Vocabulary Notes

Electric Current

Text 2

Achievements of Russian physicists.

Write out from the text all the sentences where the Infinitive is used, and define its function.

6. Make up sentences according to the model using the verbs given below:

Model: We could not help speaking about the

to answer, to repeat, to mention, to observe, to change, to think, to remember.

7. Give antonyms for the following words:

North Pole, dark, on the one hand, small, arrangement, larger, magnetized, unfamiliar, like, positive, similar, to rest, in motion.

8. Answer the following questions:

1. What types of electricity do you know? 2. What is the difference between electricity at rest and electricity in motion? 3. What kind of experiments did Galvani carry on? 4. What did Franklin prove? 5. What are the two kinds of electrical charges? 6. Who was the first to produce a steady, continuous current? 7. What was Volta? 8. What can you say about the behaviour of static charges? 9. What did Volta take interest in? 10. What did Volta’s discovery result in? 11. What did the Volta device consist of? 12. Where did he spend the rest of his life?

9. Explain the meaning of the following compound words:

newspaper, schoolboy, thunderstorm, icebreaker, waterfall, fisherman.

10. Retell Volta’s biography.

to produce – создавать, генерировать subject – тема, тематика newly discovered – вновь обнаружившийся direction – направление statement – заявление, утверждение certainly – несомненно as to – в отношении to flow along – течь по wire – эл. провод consider – считать to find (found) – считать, полагать certain – точный, уверенный wrong way – направление противошерстное long before – задолго до in fact – на самом деле, по сути DC=direct current – постоянный ток for – так как; в виду того, что to push – продвигать, проталкивать i.e. = Id est (that is) – то есть terminal – клемма; вход/выход AC = alternating current – переменный ток to stand for – обозначать, значить under consideration – рассматриваемый, обсуждаемый

minute particle – мельчайшие частицы travel – двигаться, перемещаться to carry – переносить, передавать in addition – кроме того solid – твердое тело liquid – жидкость as well – а также gas – газ to meet the requirements – отвечать требованиям to conduct current – проводить ток power – снабжение энергией lighting – освещение to assume – допускать, предполагать to go through – проходить сквозь, испытывать, подвергаться ease – легкость, простота voltage – эл. напряжение vice versa – наоборот hence – поэтому, следовательно to operate – управлять, эксплуатировать to find a wide application – находить широкое применение in spite of – несмотря на to require – требовать

Ever since Volta first produced a source of steady continuous current, men of science have been forming theories on this subject. For some time they could see no real difference between the newly-discovered phenomenon and the former understanding of static charge. Then the famous French scientist, Ampere (after whom the unit of current was named) determined the difference between the current and the static charges. In addition to it, Ampere gave the current direction: he supposed it to flow from the positive pole of the source round the circuit and back again to the negative pole. We know him to be right in his first statement but he was certainly wrong in the second, as to the direction of current. The flow of current is now known to be in a direction opposite to what he thought. (We shall return to that problem later on.)

Let us turn our attention, now, to the electric current itself. The current which flows along wires consists of moving electrons. In other words, the flow of moving electrons is one form of the electric current. What can we say about the electron? We consider the electron to be a minute particle having an electric charge. We also know that charge to be negative. As these minute charges travel along a wire, that wire is said to carry an electric current.

In addition to traveling through solids, however, the electric current can flow through liquids, as well and even through gases. In both cases it produces some most important effects to meet industrial requirements. Some liquids, such as melted metals for example, conduct current without any change to themselves. Others, called electrolytes, are found to change greatly when the current passes through them.

The reader is certain to remember that a negatively charged electron moves to the positive end of the wire. It had been supposed to move in the wrong way, from the positive end of the circuit to the negative, long before the electrons were discovered. In fact, when a wire is said to be carrying a current from left to right, the electrons in it are really flowing from right to left.

When the electrons flow in one direction only, the current is said to be d.c., that is, direct current. The simplest source of power for direct currents is a battery, for a battery pushes the electrons in the same direction all the time (i.e., from the negatively charged terminal to the positively charged terminal).

The letters a.c. stand for alternating current. The current under consideration is known to flow first in one direction and then in the opposite one. The a.c. used for power and lighting purposes is assumed to go through 50 cycles in one second.

One of the great advantages of a.c. is the ease with which power at low voltage can be changed into an almost similar amount of power at high voltage and vice versa. Hence, on the one hand alternating voltage is increased when it is necessary for long-distance transmission and, on the other hand, one can decrease it to meet industrial requirements as well as to operate various devices at home. In fact, at least 90 per cent of electric energy to be generated at present is a.c. We know it to find a wide application for lighting, heating, industrial and other purposes.

The student may be probably asking himself: “Why is d.c. ever used?” In spite of the fact that almost all electrical power is usually generated and transmitted in the form of a.c., there are numerous cases when d.c. is required. For this reason, it is quite possible to generate a.c. then transform it into d.c.

We cannot help mentioning here that Yablochkov, our Russian scientist and inventor, was the first to apply a.c. in practice.

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