6 Michael Faraday
Reading
I. Read the following international words:
encyclopedia, electricity, apparatus, experiment, lecture, assistant, laboratory, chemistry, gas, telescope, magnetize, electrify, induction.
II. Read and translate the text.
Michael
Faraday, one of the greatest men of science, had little chance to get
an education. His father was a blacksmith, and Faraday was born to
work with his hands too. When thirteen years of age, he went as
apperentice to learn bookbinding. He read many of the books he had to
bind. Once when binding an encyclopedia he ran across an article on
electricity. It struck his imagination and aroused his interest. With
the little money he could save, he bought a cheap and simple
apparatus and set to make experiments. He attended the lectures of
Humphry Davy, an outstanding scientist and the most
popular lecturer at that time. Faraday learned chemistry
M. Faraday and began working on the problem of turning gases into
(1791-1867) liquids. An important discovery of Faraday was that of benzol which he separated from condensed oil gas, and which since then found a world-wide application. For several years he is known to have been working on problem of a perfect optical glass and to have made a glass that greatly improved the telescope.
Yet the problem of electricity and magnetism interested him above all. All the scientific world had known by that time that if a current is run through a copper wire wound around a piece of iron, the iron becomes a magnet. If electricity magnetizes, why won’t magnetism electrify? That was the question Faraday asked himself over and over. For a long time he tried different experiments to solve the problem. At last in 1831 he made his major discovery in the field of electricity – the electromagnetic induction.
Among a number of other discoveries he is also known to have measured electric current for the first time, and to have made several important observations on the conductivity of different materials.
Although Faraday enjoyed world-wide popularity, he remained a modest man, never wanting either to accept high titles or to get any money out of his discoveries. He was one of those great men who made possible the age of electricity in which we live, all the marvels it brings us and all those it may bring to the future generations.
III. Guess if the following statements are true or false.
Faraday became interested in electricity due to reading.
His father was a famous scientist.
Electricity and magnetism didn’t interest Faraday.
His major discovery in the field of electricity is the electromagnetic induction.
Faraday is one of the greatest scientists.
Vocabulary
IV. Remember these words:
outstanding, safety, to separate, application, current, wire, major, iron, conductivity, to solve, to measure, to remain, strike (struck).
V. Translate into Russian.
It was after reading an article in the encyclopedia that Faraday turned his attention to electricity.
He turned to books and read everything he could get on the subject.
Next in turn was to buy a cheap apparatus and set to work doing careful experiments.
It turned to be so interesting that Faraday began to attend lectures at the Royal Institute.
When an assistant at the laboratory, he succeeded in turning hydrate chlorine into liquid chlorine.
At last after a series of experiments he came to the conclusion that just as electricity magnetizes, magnetism can electrify, in its turn.
The light is turned off.
The radio set is turned on.
Grammar