Lightning

The lightning flash is certainly the earliest manifesta­tion of electricity kfrown to man, although for a long time nobody Tmew that lightning and atmospheric electricity are one and ftg same thing. lodeed* for thousands of years people knew nothing about tmundersterms. However, they saw long sparras falling from tfie dark sky and heard thunder. They knew that these sparki could kill people or strike their houses and йШгЬу them. Trying to ^ understand ihat dangerous phenomenon, they imagined things and invented numerous stories.

Take the early Scandinavians as an example. They thought fnat thunderstorms were traduced by Thor the god of thunder. Besides his throwing both thunder and lightning at some people be was a hammer-thrower. According to toe story, his powenul hamijiejc had the property of always comiftg back to his hands after it had been'thrown. The filth day of the week, that is Thursday, was named after him. A story like that invented by those early Scandinavians could be also heard from other peoples.

However, time flies. Thunderstorms have long stopped being a problem that scientists tried to solve. Now every­body knows that lightning is a very great flash of light, re­sulting from a discharge of atmospheric electricity either between a charged cloud and the earth or between charged clouds.

Even now some people do not like being out during a thunderstorm. Dark clouds cover the sky, turning day into night. There are lightning flashes followed by thunder which can be heard for kilometres around. Needless to say, there is always some danger in a thunderstorm for a very high building or a man standing in the open field.

Many years ago people learned to protect their houses from thunderstorms. Coming down from a charged cloud to the earth, lightning usually strikes the nearest conductor. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an easy path along which electrons are conducted to the earth. That Benjamin Frank­lin invented the lightning conductor is a well-known fact. The lightning conductor, familiar to everybody at present, is a metal device protecting buildings from strokes of lightn­ing by conducting the electrical charges to the earth.

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Franklin's achievements Лn the HeJd of electricity were known to Lomonosov who, in his turn, made experiments of his own. Along with other scientific pnoblems that Lomo­nosov studied was that of atmospheric electricity. Both Lo­monosov and his friend Professor Rihman took great interest in it. Both of them tried to solve the problem in question. They made numerous experiments and observations without thinking of the possible danger. The first electrical measur­ing device in the world was constructed by Rihman. Making experiments of that kind was dangerous and Professor Rihman was killed by a stroke of lightning while he was ma­king one of his experiments.

As for Franklin's well-known kite experiment, you will read about it in the following lesson.

Active Words and Expressions

charge, to conduct, to destroy, discharge, electron, ex­periment, to invent, lightning, like, to name after, observa­tion, path, phenomenon, property, to provide, scientific, to solve a problem

_Exercises

_{THE GERUND}

	Active	Passive
Indefinite Perfect	writing having written	being written having been written

/. Translate the following sentences, paying attention to the gerund:

1. Learning English is not an easy thing. 2. His friend began learning the English language. 3. Studying natural phenomena without making observations is useless. 4. There are many methods of solving this problem. 5. On coming home, my father began watching television. 6. Russian scien­tists played an important part in solving the problem of atmospheric electricity. 7. Heat is developed on splitting atoms in the reactor. 8. Seeing is believing.

//. Translate the following sentences paying attention to the gerundial construction:

1. We didn't know about his being sent to the power sta­tion. 2. I remember my having told her about the experi­ment. 3. His having asked such a question shows that he did not prepare the text. 4. We know of different experiments being made in this laboratory. 5. Your having been sent to Leningrad was known to everybody. 6. Everybody knows about your having worked at the nuclear power plant. 7. The professor knew about the students' going to the power sta­tion. 8. The students read about the new achievements having been made in the field of nuclear physics. 9. Thanks to the lightning conductor being invented, it is possible to protect buildings from strokes of lightning.

JII. Complete the following sentences using the gerund according to the model given be lorn:

Model: When will you finish (to read)...?

When will you finish reading this English book?

1. Do you like (to go) ...? 2. My friend npyer thought of (to become) .... 3. This is the device for (to turri) .... 4. Ex­cuse me for (to be late) .... 5. Why are you translating a scien­tific article without (to read) ...? 6. We went to the cinema instead of (to watch) .... 7. An electric lamp is used for (to light) .... 8. We began (to translate) the article after (to read) ....

IV. Find the gerund in the text and define its function.

V. Put questions to the words in bold type:

1. For thousands of years people knew nothing about thunderstorms. 2. The fifth day of the week was named after Thor. 3. Lightning is a discharge of atmospheric electricity. 4. The lightning conductor provides an easy path for con­ducting electric charges to the earth. 5. Rihman constructed the first electrical measuring device. 6. Experiments on at­mospheric electricity were made by Lomonosov. 7. Many years ago people learned to protect their houses from thun­derstorms. 8. We use atomic energy for peaceful purposes.

VJ. Form verbs from the following nouns:

observation, achievement, protection, production, instal­lation, operation, application, development, heat, generator, inventor, reader

Use the verbs formed from the nouns above in sentences of your own.

VII. Translate the following sentences paying attention to the words in bold type:

1. 1. My friend's son looks like his father. 2. You may take any device you like. 3. Some liquids have like proper­ties. 4. Steel like iron is widely used in industry. 5. A steam turbine is like any other turbine but it is turned by steam. 6. We did not like the film that we saw yesterday. 7. Did you like the story that you heard at the lesson yesterday?

2. 1. Lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon that great­ly interested some scientists of the past. 2. That the earth revolves about the sun is known to everybody. 3. It is quite possible that in future coal may be replaced by nuclear fuel. 4. Atomic energy can serve people but we must never forget that that energy can also destroy the world. 5. When an object loses its potential energy that energy is turned into kinetic energy. 6. The operation of the motor is quite differ­ent from that of the generator. 7. Everybody knows that the earth is round. 8. The climate in Moscow is better than that in London. 9. The film tna4 we saw yesterday was very interesting.

VIII. Put 5 questions to the text beginning with the word what.

IX. Speak on the story told by the early Scandina- vians.

LESSON FIVE

THE GERUND

ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY

Electricity plays, such an important part in modern life that in order to get it,, men have b£en burning millions of tons of coal. Coal is tilirned instead of its being rtnainiy used, as a source of valuable chemical substances which it contains.. Therefore, finding new ^J sources of electric energy is. a most ». important problem that scientists and engineers try to solve. In this connection one might ask: "Is it possible to develop methods of harnessing lightning?" In other words, could atmospheric electricity be transformed into useful energy? * Indeed, hundreds p| millioiis of volts .are required for a lightnirig spark about one and a'half kilometre long. How­ever, this does not represent very much energy because of the intervals between single ihirderstnrrns. As for the power spent in producing lightning\^УщШШ тцПЩ^ the mrld, it is only about 1/10,000 of the power got by mankind from the sun, both in the form of Tight and that of heat. Thus, the source in question may interest only the scientists of the future.

It has already been mentioned that atmospheric electric­ity is the earliest manifestation of electricity known to man. However, nobody understood that phenomenon and its properties until Benjamin Franklin made his kite experi­ment. On studying the Leyden jar (for long years the only known condenser), Franklin began thinking that lightning was a strong spark of electricity. He began experimenting in order to draw electricity from the clouds to the earth. The story about his famous kite is known all over the world.

On a stormy day Franklin and his son went into the, cpuntry taking with them some necessary things such #s: a kite with в long string, a key and so on. The key was con-nected to the lower epd of the string. "If lightning is the same as electricity," he thought, "then some of its sparks must come down the kite string to the key." Soon the kite was flying high among the clouds where lightning flashed. How­ever, the kite having been raised, some time passed before there was any proof of its being electrified. Then the rain fell and wetted the string. The wet string conducted the , electricity from the clouds down the string to the key. Frank­lin and his son both saw electric sparks which grew bigger and stronger. Thus, it was proved that lightning is a discharge of electricity like that got from the batteries of Leyden jars.

Trying to develop a method of protecting buildings dur­ing thunderstorms, Franklin continued studying that problem and invented the lightning conductor. He wrote necessary instructions for the installation of his invention, the princi­ple of his lightning conductor being in use until now. Thus, protecting buildings from strokes of lightning was the first discovery in the field of electricity employed for the good of mankind.