HARNESSING HEAT TO WORK FOR US

Energy production always starts with a natural resource-such as sunlight, water, wind, coal, natural gas, oil, or uranium – which goes through processes that convert the energy into other forms. Technological progress has been marked by the development of ways to capture, manipulate, and control large amounts of energy for useful purposes. Hundreds of technologies have been invented to carry out energy conversion processes, including steam engines (boilers), turbine generators, internal-combustion engines, batteries, photovoltaic cells, and many other devices.

Here is a brief look at how two of these inventions-the internal-combustion engine and the turbine generator – do their work.

In an internal-combustion engine, an electrical spark from the spark plug ignites gasoline, causing combustion. Combustion makes molecules move faster, causing the gas to expand. The expanding thermal energy is converted to mechanical energy in the movement of the pistons, cylinder, and crank shaft, which turns the wheels. The engine walls must be cooled or the engine will melt. Oil and water from the radiator cool the walls of the cylinder. Air from the fan cools the water in the radiator, releasing heat energy into the environment.

In the last 100 years, the automobile has vastly increased our mobility and reduced the time and effort required to transport people and materials.

Most power plants have enormous boilers that burn fuel – usually coal, oil, or natural gas – to make heat. The heat is applied to water to generate steam, which is then compressed. Compressed steam has more power than hot water. The steam travels to giant turbines and forces them to spin. The turbine shaft is attached to a turbine generator, which is a giant magnet inside a stationary ring, wrapped with wire. The shaft turns the magnet, creating a magnetic field, which produces an electrical current in the wire.

Hydroelectric, nuclear, coal, and natural gas power plants all spin turbines to generate electricity.

Вариант II

1. Перепишите и переведите предложения. Подчеркните в них Participle I и Participle II и установите их функции в предложении – определение, обстоятельство или часть глагола-сказуе-мого (см. образец выполнения № 1).

1. Hot winds blowing from the Gulf of Mexico often bring typhoons.

2. The highest peak is Mount McKinley which is located in Alaska.

3. When heated to a certain temperature, water increases in volume.

4. The intensity of this process is influenced by many factors.

5. A body moving with a certain velocity carries within itself the kinetic energy of motion.

6. While absorbing the energy of cosmic rays the upper atmosphere becomes radioactive.

7. The Russian government will strongly consider purchasing electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

2. Перепишите и переведите предложения. Подчеркните в них модальные глаголы или их эквиваленты (см. образец выполнения № 2).

1. These substances are to be analyzed at our laboratory.

2. Nobody will be able to measure the density of this substance without a special device.

3. Manhattan can be called the centre of New York City.

4. Each invalid is to attend school in USA as there are all necessary conditions for them to study.

5. Energy can exist in many forms and each form can be transformed into the other.

6. Using radioactive isotopes the scientists will be able to carry out many experiments.

7. He had to work hard before he was able to submit his paper to a scien-tific journal.

8. The chemists may use the reactor to analyze various substances for their exact composition.

3. Перепишите и письменно переведите на русский язык следующие предложения. Определите видовременную форму и залог сказуемого (см. образец выполнения № 3).

1. As an economy becomes more developed, a larger variety of energy sources are tapped.

2. Petroleum has been used throughout recorded history.

3. When more useful energy is extracted from a system, less waste results.

4. The research of planets is being developed with the help of cosmic apparatus.

5. The special application of light has led to the development of lasers and masers.

6. The scientists are working on an interesting problem for obtaining power from atom.

7. We solved this problem with the help of computers.

8. The delegation of foreign specialists was shown the new electronics equipment.

9. They will be given new interesting data by the end of the month.

10. The parts of this device are acted upon by more than two forces.

4. Перепишите предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на разные значения глаголов to be, to have, to do (см. образец выполнения № 4) .

1. People have taken advantage of other kinds of energy transformation, using machines and fuels to help do their work.

2. 150 years ago, you had to chop wood to heat water.

3. Most people had very little time for education or leisure activities.

4. The modern petroleum industry was born in the 1800s in the United States.

5. According to the curriculum all the students are to study foreign languages.

6. All the books are taken from the library.

7. You have to study well.

8. We do not know the results of this test.

5. Перепишите и переведите следующие предложения, обращая внимание на неличные формы глагола (см. образец выполнения № 5).

1. As an economy becomes more developed, the energy consumed per person increases.

2. Wood was used not only for heating and cooking, but also as source of charcoal for reducing ores to metals.

3. Coal was difficult to mine with primitive tools.

4. The first fossil fuels to be used were surface deposits of asphalt, peat and coal.

6. Перепишите и переведите следующие предложения, обращая внимание на перевод зависимого и независимого причастных оборотов (см. образец выполнения № 6).

1. Light and food industries have been modernized, much being done to expand the production of consumer goods.

2. An experiment demonstrating the existence of an ultraviolet and infrared spectrum must be performed.

3. The economic incentive has led to energy use and fuel consumption becoming progressively cleaner over time.

4. Having explained the biotic structure the lecturer presented the major abiotic factors.

5. Oceans include a variety of environments, each of these environments depending on water temperature, depth, nature of bottom and concentration of nutrients.

6. Every year people consuming more goods, production of goods uses more energy and natural resources which cannot be replenished fast.