Page 51 - 120900036183_martelli_englishtoolsforelectronics

3

CLIL Expansion

Scientist

Field of study

Invention

Materials used in experiments

b) Which scientists were mentioned in this passage? Surf the Net to find out more about their studies and

inventions and list the materials each one used. Fill in the chart below with the result of your research.

c) Decide whether these discoveries/inventions directly affected ordinary people’s lives at the time and

explain your conclusions.

TASK 3

After reading the following text, find out more about the scientists mentioned in the passage and fill in the

chart below.

…

and how it developed

…

T

he true pioneers in electrotechnics were Britons:

Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) and English chemist

and physicist and James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 1879) a

Scottish physicist and mathematician. Between them they

laid the scientific foundations, theoretical and practical of

the subject with their studies of magnetic fields.

The early 19th century was a period of rapid progress in

electrical science while the late 19th century saw enormous

progress in electrical engineering. Electricity fascinated

many Victorian scientists: the work of people such as

Wheatstone, Swan, Westinghouse, Edison, Bell and Lord

Kelvin meant electricity was no longer a scientific curiosity

but rather an essential tool

1

for modern life, a driving force

for the second Industrial Revolution.

Wheatstone was the first person to communicate over a

distance using his electric telegraph.

Swan began to think about a carbon-filament incandescent

lamp in 1845, two years before Edison was born. The use

of electric lighting “meant that fire had been discovered for

the second time” and it led to a completely transformation

of life in towns.

At the beginning of the 19th century there were few

street lights even in the largest cities. It was difficult and

dangerous to walk in the streets at night. The first steps

towards introducing street-lighting were made in 1816,

when gaslights appeared for the first time in the streets of

London. The earliest lamps required a lamplighter, a person

who went round the streets lighting each of the lamps

one by one, although designs used ignition devices that

automatically produced a flame when the gas supply was

turned on. By 1825 many London streets had gas lights,

often many lamps, but this gaslight was dim

2

and, also, very

smelly

3

.

Another invention, the electric arc lamp, which gave a bright

white light when a spark

4

jumped between two carbon rods,

was an improvement but was smoky and smelly as well.

1

tool

: instrument for work

2

dim

: not bright, a low weak light

3

smelly

: with a bad odour

4

spark

: a small piece of burning material thrown out of a fire

by an explosion or wind

........................................................

Scientist

Field of study

Invention

Materials used in experiments

........................................................

Progetto FOR ELECTRONICS_unit_1.indd 35

10/01/