VII. Talk on the types of electric circuits.

UNIT 5

I. Read the text.

Alternating Current

Current is defined as increment of electrons. The unit for measuring current was named in honor of A.M. Ampere, the French physicist. Thus it is called ampere. The symbol for current is I. The electric current is a quantity of electrons flowing in a circuit per second of time. The electrons move along the circuit because the e.m.f. drives them. The current is directly proportional to the e.m.f.

A steam of electrons in a circuit will develop a magnetic field around the conductor along which the electrons are moving. The strength of the magnetic field depends upon the current strength along the conductor. The direction of the field is dependant upon the direction of the current.

If the force causing the electron flow is indirect, the current is called direct (d.c.). If the force changes its direction periodically the current is called alternative (a.c.).

Alternating current is the current that changes direction periodically. The electrons leave one terminal of the power supply, flow out along the conductor, stop, and then flow back toward the same terminal. A voltage that caused current reverses its polarity periodically. This is properly called an alternating voltage. The power supply that provides the alternating voltage actually reverses the polarity of its terminals according to a fixed periodic pattern. A given terminal will be negative for a specific period of time and drive electrons out through the circuit. Then, the same terminal becomes positive and attracts electrons back from the circuit. This voltage source cannot be a battery. It must consist of some types of rotating machinery.

II. Guess the meaning of the following international words:

1) physicist, 2) ampere, 3) symbol, 4) second, 5) polarity, 6) period, 7) battery.

III. Translate into Russian the words and expression from the text:

1) increment of electrons; 2) measuring; 3) to drive; 4) directly proportional; 5) conductor; 6) strength; 7) causing force; 8) terminal; 9) to flow; 10) to reverse.

IV. Give the English equivalents for the words below:

1) переменный ток, 2) за секунду, 3) количество электронов, 4) поток электронов, 5) магнитное поле, 6) направление, 7) зависеть, 8) усиление, 9) источник напряжения, 10) ротационный механизм.

V. Complete the sentences using the text:

1. The electric current is …

2. The unit for measuring current is …

3. A steam of electrons in a circuit will develop …

4. The current is called direct if …

5. The current is called alternating if…

6. Alternating voltage is …

7. Alternating voltage source cannot be …

VI. Answer the questions:

1. Why do electrons move along the circuit?

2. What does the strength of the magnetic field depend upon?

3. What does the direction of the field depend upon?

4. What is the way of alternating current electrons?

5. How does the alternating voltage power supply reverse the polarity of terminals?

VII. Talk on the properties of the electric current and its types.

UNIT 6

I. Read the text.

CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS

All substances have some ability of conducting the electric current, however, they differ greatly in the ease with which the current can pass through them. Solid metals conduct electricity with ease while non-metals do not allow it to flow freely. Thus, there are conductors and insulators.

What do the terms "conductors" and "insulators" mean?

This difference is expressed by what is called electrical conductivity of the body. It depends upon the atomic constitution of the body. Substances through which electricity is easily transmitted are called conductors. Any material that strongly resists the electric current flow is known as an insulator.

Conductance, that is the conductor's ability of passing electric charges, depends on the four factors: thesize of the wire used, its length and temperature as well as the kind of material to be employed.

A large conductor will carry the current more readily than a thinner one. To flow through a short conductor is certainly easier for the current than through a long one in spite of their being made of similar material. Hence, the longer the wire, the greater is its opposition, that is resistance, to the passage of current.

There is a great difference in the conducting ability of various substances. Almost all metals are good electric current conductors. The best conductors are silver, copper, gold and aluminum. Nevertheless, copper carries the current more freely than iron; and silver, in its turn, is a better conductor than copper. Copper is the most widely used conductor. The electrically operated devices are connected to the wall socket by copper wires.

A material which resists the flow of the electric current is called an insulator.

The higher the opposition is, the better the insulator is. There are many kinds of insulation used to cover the wires. The kind used depends upon the purposes the wire or cord is meant for. The insulating materials generally used to cover the wires are rubber, asbestos, glass, plastics and others. The best insulators are oil, rubber and glass.

Rubber covered with cotton, or rubber alone is the insulating material usually used to cover desk lamp cords and radio cords.

Glass is the insulator to be often seen on the poles that carry the telephone wires in city streets. Glass insulator strings are usually suspended from the towers of high voltage transmission lines. One of the most important insulators of all, however, is air. That is why power transmission line wires are bare wires depending on air to keep the current from leaking off.

Conducting materials are by no means the only materials to play an important part in electrical engineering. There must certainly be a conductor, that is a path, along which electricity is to travel and there must be insulators keeping it from leaking off the conductor.

II. Give the Russian equivalents for the words and word combinations below:

1) conductors; 2) insulators; 3) transmit; 4) resistance; 5) passage of current; 6) socket; 7) to connect to; 8) cord; 9) high voltage transmission line; 10) leak off.

III. Find in the text the sentences with the following related words and translate them:

conducting – conductor – conductivity – conductance.