Discuss these questions with your partner.
What is a chain made up of?
What do you think a chain reaction is?
H D Vocabulary
Complete the sentences below with words from the box.
thermal explosion expertise by-product field
Analysis external
transformation ■ phenomenon
primary ■ sequence reactive additional
A(n) is what is produced as a
secondary result of a process.
2 means outer.
A(n) is an area where a
particular force has an effect.
means added to.
is the process of examining
something in order to understand it.
A(n) is a series of events, one
after the other.
Z A(n) is a complicated
chemical process involving heating which leads to exploding.
A(n) is any state or process
understood according to the senses rather than by reasoning.
Repairing the nuclear reactor is our concern at the moment.
The surgeon’s medical
saved the man’s life.
Not all chemical substances are
How is the of wood into
ash explained?
H Reading 2
Nikolay Semyonov
Nikolay Semyonov, a physicist and chemist, and a leader of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme, was born on 15th April, 1896, and died on 25th September, 1986 in Moscow. His primary scientific contributions are related to the quantitative theory of chemical chain reactions, the theory of thermal explosion, and the burning of gaseous mixtures.
He was a Physics graduate of Petrograd (St Petersburg) University, and in 1920 he wras put in charge of the electron phenomena laboratory of the Physico-Technical Institute in Petrograd. It was at this time, while working with Pyotr Kapitsa, that he discovered a way to measure the magnetic field of an atomic nucleus. In 1931, he became Director of the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1944 he was a professor at the Moscow State University.
For his work on the mechanism of chemical transformation, he was awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Semyonov's work on the mechanism of chemical transformation includes an important analysis of the application of the chain theory (a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions) to different reactions, particularly combustion processes.
In chemistry and physics, a chain reaction is a reaction that, once started, continues without further outside influence. Proper conditions for a chain reaction depend not only on various external factors, such as temperature, but also on the quantity and shape of the substance in the reaction. A chain reaction can be of various types, but nuclear chain reactions are the best known, and it was in this particular area that Semyonov contributed his expertise to the nuclear weapons programme. He also made valuable contributions to the field of molecular physics and electron phenomena.
Semyonov published his work in three important books. The first was Chemistry of the Electron, published in 1927. This was followed by Chemical Kinetics and Chain Reactions in 1934, which was the first book in the USSR to propose a theory of chain reactions in chemistry. Further studies in chemical kinetics led to the publication, in 1954, of Some Problems of Chemical Kinetics and Reactivity, which was translated into many languages.
S
Pronunciation guide
chain reaction /tjein riaekjbn/ gaseous /'gaesiss/ laboratory /ta'borafri/ phenomena Йэпэттэ/ thermal explosion /'0з:гтэ1 iks'pbo33n/
emyonov received many awards and honours in his lifetime, including five Orders of Lenin. He was a member of the Chemical Society in London, Foreign Member of the Royal Society and Foreign Member of the American, Indian, German, and Hungarian Academies of Sciences. He held honorary doctorates from the University of Oxford and Brussels University.И E Comprehension
Read the text and choose the best title for each paragraph. There is one title which you do not need to use.
PARAGRAPH 1
PARAGRAPH 2
PARAGRAPH 3
PARAGRAPH 4
PARAGRAPHS
PARAGRAPH 6
A Scientific career В Lifetime recognition С Basic facts D Famous author E The highest honour F The combustion process G Explanation of a scientific process
Before you listen
Discuss these questions with your partner.
How much do you know about atomic science? What do you think of it?
H F Listening N)))
Listen to a lecture on atomic and nuclear energy and keep notes. Then answer the questions in your own words.
Where is energy contained?
What is nuclear fission?
What is used to split an atom?
What is nuclear fusion?
When a uranium atom is split into two, what particles are released?
How could a nuclear winter affect life on Earth?
^ G Speaking
Task
Discuss with your partner the dangers of nuclear war. Say what you think and find out if your partner agrees or disagrees with you.
Talk about:
the main idea behind nuclear energy
nuclear fission
nuclear fusion
the future
N
Read texts I and 2 again and your notes from listening exercise F. Use the following notes as well to help you.
The main idea: chemical kinetics and chain reactions
Nuclear fusion: what happens?
The future: what might happen?
^
Remember to:
try to use your own examples
explain yourself clearly
listen to your partner
Speaking tips
Use expressions such as 'I agree / disagree', 'In my opinion'.
Invite your partner to speak by asking 'What do you think?'
Don't say everything at once - remember, it is a discussion not a lecture.
H H Writing
Write a report on the topic: 'Factors affecting chemical reaction rates.'
Read texts I and 2 again and use these notes to write six sections. Use the title headings below for your sections.
REPORT:
Factors affecting reaction rates By: (Your name)
Date: (The date)
INTRODUCTION
Say what the report is about, and briefly list the areas you will discuss.
SECTION 1
Concentration Vocabulary: collide SECTION 2
Pressure Vocabulary: compress, force
SECTION 3
Surface area Vocabulary: reaction rate, molecules
SECTION 4
Reactivity Vocabulary: metals, consumed
SECTION 5
Temperature Vocabulary: hot system, activation energy, bounce off
SECTION 6
Catalysts Vocabulary: increase rate, minimum energy
CONCLUSION
Sum up by giving an outline of the six main areas.
Write 200-300 words.
Before you read
D
iscuss
these questions with your partner.
-*• What does physics study?
How old is the science of physics?
C
an
you name any famous physicists?
A Vocabulary
Choose the correct answer A, В or C.
Scientists use to
make measurements.
A calculations
В estimations
С equations
The molecules are in
A movement В motion С activity
A(n) is a mathematical
statement that shows two expressions are equal.
A estimation
В calculation
С equation
A machine is a mechanical
A gadget В device С appliance
H Reading 1
Physics
An introduction
Ever since humankind first looked at the stars moving about the sky, they have wondered how and why they do that. People have always wondered why things behave the way they do. For thousands of years people have been asking questions like why things fall to the ground, not away from it. Why are some types of stone hard and others soft? Why does the Sun come up in the east and go down in the west? These are all questions that physics can answer.
In the beginning, people answered questions like these in philosophical or religious ways. In early descriptions of the world, philosophers such as Aristotle reported what they believed to be true, rather than what they saw to be true. Others, however, such as astronomers from India, Egypt and China, or the Greek thinker, Archimedes, were able to use calculations to predict the movements of the Sun and the Moon or to describe and build machines.
The works of Eastern scholars reached Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. There were studies of planetary motion by Indian astronomers, the theories of light from Buddhist and Persian thinkers and especially the work of the Persian philosopher Nasir al-Din al-Tusi on the planetary system. Eventually, these ideas pushed Europe into a scientific revolution. Galileo laid the foundations for this with his work on dynamics, that is, how things move. Nicolas Copernicus and then Johannes Kepler described the solar system with the Sun at its centre. Later, building on their work, Isaac Newton set out his Laws of Motion and modern physics was born.
The next great area of investigation was electricity and in the 19th century Michael Faraday first demonstrated an electromagnetic motor. Later, it was improved by James Clerk Maxwell, whose equations were also used to describe light. In proving Maxwell’s equations, Heinrich Hertz discovered radio waves and Wilhelm von Rontgen, Х-ravs. Maxwell’s work was also the starting point for Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. At the same time, other scientists were working on thermodynamics, that is, the study of changes of heat in matter. Physicists such as Robert Boyle, James Prescott Joule and many others set out the theories that allow us today to make use of engines and other mechanical devices. Rontgen’s discovery of Х-ravs and the work of Pierre and Marie Curie on radioactivity led to the development of the science of nuclear physics.
In the first half of the 20th century, developments in physics were concerned with the structure of atoms. The parts of the atom were identified - its nucleus, protons and electrons. Eventually in the 1940s, scientists in the USA were able to split a nucleus and the result was the world’s first nuclear explosion. Also at that time, scientists such as Max Planck were looking at the relationship between matter and wave motion. The field of quantum mechanics, which explains not only how atomic particles move, but how the universe does, came into being. Without physics to describe the way things behave, we would have none of the technology and machinery we take for granted today.
< N
Pronunciation guide
Buddhist /'budist/
Copernicus /кэи'рзппк^/
Joule /d3u:l/
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi /'na:sir el din el tusi/
Persian /'рз:зэп/
Rontgen /'rantgsn/
thermodynamics /,вз:'nraudai'naemiks/
V
В В Comprehension
Read the text and choose the best title for each paragraph. There is one title which you do not need to use.
PARAGRAPH 1
PARAGRAPH 2
PARAGRAPH 3
PARAGRAPH 4
PARAGRAPHS
A Early ideas about physics
В Mechanical devices
С Ideas that created the modern world
D What we can learn from physics
E Atomic physics
F The origins of modern physics
Before you listen
Discuss these questions with your partner.
Have people always believed that the Earth goes round the Sun?
-» Why do you think people would doubt this?
P С Listening Щ)))
Listen to a radio programme about Copernicus. Then listen again and complete these notes.
Copernicus provided a heliocentric
theory of the solar system.
People used to believe the Sun went round the (2)
Copernicus led the way for science to (3) existing theories.
Copernicus held that the Earth is not the centre of the (4)
He also explained the phenomenon of
(5) and gave the correct order
of the planets.
Before you read