Laboratory Exercises

10. Listen and practise the pronunciation of the following words:

nature, picture, future, derived, called, heated, trans­formed, released, placed, existed, boiling, heating, melting, moving, rubbing, lightning, falling.

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11. Listen and repeat in pauses:

All bodies consist of matter. Rubber and сорper arе different kinds of matter. All changes which occur in a physical body' are known as phenomena. We observe that electric current heats a wire through which it passes. The melting of. ice, the boiling of water, the falling of a stone, inc heating of a wire, wind, lightning - all these are different phenomena.

12. Listen to these questions on the above text and answer them:

1. What do all bodies consist of? 2. What are known as phenomena? 3. What do you observe? 4. What phenomena do you know?

13. Listen to these questions and answer tliem using the model.

M о del: Does physics study different phenomena?

Yes, it does.

I. Does a piece of ice melt in a warm room? 2. Do dif­ferent changes occur in nature? 3. Does an electric current heat a wire? 4. Do physical bodies exist in nature? 5. Does any body consist of matter?

14. Make up questions using the model.

Model : Students study physics. What do students study?

!. Dynamics studies the motion of bodies. 2. We observe the motion of bodies in nature. 3. The physicists use the experimental method. 4. The students carry on experiments.

15. Listen to this dialogue and learn it by heart:

— Hallo, Nick! How are you?

— Fine, thank you. And you, Pete?-..... Pretty well, thanks. Do you study or work, Nick?

-...... I study. And you, Pete?

—- I work at a plant. Where do yon study, Nick?

— At the Pedagogical Institute,I am a first year student of the physical faculty. I study physics, which is my favour­ite subject, as you know.

— Do you know, Nick, what physics is?

— Certainly. Physics is a broad science. It deals with different phenomena.

— Can you tell anything about them?

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--Certainly, I can. All changes which occure in a physical body are known as phenomena. The melting of ice, the boiling of water, the falling of a stone, the heating of wire by an electric current, wind, sound, light are called physical phenomena.

--Oh, I see. Physics is a very interesting subject, isn’t it?

--Yes, it is. We shall study some of the important aspects of physics. We shall learn certain essential principles of mechanics, heat, sound, light, optics, electricity and magnetism.

16. Suggested topics for oral narration:

1. Give as many examples as you can of: a) different phenomena; b) changes which take place in different bodies.

2. What is physics?

Additional Material

Read the text and note the important details:

\. The scientific problems that Lomonosov worked at.

2. Lomonosov as the father of Russian science.

M. V.Lomonosov

"Lomonosov was a great man. He

founded our first University. To be

more exact, he himself was our first

university."

1. S. Pushkin

.

The great scientist, M. V. Lomonosov, was born in 1711, in the village of Denisovka, far off in the North. His father was a fisherman. He often went with his father to the sea and learned much about nature and life of his country. He did not go to school, but he learned to read at an early age and soon knew by heart the few books that he had. His thirst for knowl­edge was so great that at the age of 19 he left his father's home and started on foot to Moscow, where he entered the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy. There was no other higher school in Moscow at that time. His firs! years of study were difficult, but he worked hard and made great progress. He continued his studies in Petersburg and later on in foreign countries.

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While he was abroad, Lomonosov studied philosophy, chemistry, mathematics, physics and foreign languages. He came back to Petersburg at the age of 35 and he was already a professor and an academician.

It is almost impossible to name a scientific problem that did not attract his attention. He always tried to find a practical application for scientific phenomena and stood for close cooperation between theory and practice. He found the first chemical laboratory in Russia. He formulated the main principles of one of the basic laws of physics – the law of conservation of mater and motion. He also made a number of experiments with atmospheric electricity and gave much time to the study of the natural resourses of the earth and ocean. He lectured on physics and other subjects, taught students, translated the works of various foreign scientists into Russian. He himself wrote books in the Russian language. He gave much attention to scientific research in the Russian language and grammar.

Lomonosov died in April, 1765. He devoted is whole life to the development of Russian science, and all that he did, he did for his people and his country.

We call Lomonosov the father of Russian science because he is the first Russian scientist in the true sense of the word.2

Notes

1 thirst for knowledge - жажда знаний

2 in the true sense of the word - в подлинном смысле слова

UNIT 2

TEXT. MEASUREMENT IN PHYSICS

Physics is a subject which deals with electricity, magnetism ism, heat, light, sound, mechanics and properties of matter In all these branches of physics very little real progress was made until measurements were attempted¹, and today it is generally recognized that a trained physicist must, be able to measure accurately distances volumes, masses, time and temperature as well as other quantities such as electric cur­rent and voltage. Every physical quantity has its own unit of measurement. To make any measurement we need some fixed quantity called a unit, so we must

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consider this subject first. For scientific and engineering purposes there are three quantities of fundamental significance. These are mass, time and length. We must learn the units of measurement of these quantities before considering other aspects. This is because all other quantities — of volume, force, electric power or even the chemical energy stored in a lump of coal — are measured in units whose values depend on our choice of the fundamental units of mass, time and length

Realize that the way in which we choose to define a unit is left to our own convenience. In England the fundamental unit of length is the yard. In France, on the other hand, the standard of length is the metre, rather more than the yard Naturally, in the course of time, different countries have chosen their own values for the fundamental units. This did not matter much until trade between countries became extensive. In recent times scientists in countries all over the world have agreed to use a particular system in science, called the metre-kilogramme-second, or M.K.S. system. The metre is the unit of length, the kilogramme is the unit of weight, the second is the unit of time, while the litre is the unit of volume. We say that the milk is measured by the litre, the coal is measured by the ton, the cloth is measured by the metre and so on. Without a unit accuracy is impossible. To measure the size of anything means to compare it with the standard with which other people compare the size of thing's measured by them. For instance, we measure the length of a table by comparing it with the length of a metre.

Note

¹ until measurements were attempted — зд. пока не были произведены различные измерения

Listen and read words and word combinations to be re­membered:

deal with [di:l wið ] иметь дело с weight [weit] вес property ['propəti] свойство length [leŋθ] длина

measurement [ ] измерение compare [kəm'pεə] сравнивать

consider [kən'sidə] рассматpивать store [sto:] вмещaть

recognize [ 'rekognaiz] прнзнать volume [volju:m] объем

quantity ['kwontiti ] величина unit ['ju:nit ] единица

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Give Russian equivalents to the following words without using a dictionary:

mechanics [mi'kæniks ] fundamental [fanda'mentl]

accurately ['ækjuritli] mass [mæs]

distance ['distans] aspect [æspekt ]

temperature ['tempritja] chemical ['kemikəl]

voltage ['voultidz] yard [ja:d]

fixed [fikst] system ['sistim]

Models

1. to measure

Present (today) You measure (compare, say,

read, make, agree...).

Do you measure (compare, say,

read, make, agree...)?

Past (yesterday) He measured (compared,

said, read, made, agreed...).

Did he measure (compare,

say, read, make, agree...)?

Future (tomorrow) She will measure (compare,

say, read, make, agree...).

Will she measure (compare,

say, read, make, agree..,)?

2. in, into, from, of, ... etc.

in: in physics, in a tea-kettle, in this room, in May, in countries...

into: into a room, into a pocket, into a house, into the river...

from: to come from work, from a hand...

of: a piece of ice, a drop of water, a branch of science, a unit of mass...

through: through the town, through the wire, through the forest...