3. Answer the questions.

1. What is electricity?

2. What part does electricity play in our life? What are the advantages of it?

3. What sources of electrical energy do you know? (give a short description)

4. Why is electricity important?

5. What conductors of electricity do you know?

6. How can we measure electricity?

7. What do know about the chemical cell?

4. Are the following sentences True or False?

1. Electricity doesn’t play an important part in our life.

2. Electricity is not the only word that has been used so far to describe the phenomenon of energy conversion.

3. There are free charged particles and electrons in the atom.

4. Silver, copper or aluminum are good conductors of electricity.

5. Electricity was used as a source of energy in the fields of illumination, power and communication in the early years of the 20^th century.

6. A relatively new source of electrical energy is the solar cell.

7. The fuel cell is not new source of electrical energy.

5. Render the text into English.

Электричество – понятие, выражающее свойства и явления, обусловленные структурой физических тел и процессов, сущностью которой является движение и взаимодействие микроскопических заряженных частиц вещества.

Электричество – это поток электронов. Все материалы состоят из атомов, атом имеет центр, называемый ядро. Ядро включает в себя положительно заряженные частицы – нейтроны. Ядро атома окружено отрицательно заряженными частицами, называемыми электронами. Отрицательно заряженный электрон равен положительно заряженному протону, число электронов в атоме обычно равно числу протонов. Когда баланс между протонами и электронами нарушается, внешний слой атома может получить или потерять электрон. Когда электроны теряются от атома, свободное движение этих электронов составляет электрический ток.

Электричество – это одна из самых широко используемых форм энергии. Мы получаем электричество, которое является вторичным ресурсом из совершенно других источников энергии, т.к. уголь, природный газ, нефть, ядерная энергия и другие естественные источники называются первичными источниками.

6. Give the summary of the text. Other generating sources

Geothermal power comes from heat energy buried beneath the surface of the earth. In some areas of the country, enough heat rises close to the surface of the earth to heat underground water into steam, which can be tapped for use at steam-turbine plants. This energy source generates less than 1% of the electricity in the country.

Solar power is derived from the energy of the sun. However, the sun’s energy is not available full-time. The processes used to produce electricity using the sun’s energy have historically been more expensive than using conventional fossil fuels. Photovoltaic conversion generates electric power directly from the light of the sun in a photovoltaic (solar) cell. Solar-thermal electric generators use the radiant energy from the sun to produce steam to drive turbines. Less than 1% of the nation’s electricity is based on solar power.

Wind power is derived from the conversion of the energy contained in wind into electricity. Wind power, like the sun, is rapidly growing source of electricity, and is used for less than 1% of the nation’s electricity. A wind turbine is similar to a typical wind mill.

Biomass includes wood, municipal solid waste (garbage), and agricultural waste, such as com cobs and wheat straw. These are some other energy sources for producing electricity. These sources replace fossil fuels in the boiler. The combustion of wood and waste creates steam that is typically used in conventional steam-electric plants. Biomass accounts for less than 1% of the electricity generated in the United States.