Wood and the technology of wood drying (Древесина и технологии сушки древесины). Учебно-методическое пособие

then much of these woodlands have been converted to broad scale agriculture. Total demand for fuel increased considerably with the industrial revolution but most of this increased demand was met by the new fuel source coal, which was more compact and more suited to the larger scale of the new industries.

The development of the chimney and the fireplace allowed for more effective exhaustion of the smoke. Masonry heaters or stoves went a step further by capturing much of the heat of the fire and exhaust in a large thermal mass, becoming much more efficient than a fireplace alone.

The metal stove was a technological development concurrent with the industrial revolution. Stoves were manufactured or constructed pieces of equipment that contained the fire on all sides and provided a means for controlling the draft - the amount of air allowed to reach the fire. Stoves have been made of a variety of materials. Cast iron is among the more common. Soapstone (talc), tile, and steel have all been used. Metal stoves are often lined with refractory materials such as firebrick, since the hottest part of a wood burning fire will burn away steel over the course of several years' use.

The Franklin stove was developed in the United States by Benjamin Franklin. More a manufactured fireplace than a stove, it had an open front and a heat exchanger in the back that was designed to draw air from the cellar and heat it before releasing it out the sides. The heat exchanger was never a popular feature and was omitted in later versions. So-called "Franklin" stoves today are made in a great variety of styles, though none resembles the original design.

The 1800s became the high point of the cast iron stove. Each local foundry would make their own design, and stoves were built for myriads of purposes - parlour stoves, box stoves, camp stoves, railroad stoves, portable stoves, cooking stoves and so on. Elaborate nickel and chrome edged models took designs to the edge, with cast ornaments, feet and doors. Wood or coal could be burnt in the stoves and thus they were popular for over one hundred years. The action of the fire, combined with the causticity of the ash, ensured that the stove would eventually disintegrate or crack over time. Thus a steady

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supply of stoves was needed. The maintenance of stoves, needing to be blacked, their smokiness, and the need to split wood meant that oil or electric heat found favour.

The airtight stove, originally made of steel, allowed greater control of combustion, being more tightly fitted than other stoves of the day. Airtight stoves became common in the 19th century.

Use of wood heat declined in popularity with the growing availability of other, less labor-intensive fuels. Wood heat was gradually replaced by coal and later by fuel oil, natural gas and propane heating except in rural areas with available forests.

After the 1967 Oil Embargo, many in the United States used wood for the first time. The EPA provided information on clean stoves, which burned much more efficiently.

[from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_fuel#Historical_development]

5.Look through text B again and say what its main points are.

6.Look through texts A and B again and find sentences:

a)describing the process which is known as secondary growth;

b)describing the use of wood as a fuel source;

c)describing of the chimney and the fireplace.

7.Make a short summery of text B.

8.Summarize the general ideas of both texts of the unit.

9.Look through the texts again to find two facts which were quite new to you and two facts which were already known to you.

10.Translate into English:

Лес был одним из первых строительных материалов, освоенных человечеством еще в древности. Популярность древесины возросла с появлением качественных металлических инструментов для ее обработки. Долгое время пиломатериалы оставались господствующим строительным продуктом в России, благо, на отсутствие лесов жаловаться не приходится. Россия

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уже в течение многих лет сохраняет за собой статус ведущей сырьевой державы не только на европейском, но и на мировом рынке пиломатериалов. Несмотря на бурное развитие технологий и появление многочисленных строительных и отделочных материалов на основе пластика и камня, древесина не теряет популярности. Брус, рейки, доски обрезные и прочие пиломатериалы пользуются неизменным спросом на рынке природных ресурсов нашей страны и всего мира. Ничего удивительного – ведь дерево идеально подходит для отделки и строительства загородных домов, дач, бань и саун. Экологичность и возможность довольно легкой обработки – вот основные достоинства дерева.

Section 2.

REVISION GRAMMAR EXERCISES 1. Find the verbs among the following nouns:

growth, evolution, importance, management, system, accommodate, corporation, capacity, economy, transfer, technology, researcher, organize, structure, initiate

2. Define in which sentence the word in bold type is an adverb or an adjective.

1. It is early spring. 2. He gets up early. 3. He took a fast train. 4. He walked very fast. 5. Most newspapers come out daily. 6. This is a daily newspaper. 7. He returned from a long journey. 8. Did he stay there long? 9. He drew a straight line. 10. He went straight down the street. 11. They have very little time. 12. She eats very little.

3. Define in which sentence the word in bold type is a noun or a verb.

1. I have much work to do now. 2. They work much. 3. Fire produces smoke. 4. You shouldn’t smoke here. 5. Bring me some

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water, please. 6. I’d like to water flowers. 7. You may use this device now. 8. Oil has many uses in industry. 9. The two lands America and England were connected by the underwater cable in 1866. 10. The plane landed in time.

4. Classify the following suffixes according to the parts of speech they help to form:

-er, -ant, -able, -ish, -ly, -ate, -ize, -ment, -ness, -ful, -less, -ward, - tion, -ence, -ive, -ic, -ency

5. Compose word combinations according to the model.

Model: adjective + noun + preposition + noun = phenomenal growth of technology

1.noun + preposition + noun;

2.verb + preposition + noun;

3.verb + adverb;

4.numeral + noun;

5.pronoun + adjective + noun;

6.verb + adjective + noun;

7.verb + preposition + pronoun + noun;

8.noun + conjunction + noun.

Section 3.

READING VOCABULARY, WHAT IS IT?

Vocabulary has to do with words and their meanings. You have four different vocabularies (for speaking, writing, listening and reading). Your reading vocabulary is the largest. It consists of all the words you recognize and comprehend when you see them. Vocabulary of scientists and engineers consists of common words, terms and connectors. Common words are the words we use in ordinary affairs (e.g. table, book). Terms are mostly used in special works dealing with the notions of some branch of science. They are directly connected with the concept they denote. When something

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new comes along, new terms are invented (e.g. laser, teleprinter). Connectors are words which show how one word is related to another and how one statement is related to another (e.g. of, how).

EXERCISES

1. Each problem consists of several connectors. Read them and say, why they are grouped together, what their general meaning is:

1.and, or, but, so, however;

2.now, then, before, after, whole;

3.here, there, in out, on, off, to, from;

4.some, many, none, a lot of, few;

5.I, me, us, we, you, he, she, it, him, her;

6.is, am, are, make, makes, do, does.

2. Comprehend the new words. Each problem consists of a “test word” followed by four possible meanings. Write down the number of the word that means most nearly the same as the “test word”

3. Two meanings are given for the word in bold type in each sentence. Decide which meaning fits:

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1.Wood, coal, oil, petrol and gas are all different kinds of fuel.

a)anything that keeps people's ideas or feelings active, or makes them stronger;

b)a substance which is used to provide heat or power, usually by being burned.

2.Plant growth is most noticeable in spring and early summer.

a)an increase in the size or the importance of something;

b)the growth of a person, animal or plant is its process of increasing in size.

3.The most striking feature of the house was a huge twostorey room running the entire breadth and height of the building.

a)a part of a building or of an area of land;

b)a typical quality or an important part of something.

4.A stone hit the window and cracked the glass.

a)to become mentally and physically weak;

b)to break something so that it does not separate, but very thin lines appear on its surface, or to become broken in this way.

5.Immunology is a branch of biological science.

a)one of the offices or groups that form part of a large business organization;

b)a part of something larger.

Section 4.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1.What classes of words constitute your reading vocabulary?

2.Name as many new words and word combinations from this unit as possible.

3.Did you learn any new information from the texts of this unit?

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Unit 2

Section 1.

PRE-TEXT EXERCISES 1. Check up if you read these words correctly:

mahogany [məˈhɒg.ən.i], whereas [weəˈræz], conifer [ˈkɒn.ɪ.fər], dicotyledon [ˌdaɪ.kɒt.ɪˈliː.dən], crystalline [ˈkrɪs.təl.aɪn], deciduous [dɪˈsɪd.ju.əs], linkage [ˈlɪŋ.kɪdʒ], primarily [praɪˈmer.ɪ.li], cellulose

[ˈsel.jʊ.ləʊs], percentage [pəˈsen.tɪdʒ], pliable [ˈplaɪ.ə.bl ̩], spruce [spruːs], strength [streŋθ], alcohol [ˈæl.kə.hɒl], constituent [kənˈstɪt.ju.ənt]

2. Give the initial forms of the following words:

properties, making, necessarily, harder, linkages, fatty, provides, greater, softening, namely, known

3. State to what parts of speech the following words belong:

relationship, ironwood, whereas, irregular, mainly, aromatic, rosin, decided, elasticity, responsible, except, vein

4. Find the nouns in the following word-groups:

a strong relationship; the properties of the particular tree; the densest woods; lignin is the third component; a major focus of the paper industry; a small percentage of moisture

5. Translate the following word-groups into Russian:

the wood from conifers; the well-known balsa; the hydrophobic properties; a major focus of the paper industry; a variety of low molecular weight organic compounds; the general effect of the water content; the modulus of elasticity

6. Check if you remember the following verbs:

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to call, to know, to derive, to confer, to link, to reflect, to base, to direct, to provide, to exude, to render, to increase, to follow

7. Compare the following pairs of words and translate them:

free – freely; possible – possibly; deep – deeply; cube – cubic; history – historic; easy – easily; atmosphere – atmospheric; to move – movement; to develop – development; base – basic; to replace – replacement; metal – metallic

TEXT A

TYPES OF WOOD. CHEMISTRY OF WOOD

Hard and Soft Woods

There is a strong relationship between the properties of wood and the properties of the particular tree that yielded it. The density of wood varies with species. The density of a wood correlates with its strength (mechanical properties). For example, mahogany1 is a medium-dense hardwood that is excellent for fine furniture crafting, whereas balsa is light, making it useful for model building. One of the densest woods is black ironwood.

It is common to classify wood as either softwood or hardwood. The wood from conifers (e.g. pine) is called softwood, and the wood from dicotyledons2 is called hardwood. These names are a bit misleading, as hardwoods are not necessarily hard, and softwoods are not necessarily soft. The well-known balsa3 is actually softer than any commercial softwood. Conversely, some softwoods (e.g. yew) are harder than many hardwoods.

Chemistry of Wood

Aside from water, wood has three main components. Cellulose, a crystalline polymer derived from glucose, constitutes about 41– 43%. Next in abundance is hemicellulose, which is around 20% in deciduous trees but near 30% in conifers. It is mainly five-carbon

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sugars that are linked in an irregular manner, in contrast to the cellulose. Lignin is the third component at around 27% in coniferous wood vs. 23% in deciduous trees. Lignin confers the hydrophobic properties reflecting the fact that it is based on aromatic rings. These three components are interwoven, and direct covalent linkages exist between the lignin and the hemicelluloses. A major focus of the paper industry is the separation of the lignin from the cellulose, from which paper is made.

Chemical structure of lignin, which comprises approximately 30% of wood and is responsible for many of its properties.

In chemical terms, the difference between hardwood and softwood is reflected in the composition of the constituent lignin. Hardwood lignin is primarily derived from sinapyl alcohol4 and coniferyl5 alcohol. Softwood lignin is mainly derived from coniferyl alcohol.

Extractives

Aside from the lignocelluloses, wood consists of a variety of low molecular weight organic compounds, called extractives. The wood extractives are fatty acids, resin acids, waxes and terpenes6. For example, rosin is exuded by conifers as protection from insects. The extraction of these organic materials from wood provides tall oil, terpentine, and rosin.

[from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood#Hard_and_soft_woods]

NOTES

1.Mahogany is a dark red-brown wood used to make furniture

2.Dicotyledon is a plant that produces flowers and has two cotyledons (= leaf parts inside the seed) which develops broad leaves with veins

3.Balsa is very light wood which is soft and easily cut, sometimes used in making model aircraft

4.Sinapyl alcohol is an organic compound derived from cinnamic acid.

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5.Coniferyl alcohol is an organic compound. Coniferin is a glucoside of coniferyl alcohol.

6.Terpenes are a large and diverse class of organic compounds, produced by a variety of plants, particularly conifers, though also by some insects such as termites or swallowtail butterflies, which emit terpenes from their osmeterium. They are often strong smelling and thus may have had a protective function.

ASSIGMENTS

1. Give the English equivalents of the following:

-древесина средней жесткости;

-плотность древесины;

-черное железное дерево, сосна и дуб;

-широколиственные породы;

-хвойная порода;

-целлюлозно-бумажная промышленность;

-низкомолекулярные органические соединения;

-смоляные кислоты, воски и терпены, канифоль.

2. Answer the following questions:

1.What correlates the strength of wood?

2.What kind of wood is useful for model building?

3.What is misleading in tree species?

4.The extraction of what kind of organic materials from wood provides tall oil, terpentine, and rosin?

5.What are three main components of wood?

3. How would you use the following phrases when discussing the text? Make up sentences based on the text:

-a strong relationship;

-a medium-dense hardwood;

-is called;

-a sinapyl alcohol;

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