The fundamental particles

All of the simple particles which exist in nature have been found to undergo reactions in which they are converted into or obtained from other particles or radiation. There are, then, no particles which can be said to be truly fundamental.

The electron was the first of the simple particles to be recognized, it being discovered by J.J. Thomson in 1897. The proton, the nucleus of the ordinary hydrogen atom, was observed as positively charged rays in a discharge tube. The nature of the rays was not at first understood. The next very simple particle to be discovered was the positron, found in 1932. The positrons were found among the particles produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with matter. They seem to be identical with electrons except that their charge is +e instead of -e. Their span of life as free particles is very short, it being less than a microsecond (1x10^-6 sec).

The neutron is known to have been discovered by the English physicist J. Chadwick, also in the year 1932. Neutrons have been found to be particles with mass only slightly larger than that of the proton, and with zero electric charge. They having no electric charge, neutrons interact with other forms of matter only very weakly, and it is accordingly hard to prove their existence by direct method. On passage through solid substances they undergo deflection only when they approach extremely closely to nuclei, that is, when they undergo direct collisions with nuclei. Neutrons and nuclei being so small, the chance of collision is very small and neutrons are accordingly able to penetrate through great thicknesses of heavy elements.

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Automation

"Automation" is a new word for a new purpose. Ordinarily automation is any improvement in the control of some activity or process by non-human, i.e. automatic means, but sometimes the term is defined more narrowly. Recent steps in automation have followed each other with unusual speed. Many people are surprised to learn that in industries like chemical and oil-refining entire processes have become very nearly automatic. They want to know how this has happened.

Electronic computers are becoming very good at routine clerical work in offices and factories.

Automation has many sides. It includes, for example, developments that are no more than advanced mechanization – transfer-machines in engineering, many kinds of machinery for making finished goods, and mechanical equipment for handling and assembly. Machines of this kind are automatic that they do the actual work on their own; the operators only watch them and correct them whenever they go wrong – when, for instance, tools wear out.

But automation can also mean automatic control of processes and machinery, and this is a very different thing from mechanization, though the two go together. Control is necessary in a vast number of processes in order to maintain the quality of a product when the operating conditions, such as temperature and pressure, change from time to time

Вариант 2

1. Перепишите следующие предложения; подчеркните в каждом из них глагол сказуемое и определите его временную форму и залог. Переведите предложения на русский язык. Обратите внимание на перевод пассивных конструкций.

1. Computers and lasers are being widely introduced at plants and factories.

2. Some powerful radio stations have recently been built in the northern regions.

3. The intensity of this process is influenced by many factors.

4. Russian chemical science is successfully solving many complex problems.

2. Перепишите следующие предложения; подчеркните Participle I и Participle II и установите функции каждых, т.е. укажите, является ли оно определением, обстоятельством или частью глагола-сказуемого. Переведите предложения на русский язык.

1. Combining hydrogen with oxygen in the proportion of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen we produce water.

2. The investigations analysed resulted in an interesting discovery.

3. One can use several modern devices while detecting and measuring radioactivity.

4. Mankind has never experienced changes in life and work on such a scale.

3. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на бессоюзное подчинение.

1. The methods we have just described are very effective.

2. For a long time Bell couldn’t get the results he was looking for.

3. I think he has made a mistake in his calculations.

4. Перепишите предложения их на русский язык, обращая внимание на разные значения глаголов to be, to have, to do.

1. Such metals as iron, cobalt, nickel and some alloys are much more magnetic than any other substances.

2. Weightlessness is created on the Earth, but only for a few seconds.

3. In the past messages to and from Europe had to be sent by ship.

4. This machine doesn’t work, it hasn’t worked for years.

5. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их на русский язык, обращая внимание на функции инфинитива.

1. A special electric device signals the engine to stop.

2. Materials used for superliners structure must be strong enough to withstand the air resistance at high speeds.

3. Lasers to be placed on Earth satellites will transform solar radiation into laser beams.

4. Our plant was the first to install the automatic equipment.

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