Electricity use has dramatically changed daily life

Module 3

Work with a partner to discuss the following.

1- Are you able to imagine our life without electricity?

2 - What do you know about electricity?

3 – Where did electricity come from?

4.- Do you know any scientists who made a great contribution to electricity?

5. What effects can electricity produce?

6 - What sources of electricity do you know?

7- What are the main benefits of using electricity?

8 - Does it have any disadvantages?

9 - What electrical equipment do you use at home? (at the laboratories?)

10 What device or machine would you miss if you had to work without electricity for a day or week?

10- Why should people be extremely careful while working with electrical

devices?

New words and word combinations

discover (v) –открывать

invent (v)– изобретать

be associated with (v)– быть связанным с

comprehensible (adj.) - понятный, постижимый

entity (n) –существо, организм

visible (adj.) – видимый, явный

filament (n) – эл. нить накала

charge (n)- эл. заряд

refer to (v) – относиться к, ссылаться на

conversion (n) – преврaщение

renewable (adj.) – возобновляемый

decipher (v) – расшифровывать, разбирать

accomplishment (n) – выполнение, завершение, (pl.) достижения

alternating current (n) –переменный ток

enable (v)- позволять

involve (v) – включать в себя.

3. Skim the text below and answer the questions .

1) Why has electricity dramatically changed our daily life?

2) Why should we use electricity wisely?

TEXT 3A

HOW IS ELECTRICITY IMPORTANT IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE?

Electricity has become very useful and has changed everyone's life since the day it was discovered. Of course, it couldn't be invented for it is a set of natural phenomena, associated with the presence and flow of electric charges.

The term “electricity” came from Greek “elektron” which means amber. But what is “electricity”? It is a mysterious incomprehensible entity which is invisible and visible, both at the same time. It moves forward at the speed of light...yet sits and vibrates inside your AC cord without flowing forwards at all. It is totally weightless, yet it has a small weight. When electricity flows through a light bulb’s filament, it gets changed entirely into light. So, electricity is a class of phenomena, merely a type of event.

Electricity is the flow of electrical power or charge. It is both a basic part of nature and one of the most widely used forms of energy.

Electricity is actually a secondary energy source, also referred to as an energy carrier. That means that customers get electricity from the conversion of other sources of energy, such as coal, natural gas, nuclear, solar, or wind energy. These sources of energy are called the primary energy sources. The energy sources used to make electricity can be renewable or nonrenewable, but electricity itself is not renewable or nonrenewable.

Electricity use has dramatically changed daily life

Before electricity became available more than 100 years ago, houses were lit with candles and kerosene lamps, food was cooled in iceboxes, and rooms were warmed by wood-burning or coal-burning stoves.

Scientists and inventors have worked to decipher the principles of electricity since the 1600s. Some notable accomplishments were made by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla.

Benjamin Franklin demonstrated that lightning is electricity. Thomas Edison invented the first long-lasting incandescent light bulb.

Prior to 1879, direct current (DC) electricity had been used in arc lights for outdoor lighting. In the late 1800s, Nikola Tesla pioneered the generation, transmission, and use of alternating current (AC) electricity, which reduced the cost of transmitting electricity over long distances. Tesla's inventions used electricity to bring indoor lighting to homes and used electricity to power industrial machines.

Despite its great importance in daily life, few people probably stop to think what life would be like without electricity. Like air and water, people tend to take electricity for granted.

Individuals have become accustomed to use electricity in everyday life for electricity illuminates houses, switches on our televisions and computers, energies our laptops, cooks our food, powers vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines and other electrically operated devices, which enables us to live more comfortably. Doesn't the majority of our actions involve electricity? Yes, it is... Every little single factor on the planet involves electricity. We may not be able to touch electricity, but it touches our lives every day. Now, are you able to imagine existence without electricity?

But it’s also important that we use electricity wisely. Wise electricity use helps us to become more energy-efficient as a nation, reduces our environmental impact, saves us money on our electricity bill, and keeps our nation’s electricity supply more reliable. Smart our energy policies can support our quality of life.

4. Answer the questions:

1) Why couldn’t electricity be invented?

2) What is electricity? Outline the idea.

3) What do we call the primary energy sources?

4) What kinds of electricity do you know?

5) What were the names of scientists who were experimenting with electricity?

6) For what purposes did Tesla’s inventions use electricity?

7) Why has electricity dramatically changed the life of people?

8) Can you imagine our life without electricity?

9) What kind of energy policy can support our daily life? Prove it.