The Law of Universal Gravitation

In ancient times, people believed that the Earth was the centre of the solar system and tried to understand and explain the movement of the Sun, the Moon, the stars and the planets around the Earth. As scientific knowledge and technology improved over time, this idea (called the geocentric theory, from the ancient Greek words meaning Earth-centred) lost favour and new theories about the solar system were put forward.

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) and Galileo (1564-1642) made accurate measurements of the heavens, which were the basis for later theories. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) believed that the Earth was not the centre of the solar system but just another planet revolving around the Sun, which itself never moved. This type of theory was called heliocentric. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), an assistant to Brahe, used Brahe's measurements to support Copernicus' heliocentric theory. This led to his discovery of three laws relating to planetary movement, including the fact that the planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun.

It was left to Isaac Newton to expand on these theories by testing and proving Kepler's laws. By observing things around him, Newton realised several things. One was that objects can be in one place, without moving. This is called inertia. Then, if the object moved, it moved toward another object. The phenomenon causing this pull of one object towards another was the force of gravity (or little g). Newton found that the mass of the two objects and the distance between them determined the strength of the force of gravity and developed an equation which expressed this relationship.

Continuing to test and expand his findings, Newton hypothesised that this relationship existed not only between objects on the Earth but also objects in space. This led in 1687 to Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, usually called Principia) in which he wrote about his historic discovery of the Law of Universal Gravitation (or big G). By calling his discovery a law, it meant that the relationships he had discovered were true everywhere and in all cases.

Newton's discovery had a huge impact on scientific thinking for centuries afterwards. In fact, his findings were not improved upon until 1905, when Albert Einstein introduced his Special Theory of Relativity.

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

The Law of Universal Gravitation

1. В древности считалось, что земля является центром солнечной системы, что приводило к ошибочным теориям.

2. То, что планеты двигаются по эллиптическим орбитам вокруг солнца, было объяснено гелиоцентрической теорией Коперника.

3. Иоганн Кеплер проверил и подтвердил гелиоцентрическую теорию Коперника.

4. Именно Исаак Ньютон, наблюдая за предметами, окружающими его, понял, что объекты могут находиться на одном и том же месте без движения, и назвал это явление инерцией.

5. Гравитационная сила - это притяжение одного объекта к другому. Она определяется массой двух объектов и расстоянием между ними.

6. Закон всемирного тяготения справедлив всегда и везде, не только на Земле, но и в космосе.

7. Открытие законов гравитации оказывало огромное влияние на научную мысль в течение столетий.

Вариант 4

The words in bald are all in the wrong sentences. Put the words into the correct sentences.

1. My uncle worried so much about his work that he had a mint.

2. Our class visited the estate and we saw how money is made.

3. That crystal vase is very calculus and will easily break.

4. The branch of mathematics that is concerned with limits and with the differentiation and integration of functions is called a delay.

5. The telescope had a huge old castle and beautiful gardens.

6. A nervous breakdown has a large convex lens so that you can see things which are far away.

7. There was a fragile so we were late.

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.

Read the text and choose the correct answer.

1. As a young child, Newton

a. lived on a small farm

b. lived at Woolsthorpe with his grandmother

c. lived with his parents

d. lived with his mother and her new husband.

2. Newton's mother

a. took him with her when she remarried

b. wanted him to go to school

c. thought he should be a farmer

d. covered all costs of his education.

3. Newton was originally studying to be

a. a physicist b. a philosopher

c. a mathematician d. a lawyer.

4. Newton was not particularly influenced by

a. the ideas of Aristotle

b. the ideas of Descartes

c. the ideas of Copernicus

d. the ideas of Euclid.

5. Newton had problems in his later life because

a. he was so famous.

b. he was afraid of criticism.

c. he published his work.

d. he stopped doing research.

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