Английский язык

Alessandro Volta was Italian physicist known for the invention of the battery in the 1800s. Volta was born in Como and educated in the public schools there. In 1774 he became professor of physics at the

Royal School in Como, and in the following year he devised the electrophorus, an instrument that produced charges of static electricity. In 1776-77 he applied himself to chemistry, studying atmospheric electricity and conducting experiments such as the ignition of gases by an electric spark in a closed vessel. In 1779 he became professor of physics at the University of Pavia, a chair he occupied for 25 years. By 1800 he had developed the so-called voltaic pile, a forerunner of the electric battery, which produced a steady stream of electricity.

Wordlist

physicist – физик

charge – разряд

ignition – зажигание, воспламенение

voltaic pile – вольтов столб

Answer the questions:

1. What is electrophorus?

2. What experiments in the field of chemistry did he conduct?

3. When did he develop voltaic pile?

4. What did the voltaic pile produce?

Text 8

Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913)

Rudolf Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858. He was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the Diesel engine.

Diesel developed a theory that revolutionized the concept of the combustion engine. He envisioned an engine in which air is compressed to such a degree that there is an extreme rise in temperature. When fuel is injected into the piston chamber with this air, the fuel is ignited by the high temperature of the air, exploding it, forcing the piston down. Diesel soon received a patent for his design and began building experimental models of his engine. The first working model ran in 1893 with 26 % efficiency, more than double the efficiency of the steam engine. In 1897 the first diesel engine suitable for practical use operated at a remarkable efficiency of 75 %.

Wordlist

concept – концепция, понятие

to be injected – впрыскиваться

to receive a patent – получить патент

to envision – представлять себе

suitable for practical use – пригодный для практического применения

Answer the questions:

1. When was Rudolf Diesel born?

2. How did he envision an engine?

3. What did he receive a patent for?

4. When did the first engine suitable for practical use appear?

Text 9

Nicola Tesla (1856-1943)

Nicola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer. physicist. American inventor Nicola Tesla patented an electricity-generating and distribution system that transmitted alternating current (AC). He developed and applied many other important ideas in the fields of electricity and radio.

The Tesla coil, an induction coil he invented, is used in radio technology and operates at every high frequencies.

Tesla worked briefly for the American inventor Thomas Edison (18471931), but they fell out because they disagreed about the best form of electric current to use for large-scale supply.

In the end, Tesla's alternating current system was favored over Edison's direct current (DC) system.

Wordlist

alternating current – переменный ток

current – ток coil – катушка

high frequencies – высокие частоты

to fall out – распадаться

Answer the questions:

1. Where is Nicola Tesla from?

2. What sphere did he work in?

3. What did he develop?

4. Whom did he work with? What was their disagreement?

Text 10

Alfred Bernard Nobel (1833-1896)

Alfred Bernard Nobel was Swedish inventor and philanthropist. He was a son of a bankrupt, but became a millionaire; a scientist with a love of literature. He made a large fortune but lived a simple life. He was cheerful in company, and often sad in private.

A lover of mankind, he never had a wife or family to love him, a patriotic son of his native land, he died alone on foreign soil.

He discovered a new explosive, dynamite, to improve the peacetime industries of mining and road building, but saw it used as a weapon of war.

He was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833 but moved to Russia with his parents in 1842, where his father made a strong position in engineering industry. He made a lot of money for his invention of landmine, but later went bankrupt. Alfred came to Sweden in 1863, and started his own study of explosives in his fathers laboratory.

He had never been to school or University but he studied privately and by the time he was twenty he became a skillful chemist and excellent linguist, speaking Swedish, Russian, German, French and English. Like his father, Alfred Nobel was imaginative and inventive, but he had better luck in business and showed more financial sense.