- •3.1 Module 3 electricity
- •2 Which natural phenomenon on the list do you think inspired each of the following inventions?
- •4 Work in pairs. Imagine that you are at home. What common electrical appliances do you normally use?
- •5 Match the words to the definitions.
- •6 Write the noun form of the verbs.
- •7 Choose the correct alternative.
- •8 Read the article about the history of electricity. Which of the following facts are not mentioned?
- •9 Read the article again. Are the statements true (t), false (f) or is the information not given (ng)?
- •11 Work in pairs. Ask and answer the questions on the history of electricity.
- •13 Choose the correct alternative.
- •14 Look at the examples and complete the rules. Write for or since.
- •17 Complete the sentences.
- •Read the article about the famous inventor Nikola Tesla.
- •19 Match meanings 1-8 with the words and phrases in bold from the text in Exercise 18
- •23 Match beginnings 1-5 with endings a)-e) to make definitions.
- •28 Take it in turns to tell your stories to the class. Listen carefully to your classmate’s stories
- •31 Answer these questions.
- •34 Work in pairs. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power energy generation
- •36 Match the words with the definitions.
- •37 Complete the sentences with the words from Exercise 37 in the correct form.
- •38 Read the quiz compiled by National Geographic below.
- •40 Choose the correct alternative.
- •41 There is one extra word in each of these sentences.
- •42 Put the words in the correct order to make questions
- •43 Complete the conversations with the present perfect or
- •44 Put these words in the correct column.
- •3.4 Look at this fascinating picture. Would you like to have the opportunity to drive that futuristic car?
- •46 Match the words 1-8 with the meanings a)-h)
- •47 Read the information. Did you mention these ideas in your previous discussion?
- •48 Complete the sentences with the words below in the correct form.
- •50 Are these statements true (t) or false (f)?
- •51 Use the future perfect form of the verbs in brackets.
- •52 Complete the sentences with the future perfect, future simple or future continuous form of the
- •Verbs in brackets.
- •53 Correct the mistakes in these sentences.
- •55 English speakers use ‘by the time’ to express a future event
- •58 Complete the information with the words fun and funny
- •60 Conduct a survey in your class. Ask and answer the questions.
- •61 Read the information and compare it with your answers.
- •62 Think of a funny joke and tell it to the rest of your group.
- •63 Match the beginnings and endings of these sentences to make quotes.
- •64 Look at this prompts and write the correct definition of electricity
- •65 Put the verbs in brackets in the correct perfect tense (active or passive) to get a famous saying.
17 Complete the sentences.
Farad, the unit of capacitance is named after…
Ampere, the unit of measurement applied to the flow of charge through a conductor is named after…
Ohm, the unit of measurement applied to resistance is named after…
Coulomb, the fundamental SI* unit of measure for charge is named after…
Tesla, the SI* unit of measurement of the strength of magnetic field is named after…
*SI The International System of Units
Choose one scientist you like most and prepare a short talk on his or her life and inventions.
Search the Internet if necessary.
Read the article about the famous inventor Nikola Tesla.
Chose the most suitable heading for each of the numbered sections from the list A-D
A The Fall from Grace C Famed Inventor D Early Life
B Legacy E Synopsis
1 _______________________
Inventor Nikola Tesla was born in July of 1856, in what is now *Croatia. He came to the United States
in 1884 and briefly worked with Thomas Edison. He sold several patent rights, including those to his
alternating-current machinery, to George Westinghouse. His 1891 invention, the “Tesla coil”, is still used
in radio technology today. Tesla died in New York City on January 7, 1943.
2________________________
Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in what is now Croatia. Tesla’s interest in electrical
invention was spurred by his mother, who invented small household appliances in her
spare time while her son was growing up. Tesla’s father was a priest and a writer, and
he pushed for his son to join the priesthood. But Nikola’s interests lay squarely in the sciences.
After studying at the Realschule, Karlstadt; the Polytechnic Institute in *Graz, *Austria; and the University
of *Prague during the 1870s, Tesla moved to *Budapest, where for a time he worked at the Central Telephone
Exchange. It was while in Budapest that the idea for the induction motor first came to Tesla, but after several
years of trying to gain interest in his invention, at age 28 Tesla decided to leave Europe for America.
3 __________________________
In 1884 Tesla arrived in the United States with little more than the clothes on his back and a letter of
introduction to Thomas Edison, whose DC-based electrical works were fast becoming the standard in the
country. Edison hired Tesla, and the two men were soon working tirelessly alongside each other, making
improvements to Edison’s inventions. However, several months later, the two parted ways due to a
conflicting business-scientific relationship, attributed by historians to their incredibly different personalities:
while Edison was a power figure who focused on marketing and financial success, Tesla was commercially
out-of-tune and somewhat vulnerable.
After parting ways with Edison, in 1885 Tesla received funding for the Tesla Electric Light Company and
was tasked by his investors to develop improved arc lighting. After successfully doing so, in 1887 he was
able to find interest in his AC electrical system and funding for his new Tesla Electric Company.
By the end of the year Tesla had successfully filed several patents for AC-based inventions.
. 4 _____________________________
Around 1900 Nikola set to work on his boldest project yet: to build a global wireless communication
system – to be transmitted through a large electrical tower- for sharing information and providing free
electricity throughout the world. With funding from a group of investors, in 1901 Tesla began work on
his project in earnest. However, when doubts arose among his investors about the plausibility of Tesla’s
system and his rival Marconi continued to make great advances with his own radio technologies, Tesla
had to abandon the project. The staff was laid off and by 1915 the site had fallen into foreclosure.
Two years later the tower was dismantled and sold for scrap to help pay the debts he had accrued.
5_____________________________
After suffering a nervous breakdown, Tesla eventually returned to work, primarily as a consultant.
But as the time went on, his ideas became progressively more outlandish and impractical.
He also grew increasingly eccentric, devoting much of his time to the care of wild pigeons in New York
City’s parks.
Poor and reclusive, Nikola Tesla died at the age of 86 in New York City, where he had lived for nearly
60 years. But the legacy of the work he left behind him lives on to this day.
Several books and films have highlighted Tesla’s life and famous works, including Nikola Tesla,
The Genius Who Lit the World, a documentary produced by the Tesla Memorial Society, The
Secret of Nikola Tesla , The Prestige. In 1994, a street sign identifying “Nikola Tesla Corner” was installed
near the site of his former New York City laboratory.
*Croatia [|kroʊˈeɪʃə|] *Graz [|ɡrɑːts| ] *Austria [ |ˈɔːstriə| ] *Budapest [|buːdəˈpɛst|]