхности воды Blob – капля, шарик, клякса Hence – таким образом Reverse – обратное Coil – катушка Brief – краткий Electric transformer электрический трансформатор To gain fame and reputation – прославиться и завоевать репутацию To carry on – (зд.) продолжать существовать

Tasks and exercises

1. Answer the following questions:

a) How did Michael Faraday get an education? Describe the beginning of his scientific career.

b) How did Faraday become Humphrey Davy’s assistant?

c) What did Volta inspire Faraday to do?

d) What is Hans Christian Oersted’s contribution to the study of electricity?

e) How did Faraday discover electromagnetic rotation?

f) What is electromagnetic induction and how did Faraday discover it?

g) Why did Faraday introduce the Royal Institution Christmas lectures?

h) How can you characterise Michael Faraday’s contribution to modern physics?

2. Find words in the text that have the following meanings:

a) “to send a signal, to transfer”;

b) “to use as little of smth as possible so that it lasts a long time”;

c) “for this reason”;

d) “detailed information on how to do or use smth”;

e) “the opposite of what has just been mentioned”;

f) “to be present at an event”;

g) “an idea or principle that is connected with smth abstract”;

h) “to change or make smth change from one thing to another”;

i “to use smth in a particular situation”;

j) “to change direction”.

3. Study the collocations in which some of the general scientific words from the text are used:

a) topic: a range/variety of topics, on the topic of, to consider/cover/discuss/deal with/focus on a topic, broad/general/narrow/key topic, controversial topic;

b) to show: to show smth clearly, a chance to show smth, to appear/seem to show;

c) to conserve: to conserve energy, to conserve wildlife;

d) principle: basic/fundamental principle, universal/theoretical principle, to establish/formulate a principle, the principle behind smth, to apply;

e) technology: current/present-day/advanced/efficient technology, to use/introduce/apply/develop a technology, to allow smth, to enable smth.

4. Fill in the gaps:

This ____ applies to all kinds of particle interaction. The technology helps to ____ wildlife in the area. The car engine is based on ____ developed for aeroplanes. Heisenberg formulated the famous uncertainty ____. This technology ____ computers to read handwriting. Whether the physicists at CERN succeeded in finding the Higgs boson last summer is a ____ topic. The research ____ to show that my original hypotheses were correct.

5. Make up 10 sentences in English with the collocations from ex.3.

6. In the text about Faraday you can find the word “hence” meaning “this way, thus”. It can also mean “for this reason” connecting ideas in a sentence or between sentences. Among other linking words denoting reason and result are “as a consequence”, “consequently”, “as a result”, “so”, “therefore”, “thus”. Complete the sentences using one of these linkers:

a) We assume that the project is impossible to finish in such conditions, ___ the need for extra finance and more specialists.

b) There is still much to discuss. We will, ____, return to this issue at our next seminar.

c) The spread of the virus is dangerous for animals and the environment, and _____ to human health.

d) Edward Teller accused Robert Oppenheimer of having left political views, ____ Oppenheimer was removed from running the Manhattan Project.

e) Michael Faraday could not get any formal education, __ as a young man he read the books on science at the bookbinder’s shop where he worked.

f) We know that the origin of the universe was a quantum event. ___, if we want to go back even further and understand the origin of the universe, we must combine what we know about general relativity with quantum theory.

7. Translate into English:

a) Фарадей сумел присоединиться к Лондонскому философскому обществу, члены которого собирались каждую неделю, чтобы обсуждать различные научные темы.

b) Гансу Христиану Эрстеду удалось показать, что электричество, проходящее через провод, рождает электрическое поле.

c) Убежденный, что энергия всегда сохраняется внутри системы, Фарадей решил, что, если электричество могло рождать электрическое поле, обратное тоже должно быть возможно.

d) Ему удалось открыть электромагнитную индукцию – принцип, лежащий в основе электрического трансформатора и электрогенератора.

e) Это изобретение, в большей степени, чем какое-либо другое, позволило ученым 19-го века превратить электричество из любопытного научного явления в мощную технологию.

8. Make a written resume of the text about Michael Faraday (10-15 sentences) and retell the text orally relying on what you have written.

James Joule[ʤeɪmz ʤuːl]

As the son of a brewer in Northern England, Joule had little formal education and never held an academic post. Like so many pioneers of science, Joule set to work with a theological belief that God had built a uniform system – and that it was our duty to work it out and make sense of it.

Born: 1818, England.

Education: taught by John Dalton.

Major achievement: revealed the relationship between work, heat and energy.

Died: 1889, England.

Before reading the text, study the words in the right column (practise pronouncing those which are transcribed):

In 1840 he produced his first major results. By altering the electrical current passing through a wire and the resistance of that wire, he discovered that the amount the wire heated up was proportional to the square of the current; that is to say, doubling the current led to a fourfold increase in heat, while trebling it led to a ninefold increase. He set it out in an equation that is now referred to as Joule’s Law: energy transferred = the current² × the resistance of the wire × the amount of time you ran the current for   The heating is a result of collisions between the moving free electrons and the relatively stationary atoms of the conductor material. Heating increases rapidly as the current increases because the greater rate of flow results in many more collisions.   His expectation of uniform forces in nature led Joule to his next discovery. He was aware that Julius Mayer ['ʤuːlɪəs 'meɪə] (1814–1878) had showed that beating paddles in water could cause the water to heat up. Joule set up a paddle that was driven by a falling weight attached to a string. He correctly realised that lifting the weight up stored energy in it, and as the weight fell this energy was transformed by the friction of the beating paddles to the water in the form of heat. In 1849 he read his paper On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat to the Royal Society in London, and was instantly recognised as a name to be reckoned with.   This work contradicted the previously popular caloric theory of heat. This had suggested that heat consisted of caloric, a fluid that could be transferred from one body to another, but could not be created or destroyed.   For 7 years Joule worked with William Thomson ['tɔms(ə)n] (1^st Baron Kelvin, 1824-1907) and between them they came to realise that if you allow a gas to expand, it cools. The discovery is known as the Joule-Thompson (or Joule-Kelvin) effect, and it lies at the heart of the mechanism that drives refrigeration systems around the world. The pair also produced a paper that included the first estimation of the speed of gas molecules, a value they set at about 1,500 feet a second for oxygen at average temperatures.   Joule is now immortalised in our use of the term ‘joule’ as a unit of energy, with one joule (1J) being the energy expended when a force of one Newton accelerates an object through one metre; ie 1J+1Nm. In the world of physics, heat and work are now measured in the same units.

To alter ['ɔːltə] – менять Fourfold ['fɔːfəuld] – четырехкратный Equation [ɪ'kweɪʒ(ə)n]   Paddle – Весло To attach – прикрепить     To store – вмещать, сохранять Friction –трение To reckon with – считаться с, уважать     To contradict противоречить Caloric [kə'lɔrɪk] – теплота   Average ['æv(ə)rɪʤ] – средний   To immortalise [i'mɔ:təlaız] увековечить To expend – расходовать

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29