Choose the correct word to complete the sentences.

Вариант 1

Choose the correct word to complete the sentences.

1. ___ is something through which electricity can pass.

2. An electrical ___ supplies power in our home.

3. The electromagnetic field ___ a force on the particles.

4. To ___ power you need a way to control electricity.

5. Normally, electricity is carried through homes by ___.

6. Is 6 o'clock a ___ time for your meeting?

A) A conductor B) A magnet C) Static

A) bulb B) current C) particle

A) put B) exerted C) applied

A) attract B) exert C) generate

A) wires B) charges C) forces

A) comfortable B) fitting C) convenient

Electricity and magnetism

Electromagnetism is everywhere. It is a field that exists throughout space. When particles are electrically charged, the electromagnetic field exerts a force on them. These particles then move and exert a force on the electromagnetic field. By generating these fields when and where we want them and by controlling these forces we have electricity. This gives us the power we use in the modern world. All our TVs, phones, street lights and cars depend on electromagnetism.

So what is electromagnetism? Actually, it is two things, but they are so closely connected that it is convenient for us to think of them as one, as two sides of the same coin. There are two types of field: electric and magnetic. Electrically-charged particles result in an electric field, static electricity. When there is a conductor, a material which will allow electric field to pass through it, then we can create an electric current. In our homes, the conductors arc the wires that run through our house to the light bulbs or the TV. A magnetic field results from the motion of an electric current and is used to generate the electricity we use.

In the 19th century, James Clerk Maxwell, the Scottish physicist, produced the equations that proved the two forces acted as one. One effect of this was for physicists all over the world to hurry back to their libraries and laboratories to rewrite the theories on the motion of objects. Maxwell's equations showed that what physicists had believed for centuries was in fact not correct. It was not until Einstein, in the 20th century, that the theory of motion was put right - at least for now.

How do we know the two things are one? Well, sailors had known for centuries that lightning affected the magnetic compasses on their ships. No one, however, made the connection between lightning and electricity until Benjamin Franklin, the American politician and scientist, flew a kite in a thunderstorm to attract the lightning. In other parts of the world, physicists were experimenting with magnets and electricity. Most passed a current across a magnetic needle and watched it move. The Frenchman, Andre Marie Ampere eventually applied mathematics to electromagnetism. It is from his work that we have our modern understanding of electromagnetism.

One piece of the jigsaw remained. No one had discovered a way of generating electricity. True, there were batteries, Alessandro Volta invented the Voltaic pile in 1800, but it was of limited use. Certainly no battery could provide enough electrical power to operate a machine. For that the world would have to wait for Michael Faraday to find a way of creating an electrical current, when and where it was needed.

Read the text and choose the correct answer.

1. We can make electricity by

A) exerting a force

B) creating electromagnetic fields

C) charging particles

D) moving particles.

2. Electrical and magnetic fields

A) are opposites.

B) are two very different things

C) are very closely related

D) need a conductor.

3. Maxwell's equations

A) corrected the theory of motion

B) caused scientists to rethink

C) rewrote older theories

D) have completely ensured the theory of motion now.

4. Our modern knowledge of electromagnetism comes from

A) Ampere.

B) lightning.

C) Benjamin Franklin.

D) experiments with magnets.

5. The electric battery

A) could operate a machine

B) could create an electric current

C) was invented by Faraday

D) was invented in 1800.

Electricity and magnetism

1. Электромагнитное поле существует повсюду в пространстве.

2. Электромагнитное поле оказывает воздействие на заряженные частицы.

3. Электромагнитное поле используется для получения электричества, от которого зависит работа бытовых приборов.

4. Известно, что Андре Мари Ампер был первым учёным, который применил математику к электромагнетизму.

5. Электрические батареи, изобретённые Алессандро Вольта, использовались ограниченно и не могли вырабатывать достаточно электрической энергии для работы машин.

6. Открытие электромагнетизма позволило учёным создать такие устройства, как телевизоры, телефоны, электродвигатели.

7. Уравнения Максвелла показали, что то, во что физики верили веками, оказалось неверным.

 

Вариант 2

Find a synonym in the box for the words or phrases in bald in the sentences. Then check your answers in the text.

an eclipse apparent notion multi-dimensional bend obstacles eager curved

1. In science fiction films, space travel is often talked about as being more than one dimension since it involves both time and space.

2. When there is the phenomenon of the Sun being covered by the Moon it is observed by millions of people.

3. The scientist was very keen to test her theory.

4. The heliocentric theory was a(n) idea that many people did not want to accept.

5. Unfortunately, he met many difficulties in his research.

6. Light can turn.

7. It was obvious to scientists that more research was needed.

8. The line was rounded.

 

Read the text and decide if the following statements are true or false.

1. The orbit of the planet Mercury led scientists to question Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation.

2. Maxwell agreed with Newton that space was empty and motionless.

3. Einstein was the first scientist to talk about the notion of relativity.

4. According to Einstein, gravity is not a force which moves matter.

5. Einstein's theories were never proved by scientific testing.

 

The General Theory of Relativity

1. Ньютон утверждал, что свет распространяется с постоянной скоростью независимо от того, движется наблюдатель к источнику излучения или от него.

2. Альберт Эйнштейн попытался решить проблему света в своей работе «Специальная теория относительности».

3. Эйнштейн установил, что время и пространство не постоянны, а относительны.

4. Теория Эйнштейна была экспериментально доказана с помощью двух часов. Часы, которые находились в летящем самолете, шли медленнее, чем те, которые оставались на земле.

5. Во время солнечного затмения было обнаружено, что свет, исходящий от звёзд, отклоняется. Это открытие принесло всемирную славу Эйнштейну.

6. Эйнштейн предположил, что гравитация - это не сила, а свидетельство искривления пространства-времени.

7. Многие учёные применяли уравнения Эйнштейна для описания других явлений и получали положительный эффект.

Вариант 3

Match these words with their definitions.

1. elliptical a. suppose, speculate

2. orbit b. talk or write more about something

3. expand on c. a statement describing a phenomenon in science which is true at all times

4. the heavens d. having the Sun as the centre

5. inertia e. a path around another object

6. gravity f. effect

7. geocentric g. having the Earth as the centre

8. heliocentric h. the sky

9. hypothesise i. oval or egg-shaped

10. revolve g. what makes things fall

11. law k. law of physics according to which a body tends to maintain its speed & direction

12. impact l. move around

Read the text and choose the correct title for each paragraph. There is one title which you do not need to use.

Newton's discovery

Early theories of heliocentrism

The strength of Newton's Law

Geocentrism

Newton's observations

Einstein's theories

Вариант 4

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day 1642 according to the calendar which was used in England at that time, or, according to the modern calendar, 4th January, 1643. His father was a wealthy farmer in the north of England, and the owner of a large estate which included the family home, called Woolsthorpe. Unfortunately, his father had died several months before Newton was born, so he never knew him. When he was two. his mother married again and moved to another village, leaving him behind to be brought up by his grandmother.

When his stepfather died some years later, Newton's mother returned to Woolsthorpe, together with the three children from her second marriage. Even though Newton's family was wealthy, his mother did not want him to go to school. Instead, she wanted him to learn to be a farmer and to take care of the family's estate. Newton did not like farming and was not very good at it. Eventually, he was allowed to return to school and then to attend university, although he had to work to earn money to cover at least some of his expenses.

Despite the fact that Newton was studying Law at Cambridge, where the ideas of Aristotle were greatly respected, he became more interested in modern philosophers like Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes and Robert Boyle and also explored the ideas of Nicolas Copernicus, Galileo and Johannes Kepler. At some point, he became interested in mathematics, including the work of Euclid and Descartes, which eventually resulted in Newton's invention of calculus. In the field of optics, he made important discoveries about light and colour theory, as well as building the first reflecting telescope. lie was also involved in alchemy, religion and, of course, physics, where his discovery of the laws of planetary motion and gravity were great advances and also served as the basis for later work, such as Albert Einstein's. He was also interested in politics, serving as a Member of Parliament and in other governmental positions.

Throughout his life, Newton was a fragile, sensitive person, who did not take well to criticism. In fact, he often delayed publishing his work because he was afraid of being criticised, which led to many problems later on. He suffered two nervous breakdowns and finally stopped doing research. However, he remained active by working for the government as Warden, and later Master, of the Royal Mint, where his efforts produced important results. He was made a knight by Queen Anne in 1705.

Newton died on 20 March, 1727. The epitaph for his tomb, which is in London's Westminster Abbey, was written by the poet, Alexander Pope: Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night; God said 'Let Newton be!' and all was light.

Isaac Newton

1. Мать Ньютона хотела, чтобы он был фермером, но он не был способен к этому.

2. Изучая право в Кембридже. Ньютон заинтересовался современной философией.

3. Интерес Ньютона к математике в конечном итоге привёл его к созданию математического анализа.

4. Работая в области оптики. Исаак Ньютон сделал важные открытия в области света и цвета и создал первый зеркальный телескоп.

5. Законы движения планет и закон всемирного тяготения, открытые Ньютоном, имели исключительное значение. Позднее они были использованы Эйнштейном в его научной работе.

6. Интересно отметить, что Ньютон также занимался политикой. Он даже был членом Парламента.

7. Известно, что Ньютон был нетерпим к критике. Впоследствии это привело к ряду конфликтов, и, в конце концов, он перестал заниматься наукой.

Вариант 5

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest physicists of all time. Born in Ulm, Germany in 1879, his family soon moved to Munich, where he lived until he was 15. He attended the Luitpold Gymnasium and in 1894, wrote his first scientific work, The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields.

Einstein's family moved to Italy in the same year, but he stayed behind to finish school. However, one year later, he left school without telling his parents and went to Italy to be with them. Shortly afterwards, he applied for admission to the Swiss Polytechnic Institute but was not accepted; he had not done well in the non-science part of the test. He later attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, from which he received a degree and so was qualified to teach Physics and Mathematics. Unfortunately, however, he was not able to get a teaching position but with the help of his old classmate and friend, Marcel Grossman, was able to get a job in the Swiss Patent Office in 1902. In 1903, Einstein married his former classmate, Mileva Marie. They had three children -a daughter and two sons.

While Einstein was working at the Patent Office, he began to examine different problems in physics and came up with some remarkable discoveries. In 1905 he published three papers, one of which was about his Special Theory of Relativity, a concept which completely overturned Isaac Newton's long-standing Law of Universal Gravitation.

In the following years, Einstein and his family moved from one European capital to another. In each city he held teaching positions at local universities or in scientific institutions. He continued researching a number of different questions and published papers which had a great impact on the field of physics, including his work on the concept of relativity, which led to his Theory of General Relativity in 1915. He paid his price for creativity, however, and due to the great stress he was under, he became seriously ill in 1917.

When Einstein's General Theory of Relativity was proved to be true by British researchers in 1919, he became world famous. lie received the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics in recognition of his work (in 1905) on the photoelectric effect (when electrons are produced if matter is exposed to electromagnetic radiation, for example, in X-rays), which had been thoroughly tested and widely accepted.

Einstein was very active in polities. He moved to the US from Europe just before the start of World War 11, and advised the American President Franklin Roosevelt to start building an atomic bomb before the Nazis produced one. However, he later said that had he realised the Nazis would not produce an atomic bomb, he would never have advised Roosevelt in this way. lie never personally worked on the bomb. In fact, he was against war and weapons of mass destruction. All his life Einstein had been a pacifist, only recognising the need to fight against the Nazis when it became apparent that they had to be stopped. After the war, he dedicated himself to working for nuclear disarmament.

Einstein believed that we should never stop questioning things and keep searching for answers about the natural world. On IS1'1 April, 1955 he died of heart failure.

Albert Einstein

1. Альберт Эйнштейн является одним из самых великих физиков в мире.

2. Свою первую научную работу «Исследование состояния эфира в магнитных полях» Эйнштейн написал, будучи учеником Луитпольдской гимназии.

3. Эйнштейн получил квалификацию, позволяющую ему преподавать физику и математику, но он не смог найти работу учителя.

4. Работая в патентном бюро, он начал заниматься научной работой в области физики и сделал ряд выдающихся открытий.

5. Теория относительности Эйнштейна потрясла научный мир, так как полностью опровергла существующий издавна закон всемирного тяготения.

6. Нобелевская премия в области физики в 1921 году была присуждена Эйнштейну за работу в области фотоэлектрического эффекта. Он доказал, что, когда материя подвергается воздействию электромагнитного излучения, наблюдается появление электронов.

7. Эйнштейн никогда не работал над созданием атомной бомбы, так как всегда был против войны и оружия массового поражения.

 

Вариант 6

Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes was born in France on 31st March, 1596, at a time of major change in the world. The great wars which had been going on throughout Europe had finally ended, creating an atmosphere of peace and stability which encouraged creative thinking, experimentation and the questioning of old beliefs and ways. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Greek and Islamic texts had been rediscovered and read by learned men around Europe. Ideas of the great Renaissance artists and thinkers had quickly spread across the continent. What is more, with the discovery of the New World by Columbus in 1492, a period of exploration, expansion and prosperity had begun.

After completing his education at the Jesuit College and the University of Poitiers, both in France, Descartes began to work on his goal of presenting a new way of looking at philosophy and mathematics. Although his first essays were probably written earlier than 1628, the year he moved to Holland, he was not well known until 1637, when a collection of his essays appeared and attracted the interest of the scientific world.

His great work Discourse on the Method was one of the essays included in this collection.

Descartes was knowledgeable about the work of Plato and Aristotle, as well as that of earlier European philosophers like Augustine and Aquinas. Descartes' goal was to reach true knowledge about things by applying mathematical methodology to find answers to philosophical questions. Starting with the principle that the only thing he could be sure of was that he himself existed (Gogito, ergo sum meaning, / think, therefore I am), he reached his own conclusions about God and the physical world. Because his ideas were very different from traditional ideas of his time, he was often criticised by religious leaders. His work had a great influence on later philosophers, including Benedict de Spinoza, Blaise Pascal, John Locke and Immanuel Kant.

Another of his goals was to advance the field of mathematics, particularly geometry. Until that time, Euclidean geometry was the type most well known. Also known as synthetic geometry, Euclidean geometry uses theorems and observations to reach conclusions.

Building on the work of the ancient Greek, Apollonius of Perga (262-190 BG), Descartes realised that it would be useful and important to be able to measure curved lines in addition to straight ones. This led to his invention of the Cartesian coordinate system, a way of algebraically measuring curves and understanding things about them. This was the start of analytic geometry (also called coordinate geometry and Cartesian geometry) and eventually led to the invention of calculus. In addition to his work in philosophy and geometry, Descartes contributed to algebra, optics and even physiology and psychology.

Descartes became one of the most important figures of his time. Queen Christina of Sweden invited Descartes to tutor her, which he did. However, he became ill in Sweden, possibly because he was not used to the cold, harsh climate, and died on 11th February, 1650. To honour him for his many contributions, people call him the 'Founder of Modern Philosophy' and the 'Father of Modern Mathematics'.

Rene Descartes

1. Рене Декарт родился в то время, когда великие войны в Европе завершились, и мирная атмосфера побуждала к творческому мышлению и критическому отношению ко многим старым убеждениям.

2. В середине XV века идеи великих греческих и исламских мыслителей распространились по всей Европе.

3. По завершении своего обучения Рене Декарт начал работать как в области математики, так и в области философии.

4. Он старался найти ответы на философские вопросы, применяя математические методы.

5. Единственное, в чём Декарт был уверен, так это в том, что сам он существует.

6. Религиозные деятели критиковали Декарта за его идеи, сильно отличавшиеся от традиционных.

7. Декарт осознавал важность разработки способа измерения кривых линий и создал прямоугольную систему координат.

Вариант 7

The periodicity of elements

The history of the periodicity of elements began with the first ideas concerning substances and particles. It had been noticed by the earliest thinkers that things (different substances) are different from each other, and that each can be reduced to very small parts of itself (the beginnings of the atomic theory).

Over the course of history, more and more elements were discovered, and scientists were naturally curious about the relationships between them. Lavoisier divided the elements known in the 1700s into four classes, the first formal attempt at grouping the elements. In 1869, unknown to each other, Julius Meyer and Dmitri Mendeleev devised periodic tables in which the elements were arranged by atomic weight. However, on the basis of his table, Mendeleev was able to do something that Meyer could not; he predicted the properties of elements that had not been discovered yet. Chemists were highly impressed when these elements were later discovered.

Mendeleev noticed that when all the elements were arranged in order of their atomic weight, a certain repetition of properties was obvious. He had organised the chemical elements according to their atomic weights because he believed that the properties of the elements would gradually change as the atomic weight increased, but in composing his periodic table, he found that the properties of the elements suddenly changed at very clear stages, or periods. To show where the changes were happening, Mendeleev grouped the elements in a table that had both rows and columns.

The modern periodic table of elements is based on Mendeleev's, but instead of being arranged by atomic weight, the modern table is arranged by atomic number (the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom). Rows in the periodic table are known as periods. The chemical properties of the elements in each period slowly change, but at the end of each row, a sudden change in these properties is observed. The columns in the periodic table are known as groups. Elements within the same group have many similar properties.

The periodicity that Mendeleev discovered is directly related to the arrangement of an atom's electrons around its nucleus. Electrons are located in specific electron shells (in simple terms this means that the electrons make a kind of shell around the nucleus of the atom) and each shell can contain only a certain number of electrons. The first shell can hold two electrons, the second shell can hold up to eight electrons, and so on. For example, neon has ten electrons, two in the first shell, and eight in the second shell. Next is sodium, with eleven electrons, and here is one of the places in the table where a sudden change occurs. Sodium has three shells because it has eleven electrons, two in the first shell, eight in the second, and one in the third. This extra shell is the reason for the big change in chemical properties. It is the electrons in the outer shell that determine the chemical properties of the elements because it is these atoms which interact with other atoms.

 

The periodicity of elements

1..С развитием науки всё больше новых элементов становились известны учёным.

2. Первая формальная попытка распределить химические элементы по группам была предпринята Лавуазье в 1700-х годах.

3. Русский учёный Дмитрий Менделеев создал периодическую систему элементов, где элементы были расположены в соответствии с их атомной массой.

4. Менделеев предсказал, что пустые места, оставшиеся между уже известными элементами, будут заполнены новыми элементами, когда их откроют.

5. Менделеев предсказал физические и химические свойства ещё не открытых элементов.

6. В современной периодической системе элементы организованы в соответствии с их атомным номером, равным числу протонов в атомном ядре.

7. Номер каждого периода соответствует количеству электронов на внешнем электронном слое их атомов.

 

Вариант 8

Michael Faraday

Faraday (1791-1867) was unusual among famous men in the 19 century. His family did not have a high status in Victorian society. He was horn in London to a poor family. He received little more than a primary school education, but educated himself. He did not have the support and encouragement of famous teachers. Instead, he worked making and repairing the covers of books in the daytime and attending public lectures at the Royal Institution in the evenings.

One series of lectures was given by Humphrey Davy, one of the leading physicists of the time, and Faraday wrote to him, hoping to become accepted into the scientific community. Davy wrote back, recommending that Faraday continue to be a bookbinder. Faraday's chance came soon after that. Davy injured his eyes in an explosion in his laboratory, and offered Faraday a job as his secretary. The years which followed were not entirely happy ones for Faraday. He was not considered to be a gentleman, his family were too low born for that. Even when he went with Davy on a tour of Europe, Faraday had to wash Davy's clothes, cat with the servants and ride on the roof of the coach rather than inside it. For a time, Faraday thought about giving up science altogether.

Now, however, Faraday had time to carry out experiments at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, though he was still Davy's assistant. Davy tried and failed to make an electric motor and discussed his failure with his assistant. Faraday set to work, and produced what he called a homopolar motor. It was simply a wire, rotating around a magnet when an electric current from a battery was applied. It seems though that somehow Faraday upset Davy, who had recently been honoured by Queen Victoria. The following years saw Faraday working on Davy's experiments with glass. Whatever Faraday did, Davy seemed determined to prevent him from succeeding with electricity.

In 1829 Davy died, and soon after Faraday began the series of experiments that would make him one of the most important scientists of all time. He managed to build a device which moved a magnet through a loop of wire. This motion of the magnet through the wire created an electric current. He demonstrated that a changing magnetic field produces an electrical field. He was helped by James Clerk Maxwell to state the process mathematically (maths had always been Faraday's weakness), and this is now known as Faraday's Law of Induction. It is one of the foundations of electromagnetism and of modern technology. Eater, Faraday built the first dynamo, a way of generating electricity. What Faraday did was to discover a way both of making electricity and of making use of it. Without his discoveries we would not be able to enjoy the modern lifestyle that we have now.

Although now famous, Faraday remained modest. He was offered honours by the Queen, but refused to accept them. Nearly 150 years after his death, however, he was honoured in another way. Between 1991 and 2001 his face appeared on a Bank of England £20 note.

Michael Faraday

1. Майкл Фарадей был из бедной семьи. Он вынужден был заниматься самообразованием, т. к. не имел возможности получить хорошее школьное образование.

2. Майкл вынужден был много работать, чтобы обеспечить себя. Он даже подумывал оставить занятие наукой.

3. Когда Фарадей работал помощником Деви, он построил униполярный электродвигатель.

4. Фарадей никогда не был силён в математике и поэтому сотрудничал с Максвеллом.

5. Фарадею удалось создать устройство для перемещения магнита через витки провода и таким образом получить электрический ток.

6. Закон индукции Фарадея является основой электромагнетизма и современных технологий.

7. Фарадей открыл как способ производства электричества, так и способ его использования.

Вариант 9

The atom

The ancient Greeks coined the term atomos, meaning the smallest possible separation of matter. In ancient times, both the Greeks and Indians had philosophised about the existence of the atom but, as mentioned in unit 6, it was first hypothesised scientifically by the British chemist John Dalton (1766-1844) in the early years of the 19 century, when he suggested it was the smallest particle that could exist. Since then, smaller subatomic particles have been discovered and the part they play as the basic building blocks of the universe is clear. We now know that atoms are made up of differing numbers of electrons, neutrons and protons, and these too are made up of even smaller particles.

Dalton's theory about atoms was not immediately accepted by chemists, though one reason for this was Dalton's well-known carelessness in experimental procedures. However, we know now that Dalton was correct in almost everything he said in his theory of the atom. He described an atom, even though he had never seen one, as a particle that cannot change its nature. It could, he observed, combine with the atoms of other chemical elements to create a compound. Almost a century later the first subatomic particles were discovered. By the 1930s, physicists were working with new ideas which allowed them to investigate the parts of the atom in great detail. In turn, these developments helped them to develop quantum mechanics - the basis of both modern chemistry and physics.

In chemistry, the atom is the smallest part of an element that can still be recognised. An example will explain best of all. Each element is identified by the number of protons it has. An atom of carbon has six protons. Those six protons without the neutrons and electrons, or the electrons without the other subatomic particles are simply subatomic particles; they arc not carbon. A carbon atom can be combined with two atoms of oxygen to give the compound carbon dioxide, or CO₂. It is this difference in the number of subatomic particles that makes one atom different from another.

Subatomic particles also have another purpose. If there is the same number of electrons and protons in the atom, then the atom will be electronically neutral. A difference between the two means the atom has an electrical charge, in other words, it produces electricity. This electricity means the electrons can become attracted to each other. In this way, atoms can bond together to form molecules, and when enough molecules are joined together we have matter that we can see.

The most recent theories of the origins of the universe say that all the atoms in the universe were formed in the first few minutes of the universe coming into existence. The most common element is the simplest, hydrogen, which has the atomic number 1. Seventy-five per cent of all atoms are hydrogen atoms. The next most simple is the next most common, helium, atomic number 2 making twenty-four per cent of all atoms. All the other atoms add up to just one per cent of everything that exists in the universe.

The atom

1. Термин "атом" имеет греческое происхождение и означает мельчайшую частицу химического элемента.

2. Первую научную гипотезу атомарного строения материи выдвинул британский учёный Джон Долтон.

3. Долтон рассматривал атом как частицу, которая может объединяться с атомами других химических элементов и образовывать химические соединения.

4. Сегодня мы знаем, что атомы состоят в свою очередь из ещё более мелких частиц: электронов, нейтронов и протонов.

5. К 1930-м годам была создана квантовая механика, которая стала основой современных химии и физики.

6. Один атом отличается от другого количеством элементарных частиц.

7. Электрический заряд заставляет электроны притягиваться друг к другу, благодаря чему атомы, соединяясь, образуют молекулы.

Вариант 10

Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was born in Tobolsk, in Siberia, on 7 February, 1834. As a child he showed a great interest in Mathematics and Physics and was a talented student. Despite the hardships experienced by his family while he was growing up, his mother was determined to see him educated and to help him achieve his dreams. After the family moved to St Petersburg, she managed to enroll him as a student science teacher on a full scholarship. Despite many more problems, Mendeleev earned his decrees and eventually, in 1863, was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the Technological Institute and the University of St Petersburg.

Probably his greatest scientific achievement was the discovery of the periodic law and the development of the periodic table of elements. He left gaps in his table for undiscovered elements and predicted the properties of the elements that would fit these gaps. His predictions were confirmed when, during his lifetime, three predicted elements; gallium, germanium and scandium, which he had named eka-aluminium, eka-silicon and eka-boron respectively, were discovered. These discoveries gave him threat respect among members of the scientific community.

However, Mendeleev' made other important contributions to science. He was involved in many areas including hydrodynamics, agricultural chemistry, mineral recovery, meteorology and chemical technology. One particular contribution involved solutions, lie spent a lot of time studying how the nature of solutions could be determined, adding greatly to our understanding in that field. In addition, he was involved in physical chemistry, looking at the expansion of liquids because of heat. He spent time in Paris with Henri Victor Regnault studying the densities of leases and came up with a formula to explain how gases are uniform when expanding; in other studies he defined the absolute boiling point of a substance. His studies of teases at high and low pressures moreover, allowed him to develop an accurate barometer and while working for the Russian navy, he came up with pyrocollodion, a smokeless powder based on nitrocellulose. The list of his achievements is endless!

Despite his international reputation as one of the world's most important scientists, the Tsar at the time did not approve of Mendeleev's politics, resulting in his resignation from the University of St Petersburg in 1900. He died on 20th January, 1907, from pneumonia.

Dmitri Mendeleev

1. Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев родился в 1834 году в большой семье - у его родителей было 14 детей.

2. В 1863 году Менделеев был назначен профессором химии в Технологическом институте и Университете Санкт-Петербурга.

3. Величайшим результатом его трудов стало открытие Периодического закона: Менделеев даже смог предсказать существование элементов, которые в его время ещё не были известны.

4. Менделеев занимался исследованиями во многих научных областях, включая гидродинамику, агрохимию, метеорологию и химическую технологию.

5. Менделеев открыл «температуру абсолютного кипения жидкостей», или критическую температуру.

6. Много времени он посвятил изучению растворов, значительно расширив наши знания в этой области.

7. Его работы с газами, находящимися под высоким или низким давлением, привели его к созданию точного барометра.

 

Вариант 1

Choose the correct word to complete the sentences.

1. ___ is something through which electricity can pass.

2. An electrical ___ supplies power in our home.

3. The electromagnetic field ___ a force on the particles.

4. To ___ power you need a way to control electricity.

5. Normally, electricity is carried through homes by ___.

6. Is 6 o'clock a ___ time for your meeting?

A) A conductor B) A magnet C) Static

A) bulb B) current C) particle

A) put B) exerted C) applied

A) attract B) exert C) generate

A) wires B) charges C) forces

A) comfortable B) fitting C) convenient

Electricity and magnetism

Electromagnetism is everywhere. It is a field that exists throughout space. When particles are electrically charged, the electromagnetic field exerts a force on them. These particles then move and exert a force on the electromagnetic field. By generating these fields when and where we want them and by controlling these forces we have electricity. This gives us the power we use in the modern world. All our TVs, phones, street lights and cars depend on electromagnetism.

So what is electromagnetism? Actually, it is two things, but they are so closely connected that it is convenient for us to think of them as one, as two sides of the same coin. There are two types of field: electric and magnetic. Electrically-charged particles result in an electric field, static electricity. When there is a conductor, a material which will allow electric field to pass through it, then we can create an electric current. In our homes, the conductors arc the wires that run through our house to the light bulbs or the TV. A magnetic field results from the motion of an electric current and is used to generate the electricity we use.

In the 19th century, James Clerk Maxwell, the Scottish physicist, produced the equations that proved the two forces acted as one. One effect of this was for physicists all over the world to hurry back to their libraries and laboratories to rewrite the theories on the motion of objects. Maxwell's equations showed that what physicists had believed for centuries was in fact not correct. It was not until Einstein, in the 20th century, that the theory of motion was put right - at least for now.

How do we know the two things are one? Well, sailors had known for centuries that lightning affected the magnetic compasses on their ships. No one, however, made the connection between lightning and electricity until Benjamin Franklin, the American politician and scientist, flew a kite in a thunderstorm to attract the lightning. In other parts of the world, physicists were experimenting with magnets and electricity. Most passed a current across a magnetic needle and watched it move. The Frenchman, Andre Marie Ampere eventually applied mathematics to electromagnetism. It is from his work that we have our modern understanding of electromagnetism.

One piece of the jigsaw remained. No one had discovered a way of generating electricity. True, there were batteries, Alessandro Volta invented the Voltaic pile in 1800, but it was of limited use. Certainly no battery could provide enough electrical power to operate a machine. For that the world would have to wait for Michael Faraday to find a way of creating an electrical current, when and where it was needed.