Working on the text

20. Read and translate the text “Electricity – Magic of Science”. Then entitle each paragraph of the text: electricity – magic of science

At the end of the 18^th century electricity was a hot topic in fashionable society. Scientists and showmen of the day were able to create dramatic sparks by turning a wheel to rub glass against sulphur to generate static electricity. An Italian anatomist Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) was using electricity to make the legs of the dead frog twitch. Galvani believed that he discovered the very force of life, ‘animal electricity’ that animated flesh and bone.

In the late 1790s, for instance, Alessandro Volta realized that electricity can be created by a chemical reaction, and he used this idea to create the first battery in 1800. Using Volta’s battery to give them a supply of electricity on tap, various scientists discovered that electricity would flow (будет течь) through a complete loop or circuit. Andre Ampere also learned about the strength of currents, and Georg Ohm discovered the nature of electrical resistance.

Then, in 1820, the Danish scientist Hans Oersted discovered that an electric current could make the needle of a magnetic compass swivel. It was the first inkling of a link between two natural forces, and it immediately became the focus of experimentation among scientists.

Michael Faraday was among many who tried their hand at unlocking the secrets of electricity and magnetism in the 1820s and 1830s. His extraordinary inventive and meticulous; experimental work and his keen theoretical insight, however, put him in the forefront of all key breakthroughs. Within a few months of hearing of Oersted’s discovery, Faraday constructed an ingenious demonstration that showed how a magnet would move in a circle around an electric wire, and an electric wire would move in a circle around a magnet. He discovered the principle of the electric motor.

Ten years later, Faraday made an even more important discovery that moving a magnetic field can create or ‘induce’ a current of electricity. This principle of electromagnetic induction, which was discovered independently by Joseph Henry in America around the same time, meant that machines could be built to generate huge quantity of electricity, opening the way to everything from electric lighting to telecommunications.

Yet neither the electric motor nor the principle of electric induction are perhaps Faraday’s greatest achievements. He went on not just to demonstrate the principle of electrolysis – the way chemicals are broken down by electricity – but to demonstrate the ultimate unity between all forces, including electricity, magnetism, light and even gravity, and to develop the idea of fields of force. This crucial insight has paved the way for all modern physics and a host of modern technologies, from television to mobile phones.

Text and vocabulary exercises

21. Find in the text the words or phrases which mean the same as:

поворачивать колесо; тереть стекло о серу; открыть силу жизни; снабжение электричеством; сила тока; первое слабое представление о связи; ставить на передний край ключевых достижений; выдвигать своеобразное доказательство; движение магнитного поля; путь, при котором химикаты распадаются под воздействием электричества; прокладывать путь.