In one year the thermal springs in Russia bring to the sur­face of the earth an amount of heat equivalent to that which could be obtained from the combustion of 100 - 150 million tons of fuels.

The hot subterranean water is being used for heating blocks of flats and hothouses and for medical purposes. In some places this hot water goes to the top of the house without pumping.

The geological and geographical conditions for the presence of thermal water are different. But everywhere it is found that the economic effect of using it is quite great.

Plans are made for building an experimental power station in Kazakhstan powered by hot subterranean water. The temperature of the water reaches 170°at the depth of up to 3 kilometres.

The time is not far off when this cheap thermal energy will be widely used in the economy, making it possible to employ such valuable raw materials as coal, oil and gas, mainly in the chemical industry.

The problems of using subterranean water for generating power are being worker out by scientists abroad as well. Several plants powered by underground water and stream are planned on the territory of the USA Mexico, Italy and Iceland. One plant at the geysers in California already supplies 25,000 people with electricity.

Text 11 The Effect Of Computers On A Modern Society

Just as television has extended human sight across the bar­riers of time and distance, so the computers extend the power of the human mind across the existing barriers. They multiply the capacity of the mind to deal with information in endless variations and almost limitless quantity.