Module 4 Science and technology

UNIT 8 GREAT SCIENTISTS

Focus: Vocabulary Study: verbs to discover and to invent; science (general notion)

Focus: Great Scientists: Ernest Rutherford; Zhores Alferov – Nobel Prize Winner

Grammar focus: Uncountable nouns; the use of articles with abstract nouns

Skills focus: Reading for specific information; learning special terms; making a project.

I. Vocabulary Study:

1. Verbs: to discover and to invent

Nouns: a discovery and invention. What is the difference?

Look at the examples below and choose the correct words to put into the sentences in the box.

· Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.

· Early man probably discovered fire when lightning struck a tree and made a fire in the forest.

· Marie Curie discovered uranium.

· The Aztecs discovered the chocolate tree, growing in the rain forest many hundred years ago. Then they invented a drink made from the fruit of this tree.

· Many people say that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. But that’s not really true. There were people living there already, so they knew all about America!

· The word «robot» was invented by Karel Capek in 1921. Now everybody uses the word, but it was a new word then.

· The planet Pluto was discovered in 1930, but of course it had been in the sky for billions of years.

When someone makes a __________, he or she finds something that already existed in our world. He or she _________ something new, but doesn’t create it.

When someone creates an __________, he or she makes something new and useful. This idea or thing did not exist in the natural world before. He or she _________ something that no-one has ever thought before.

Grammar Focus: Uncountable nouns - Articles

Uncountable nouns are mass nouns which we can’t count. Uncountable nouns include: a) solid substances or many kinds of food: coal, earth, flour, sugar, meet, cheese, rice, etc. b) liquids, gases: water, coffee, oil, petrol, wine, tea, air, smoke, oxygen,, steam, hydrogen. c) materials: silicon, iron, copper, silver, gold, brass, plastic, glass, paper, wool, cotton. d) languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Dutch, etc. e) abstract nouns:knowledge, education, information, power conductivity, voltage, etc. f) words whose equivalents in other languages might be regarded as countable nouns:research, money, cash, advice, news,behavior, harm, weather accommodation, garbage, litter, rubbish, hardware, software, equipment, machinery, furniture, progress, luggage, baggage, jewellery, cutlery, poetry, lightning, leisure, luck, fun.

Uncountable nouns: - always take singular verbs. e.g. Gold is more expensive than silver. – don’t go with a/an/one/two when talking about things in general. e.g. Fresh air is healthy. Water is good for you. – can be used alone or with some/any/much/little/my/the. e.g. Don’t forget to buy (some) coffee.

We use singular verb forms and no articles with words which refer to school subjects or scientific studies: chemistry, economics, mathematics (maths), physics, politics, electronics, biology, programming, engineering, geometry, geophysics, etc.

2. 1) A basic knowledge of science or conscious thought is important for solving problems, but our unconscious minds often help in a surprising way.

Read the stories below and write the name of the person, their problem and what helped them to find the solution.

Name	the problem	the chance helped with the great discovery

2) Read the text again and put a, an, the or – in each gap.

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