Designing a control system for the safe operation of a nuclear reactor in an electric power plant.

Designing the wings for a new type of airplane.

Designing an automatic switching system for telephone direct-dialing.

Installing an automated conveyor belt in an automobile plant.

Testing the strength of materials to be used for a sports stadium.

Designing a rocket for space exploration that will use nuclear-powcred motors.

Designing a process for making plastics from vegetable materials such as soy beans.

Designing canals as part of an aqueduct that will carry a water supply system across a desert to a large city.

Improving the braking system in an automobile.

Finding a process for extracting a higher percentage of uranium from uranium ore.

UNIT TWO
SURVEYING

Special Terms

Surveying: Measuring the earth's surface. Plane surveying measures surfaces as though they were flat, without taking into account the earth's curvature, whereas geodetic surveying includes calculations for the curvature. A surveyor is the person who makes a survey.

Horizontal Plane: Perpendicular to the force of gravity.

Vertical Plane: In line with the direction of gravity.

Plumb Bob: Lead weights attached to a line to show the direction of gravity.

Chain: A device 66 feet long (surveyor's chain) or 100 feet long (engineer's chain) for measuring distance. Today, a steel tape has replaced the chain, but the men who hold the tape are usually still called chainmen.

Theodolite: A special kind of transit that gives more accurate readings of angles than a standard transit.

Stadia Hairs: Lines in a transit that are used in determining distances. Stadia is the plural of stadion, a Greek word for a measure of distance, about 607 feet.

Rod: A rule with measurements marked at fixed distances. The person who holds it is a rodman.

Plane-table Alidade: An alidade is another kind of telescope used to measure both distances and vertical angles. It is set on a plane-table (a flat table), which a surveyor can use as a drawing board to make maps in the field.

Surveyor's Level: Another kind of telescope with a bubble level, a tube of fluid with an air bubble in it. The surveyor can sight a rule called a level rod through the telescope in order to measure elevation.

Bench Mark: A point whose elevation has been previously determined and marked. It is used as a basis for additional measurements.

Altimeter: A device that measures elevation by means of atmospheric pressure. Triangulation: In geodetic surveying, measuring a network of triangles based on points on the earth's surface.

Geological Survey: Determining underground conditions, such as types of soil and rock beneath the surface.

Boring: The process of bringing up samples of subsurface soil and rock by means of a hollow drill. Each sample is also called a boring.

Gravimeter: A device that measures the earth's gravitational pull.

Magnetometer: A device that measures the strength of the earth’s magnetism. Seismograph: A device that measures the strength of vibrations (seismic waves) within the earth.

Vocabulary Practice

What is surveying?

What is the difference between plane surveying and geodetic surveying?

What is the difference between a horizontal plane and a vertical plane?

What device is used to determine the direction of gravity?

What is a chain? What has replaced it nowadays?

What does breaking chain mean?

What are transits and theodolites?

What are stadia hairs? Where does the word stadia come from?

What kind of device does a rodman hold?

What are contour lines?

What is an alidade? What does a plane-table alidade measure?

What is a surveyor's level? What does it measure?

What is a bench mark?

How does an altimeter measure elevation?

How is the term mosaic used in aerial surveying?

What is triangulation? Is it used in plane or geodetic surveying?