Texts for

English III

Compiled by:
Szedmina Lívia
Literature

1. Jones, Leo: Progress to Proficiency, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1994.
2. Soars, John & Soars, Liz: New Headway English Course:
Intermediate, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
3. Swan, Michael & Walter, Catherine: How English Works, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.
4. Sabo, Agnes, MA: Science Reader, Textbook for the Polytechnical
Engineering College, 1997
5. http://www.howstuffworks.com
Contents

1. Practice Texts 1

2. Automotive Engineering - from University Student

to Formula 1 Engineer 28

3. Some Technical Details of Formula 1 31

4. Gears and Engines in Motor sports 36

5. Mr. Respectable’s Dirty Little Secret:

Evaluating the SV-650 Motorbike 40

6. The History of Microsoft 42

7. Hackers – and What You Always Wanted to

Know About Them 44

8. How Joysticks Work 46

9. How Digital Cameras Work 48

10. How Satellite Television Works 49

11. How GPS Works 53

12. Transportation Revolution 57

13. The New Webb Telescope 63

14. Packaging Sunlight 67

15. How Hurricanes Work 70

16. Sample tests 71

 Chapter 1
Read and translate the following
text passages in this chapter,
and do the accompanying
grammar exercises.
1.
Ona govori tri jezika. / Ő három nyelvet beszél. (translate into English)
This country is in an economic crisis. (plural)

Engineers will be able to keep abreast of what’s going on in their field by

means of on-line continuing education. Whether at work, at home, or
through a professional association, they’ll have the chance to participate in
some kind of electronic network that will provide a channel for continuing
education throughout their working life, as well as help them with
immediate problems connected to a specific project.
__________________________________________________________

2.
- How ______________ times have you tried to pass this exam? (add a
quantifier)
- __________ third of ___________ May is _________ Tom’s birthday.
(add an article)

The magnetic pole shifts regularly. In order to keep navigators informed, the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey publishes a series of maps giving
up-to-date figures for magnetic declination all over the earth. There is a solid
red line labeled ‘No Variation’ which is also called the agonic line on such
maps. ‘Agonic’ means ‘without angle’, while the broken blue lines are the
so-called isogonic (equal angle) lines. The kind of rock and the presence of
iron ore in a local area can alter the direction in which the compass points.
The change is slight but it is significant.
_____________________________________________________________
3.
- George W. Bush is on the ‘Time’ magazine’s cover. (find the mistake)
- The United States of America had become independent in 1776. (find the
mistake)

The first oil-burner patent was taken out as long ago as 1885, but not until
the late 1920s, when oil for home use was generally available. Since then,
oil-burners – more expensive than coal furnaces to operate but cleaner and
far less troublesome – have moved into the basements of millions of homes.
Operation of the burner begins when the thermostat completes a circuit to
start the electric motor.
4.
- The ‘Ford K’ is _____________ (short) than a Mercedes, it is _________
(easy) to find a parking space, but the insurance is _______________
(expensive). (comparison of adjectives)
- Is this CD ___________ (tvoj/tied)? No, it is ________ (njeno/övé, lányé)
(possessives)

Then there’s the problem of food. When the climate changes there will be
less food in the world. At the moment, areas like the mid-west of America
and central Russia grow a lot of wheat. In the future that may change when
the USA and Russia become too dry for farming. Other countries, like
Canada and Sweden, will become wetter, but that won’t help. The soil there
isn’t as rich. It won’t be possible to grow the same amount of food as before.
_____________________________________________________________

5.
- I ordered _________ cup of tea with ___________ milk at _________ best
café in town. (articles)
- All formal letters should be typed and printed. (active)

The atmosphere is a blanket of gases around the Earth. For thousands of

years these gases have kept the planet’s temperature about 15 degrees
Celsius by trapping some of the sun’s heat. But now, because of the
pollution, there are more and more gases in the atmosphere. This means that
the Earth is getting hotter. A greenhouse becomes hot for the same reason.
Its glass lets the sun’s heat pass through, then stops some of it leaving.
That’s why scientists call the problem of Earth’s using temperature ‘The
Greenhouse Effect’.
____________________________________________________________
6.
- I know ___________ students at this college who could afford a four-week
holiday in Monaco. (add: few/a few/ little/a little)
- Čekam ga od pola osam ujutro. / Reggel fél nyolc óta várok rá. (translate
into English)

The speed of a mechanical device is limited by the fact that metal parts must
move. In electronic devices, though there are no moving parts and electric
impulse can move at enormous speed. Numbers can be represented by
passing a tiny electronic current through devices such as thermionic valves,
which can be switched on and off. If you have a row of valves, all of which
are switched either on or off, you can call the ‘on’ state 1, the ‘off’ state 0,
and you may represent any number by a combination of ones and zeros. This
is similar in principle to Morse code in which numbers are represented by
dots and dashes.
_____________________________________________________________

7.
- On već dve godine radi za IBM. / Ő már két éve dolgozik az IBMnek.
(translate into English)
- I asked him if he knew the price of a phone call to the USA. (direct speech)

A picture of a hydraulic jack for an automobile shows this tool as it

ordinarily appears to us, but it does not show the true shapes of the parts.
The top of the cylinder appears as an ellipse, although we know it really is
circular. If we look down at the jack from above, we obtain a view showing
the exact shape of a cylinder, and the outline of the other parts as seen from
above. This is called a top view or plan. This view does not tell us the height
of the jack, so it is necessary to take another view from a position directly in
front, or else from the left or right side.
____________________________________________________________
8.
- If she __________ (find) a taxi quickly, she __________ (arrive) to the
dinner on time, but she didn’t. (conditional)
- He is correcting the settings on my computer right now. (passive voice)

Radiation can also be a source of good. X-rays, for instance, are one of
medicine’s most valuable adjuncts when properly handles, and radiotherapy
has long been used to treat certain kinds of cancer and blindness. Certain
basically stable elements are atomically rearranged to make them artificially
radioactive. These mutations are called radioisotopes and they are being
used from pest control to curing heart disease.
____________________________________________________________

9.
- They hate physics because it is a difficult subject. (make wh-questions)
- The criteria of those exams are too high for their children. (singular)

Blaise Pascal is credited with inventing, in 1642, the first machine that could
perform the four fundamental operations of arithmetic – add, subtract,
multiply and divide. In 1671, Leibnitz improved on Pascal’s original design
by making a machine that multiplied and divided directly rather than doing
this by successive additions and subtractions as the earlier machine had. But
although astronomers, physicists and mathematicians needed to do a great
many calculations, the machines were too unreliable to come into
widespread use.
___________________________________________________________
10.
- I’m travelling to Australia in two weeks. (make wh-questions)
- I am maybe going to graduate towards the end of next year or the following
spring. (find the mistake)

We know that the parts of an object that cannot be seen are represented by
hidden lines composed of short dashes. This method is satisfactory where
the object is solid or the interior simple. There are many cases, especially
where there is considerably interior detail or where several pieces are shown
together, in which the hidden lines become confusing or hard to read. This
difficulty is avoided by using a sectional view. It is obtained by supposing
the piece to be cut apart by an imaginary cutting plane, and the front part
removed, thus exposing the interior.
11.
- I hope people are not going to buy that dictionary I saw in the bookshop.
(passive voice)
- I can’t decide if that lecture was _________________ (long) or also
_________________ (bad) lecture I have ever heard.

Magnets are made up of tiny ‘internal magnets’ therefore you can never cut
a magnet apart. There are many little magnets inside a piece of magnetized
material. These tiny internal magnets are made up of molecules and each
molecule has an N-pole and an S-pole. The millions of molecules inside a
magnetized steel bar are all lined up with all the N-poles facing the same
direction. There is a whole group of N-poles at one end of a bar magnet and
there is a group of S-poles at the other end. Scientists call this theory of
magnetism the molecular theory and this theory suggests that magnetism is
caused by molecules, or, to be exact, that the arrangement of molecules
causes a material to become magnetic.
____________________________________________________________
12.
- We ___________ (finish) this project before the financial support
_______________ (be) cancelled. (tenses)
- Ovo je najkomplikovaniji zadatak koji sam ikad dobio. / Ez a legnehezebb
feladat, amelyet valaha is kaptam. (translate into English)

Libraries, as we know them - homes for printed books – will retain their
importance. We shall always need quiet places for reflection. Librarians will
have to expand their kit of tools. The word ‘librarian’ will come to include
the new designer of indexes. Different indexes will reveal different cross
sections of the huge multidimensional ocean of knowledge. ‘Librarian’ will
include the 24-hour-a-day sources that we call up on a computer screen.
With only a PC and a phone line, we will be able to engage the knowledge
of our field wherever we are. We cannot predict the long-term results of
these changes. Only by participating in the process can we shape the future
to meet our needs.
____________________________________________________________
13.
- Počeo sam učiti za ovaj ispit pre nedelju dana. / Egy héttel ezelőtt kezdtem
tanulni erre a vizsgára. (translate into English)
- The students saved all information about this project on the hard drive,
_______________ ? (add a question tag)

Scientists have not always agreed on an explanation of the earth’s

magnetism. When William Gilbert studied the earth’s magnetism in 1600, he
said that the earth contained a great mass of magnetic material which he
believed gave the earth its magnetic field. The core of the earth probably
consists of iron and nickel and one might conclude that Gilbert was right
because iron and nickel are magnetic and it seems logical that they would set
up a magnetic field within the core of the earth. However, iron loses all its
magnetism at a temperature of 1.500 degrees Fahrenheit. The core of the
earth has a temperature of at least 10.000 degrees Fahrenheit, and at such
temperature the iron-nickel core could hardly be magnetic.
____________________________________________________________
14.
- ‘Finish your project this week, because I will not accept it later!’ the
teacher told his students. (indirect speech)
- This woman knows how to calculate the radius of a circle. (plural)

Sound waves do not travel far or fast. An electrical message, on the other
hand, can travel through miles of wire at close to the speed of light. The
whole purpose of a telephone, therefore, is to translate the sound waves of a
voice into electric impulses and convert the electricity back into sound. This
is accomplished by ingenious devices – transducers, one each in the
mouthpiece and earpiece. In the mouthpiece the transducer changes sound
waves of the voice to electrical patterns. The transducer in the earpiece
converts those back into sound. The sound that comes out of the receiver is
so much like the voice of a caller that we seldom think of it as what it really
is – merely an excellent mechanical imitation.
15.
- We _____________ (attend) a business dinner in the Hilton Hotel tonight.
(tenses)
- _______ Browns are on ______ holiday on the coast in _____ south of
_______ France. (add an article)

It now takes less than forty years for the human race to double, and there are
few consequences of the population explosion more striking than the
obliteration of the world’s rainforests. The American Museum of Natural
History has opened an exhibition to the natural treasure that we are rapidly
losing. Most Americans are at least vaguely aware that the global appetite
for beef, lumber and land is cutting into rainforests at an almost unbelievable
rate. According to United Nations statistics, an area of rainforests five times
the size of Manhattan is felled every day – a rate that would eliminate all
rainforests by the year 2081.
___________________________________________________________
16.
- While I __________ (play) computer games, Peter __________ (wash) the
car in the garden. (tenses)
- ________ iron is less durable than _________ steel. (add an article)

Three thousand years later the Romans still made strokes for one to four, but
they used new signs in the forms of letters for tens, fifties, and so on. About
the same time the Chinese used a different sign for every number up to ten,
but still used strokes for the first three numbers. The Mayas in Central
America invented the most remarkable system. They used only three signs: a
dot, a stroke and an oval. With these they could write down any number,
however large. Counting has always been tiresome and from very early men
have invented ways to make it easier. The first form was a tray of sand in
which lines were drawn and pebbles were moved along the lines to represent
numbers.
17.
- Ice _________ (form) on the surface of the water if the temperature
____________ (drop) below 0 degrees Celsius. (conditional)
- ‘Don’t keep all your information on floppy disks, it is not very safe!’ Peter
said. (indirect speech)

Paper recycling is also a priority for McDonald’s Corporation. Napkins and

some other products used in their fast-food restaurants are made from
recycled paper. Last year, the company began an in-house recycling
program: Customers separate plastic containers from other trash and deposit
them in special bins. McDonald’s then transports the refuse to a recycling
center. And last month the company announced a plan to buy up to $100
million in recycled construction material for building its restaurants. This
move could provide a boost to the market for recycled construction material.
_____________________________________________________________
18.
- The manager is going to sign two important contracts next week. (passive
voice)
- They have visited London twice until now. (wh-questions)

Many companies are focusing on recycling. BP America, the US branch of

British Petroleum, has an innovative way to meet the new environmental
requirements to treat hazardous waste before it is sent to the landfill. By
using chemical solvents, the firm converts waste to a benign powder that can
be disposed of on-site. There is an added benefit for BP – the oil it extracts
from that waste can be reused in industrial processes.
____________________________________________________________
19.
- I knew that I (moram / muszáj) reserve my plane ticket to New York at
least one month in advance. (sequence of tenses)
- Your PC screen is of _________ (good) quality than mine, because it has a
_________ (large) diameter, and it is _________ (little) tiring for your eyes.
(comparison of adjectives)

It was not immediately realized that electricity produced by Volta’s battery

was identical in nature to that produced by friction. We had therefore three
phenomena at the end of the eighteenth century that were not known to be
related: current electricity, frictional electricity, and magnetism. Volta, by
showing that two kinds of electricity produced the same effects soon proved
them to be identical. The relation between electricity and magnetism was
first demonstrated by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, in 1820.
Oersted discovered that a magnetic needle, when placed beneath a wire
carrying current was acted on by forces which caused it to be oriented in the
direction perpendicular to the wire.
___________________________________________________________
20.
- Many student take exams these days. (find the mistake)
- Can I have _________ milk with my coffee, and __________ pieces of
cake? (add few/ a few/ little/a little)

Von Guerricke arranged to rotate a sphere of sulphur by using a machine,

and so produced charges much larger than had his predecessors. He also
found that after an attracted particle had touched the sphere, it was repelled.
Stephen Gray found that substances could be classifies as conductors or
nonconductors according to whether they would or would not permit the
escape of the charge from an electrified body. Du Fay discovered that bodies
that had been electrified by friction would, in some instances exert forces of
attraction upon one another, and in other instances forces of repulsion.
21.
- Da je znao za sastanak, došao bi. / Ha tudott volna a gyűlésről, eljött volna.
(translate into English with conditional clause)
- I didn’t know you __________ (stigao si/ megérkeztél) yesterday morning.
(translate with sequence of tenses)

The fluorocarbon moves up to a valve which restricts flow and thus

maintains the pressure behind it. As the fluorocarbon comes through the
valve, pressure drops; now, since it is well above its boiling point for the
new pressure, some of the fluorocarbon immediately vaporizes. Heat is
required to turn a liquid into a vapor, and the fluorocarbon uses its own heat
as it boils, reducing its temperature to below freezing. When warm air rises
to be absorbed – and make the rest of the fluorocarbon boil – while the cold
air moves down through the refrigerator. The refrigerator cycle operates only
when the rising inside temperature activates a thermostat, which closes a
switch to start the compressor motor.
_____________________________________________________________
22.
- You ______________ by airplane? /ever, travel/
- /car, check, yesterday/ (causative have)

Language is defined as the expression of thought. But if we attempt to

describe in words the appearance and details of a machine, or bridge, or
building, we find it not only difficult but in most cases impossible. A written
description of a new machine part would have to be very long to tell all
about it and even then might be misunderstood. A picture of it would serve
the purpose much better, but he picture would not show the exact method of
construction. It would give only the external appearance without telling what
was inside. It would be impossible to construct a locomotive or an airplane
from either a word description or a picture.
____________________________________________________________
23.
- Those programs have been designed by our IT specialist. (passive voice)
- They were late for the meeting. They didn’t leave from the hotel on time.
(make 1 sentence in conditional)

The deadly nature of X-rays and radioactivity was so little understood at first
that man paid a painful price to discover a force he had unleashed. Only in
the mid-1920s was there wide realization that X-rays and radioactivity’s
alpha, beta and gamma rays can destroy the tissues of flesh and bone and
cause genetic aberrations by ravaging the reproductive cells in later
generations. Damaged strands of DNA can cause chromosomes to break
apart, then recombine in an abnormal fashion.
____________________________________________________________
24.
- They were trying to find some information on the internet all afternoon
long. (wh-questions)
- I had ___________ time before my exam, I drank a cup of coffee, and ate
____________ croissants. (add few/a few/ little/ a little)

Charles Babbage, a British mathematician, had conceived the idea of a

machine that would carry out a sequence of operations and print the results
automatically. He was encouraged by to do this by the discovery that many
of the mathematical and scientific tables in use contained errors, often the
result of careless typesetting and proof-reading. So in 1812 he designed a
machine he called the Difference Engine that could compute and print
mathematical tables. Later, Babbage planned another machine – an
Analytical Engine – which would carry out operations in sequences
determined by patterns of holes punched into cards fed into the machine.
____________________________________________________________
25.
- I’ll graduate this in two weeks. (find the mistake)
- Some workmen are decorating my flat at the moment. (rewrite in causative
have)

The first workable refrigerating machine was built in 1834 by Jacob Perkins,
an American engineer. His clumsy device, used in such commercial
operations as ice plants, meat-packing houses and breweries, was a far cry
from today’s sleek machines; but the basic ingredient was the same: a
singular substance called a refrigerant which boils and condenses (changes
from liquid to vapor and vice versa) at freezing temperatures. Early
machines used sulphur dioxide as a refrigerant, but now most home
refrigerators use a fluorocarbon refrigerant designed especially for the job.
_____________________________________________________________

26.
- I wrote my article while Peter worked on the computer. (find the mistake)
- The scientists hoped that the experiment they (work) on during the past few
months (be – Future Simple) successful. (sequence of tenses)

Now, the transition from paper to electronic communication has begun and
most of us already use e-mail. Many of us use library catalogs and periodical
indexes on computers. Reference books, handbooks, journals, and
conference papers are appearing in electronic form. Soon, many mechanical
engineering journals will exist only in that form. The flexibility of computer
communications is creating new information sources. Researchers are
sharing their data in computer data banks. During our careers, the ways we
talk to one another will change beyond recognition.
_____________________________________________________________

27.
- The mailman always comes around nine. (make WH- questions)
- He told me that he (be) too busy at the moment. (sequence of tenses)

The limited larder of materials has produced the infinite variety of things by
which man lives in much the same way a 26-letter alphabet has provided the
enormous array of words by which he communicates. Elements fall into
three categories: metals, which predominate (comprising three fourths of the
total), nonmetals, and metalloids, which have some characteristics of both.
Under ordinary conditions some elements, such as chlorine and neon, are
gaseous; two, mercury and bromine, are liquid; most are solids, ranging
from relative newcomers like hafnium and lutetium to old-timers like tin and
iron.
_______________________________________________________

28.
- She knew she wasn’t going to arrive on time. (translate into Serbian or
Hungarian)
- ‘Shakespeare________________ (write) beautiful sonnets,
_____________ you ______________ (read) any of them?’ (tenses)

Gases are the most baffling of the forms of matter; they are the most
tenuous, and more often than not intangible. Gases are indeed an enigma,
even though they appear everywhere in life - as the air we breathe, the freon
gas of an air conditioner, the filling of toy balloons, the air which inflates
tires, the oxygen and acetylene of a welding torch, the anesthetic that brings
relief on the operating table. Gases are springy and the slightest impact in
the air sets unfettered molecules knocking against each other creating waves
of sound. This springiness drives the noisy pneumatic hammers that break
up our pavements.
_____________________________________________________

29.
- 'Don't be late for you job on the first day.' (indirect speech)
- I had_______ coffee and _________ sandwich for ________ breakfast.
Unfortunately, _________ coffee was cold. (articles)

The volume of a gas varies with its pressure and temperature: a balloon
expands as it soars into "thinner" air where pressure is lower. When they
expand, gases cool, and when compressed they heat up. This idiosyncrasy of
gas has made possible the refrigerator: an electric pump compresses the
refrigerant gas, which expands through a series of coils, cools the interior of
the refrigerator as it expands, then re-enters the compressor for a new cycle.
Like liquids, gases flow. This fluidity allows natural gas to pour through big
inch pipelines enabling to burn gas in stoves that a few days earlier was
buried deep in the crust of the earth.
___________________________________________________________
30.
- Ova webstranica je jedna od najboljih koju sam ikad našao na netu! / Ez a
weboldal az egyik legjobb, amelyet valaha is találtam a neten! (translate into
English)
- Someone must warm up my coffee. (passive)

Molecules in liquids, like those in gases, are in incessant motion, yet at the
same time almost always as closely packed as the molecules of a solid. The
mutual attraction of molecules, causing them to cluster together, is
responsible for other crucial characteristics of a liquid. One is that its volume
remains the same whether it is poured into a small glass or a big jug. The
liquid molecules strongly resist the attempt to reduce their volume even
under pressure. Rather than shrink, the liquid transmits pressure evenly to
every part of the vessel in which it is contained. The science of hydraulics is
based on this principle. Today in our everyday lives we see the application
of these principles of hydraulics each time a touch of the foot applies the
brakes in an automobile. With a suitable system of cylinders and pistons for
applying pressure, engineers can design lifts for raising heavy objects.
____________________________________________________________

31.
- How many times did you try to pass the English exam? (find the mistake)
- We can't make pizza for dinner, there is too ___________ cheese in the
fridge. (add few/a few; little/a little)

By the time zero is reached, water molecules have formed a crystalline

structure, but one that is relatively lighter than water itself and is able to float
on water in its liquid state. This phenomenon accounts for the fact that the
waters of the earth remain fluid throughout the winter, even though their
surface may be blanketed with ice. Accordingly, with the coming of spring
each year, it is relatively easy for the sun to warm the surface and melt ice
away. Without this unusual characteristic of water, the far northern and far
southern reaches of the globe would freeze up solid, forever blocking the
flow of ocean currents and leaving many parts of the earth with perhaps
intolerable extremes of heat and cold.
_____________________________________________________________
32.
- The new furniture has been ordered from Ikea by the assistants. (passive)
- The show___________ already______________ (begin),__________?
(add the correct tense and question tag)

An unstable nucleus can sometimes remain agitated, even after emitting

alpha or beta particles. Then it may rid itself of excess energy by emitting a
gamma ray - a short, intense burst of electromagnetic energy. With high
energy and no electrical charge, gamma rays have great penetrating power.
Not even a thick piece of lead or concrete will stop all of them and they pass
easily into the human body, damaging tissue in the process. X-rays are not
usually emitted by decaying nuclei but are a form of cosmic radiation. They
can also be produced by firing electrons at a heavy metal target. When the
electrons hit the metal, they release their energy as X-rays which are
somewhat less penetrating than gamma rays, though their effects are similar
because they too can ionize the atoms in living tissues.
___________________________________________________________

33.
- The students______________ (pass) their exams a week ago,__________?
(add the correct tense and question tag)
- He didn't do all that work ___________, his colleague helped him. I saw
that _____________. (find the wrong answer)
a. herself b. myself c. himself

Although scientists are still learning about this phenomenon, most believe
that radiation has always been present in the universe. The release of energy
from an atom is called radiation, and it takes two basic forms. Ionizing
radiation travels in waves (X-rays, gamma rays) or as particles (alpha, beta)
and carries energy levels so high that it can alter atoms, creating electrically
charged particles, or ions. Non-ionizing radiation (radio waves, heat, light)
carries enough energy to excite atoms but not enough to create ions. The
contribution of X-rays and radioactivity in founding the modern era of
science was enormous: their dangers, long unrealized, have proved to be
equally immense. Radithor - a liquid medicine containing radioactive salts -
was sold as a "harmless" cure for over 160 ailments. Thorium inhaling was
touted as a cure-all for everything from arthritis to nearsightedness.
_____________________________________________________________
34.
- My assistant is always spilling my coffee when he brings it to my desk.
(Correct or Incorrect?)
- People still enjoy the Beatles' songs, ______________ ? (add the question
tag)

For all its sinister aspects, radiation is not entirely the work of the devil. It
can also be a source for good. X-rays for instance, are one of medicine's
most valuable adjuncts when properly handled, and radiotherapy has long
been used to treat certain kinds of cancer and blindness. Certain basically
stable elements are atomically rearranged to make them artificially
radioactive. These mutations are called radioisotopes and they are being
used from pest control to curing heart disease. Radioisotopes are produced
by nuclear fission in an atomic pile, and the same energy-producing reaction
is used to light cities or drive ships' turbines. Radiation has already been
brought under enough control to make these operations comparatively safe,
and it will undoubtedly be tamed even more. But we will never again be
without it.
_____________________________________________________________

35.
- The assistant installed the new computer. (passive)
- We were too tired to cook dinner last night, so we/food/deliver. (causative
‘have’)

Trees and lakes all over Europe are dying. Already there are 18,000 Swedish
lakes where fish cannot live, and by the year 2000 West Germany's Black
Forests may be dead because of acid rain. Seven million hectares of
European forest are dead or dying because of acid rain. 80% of the lakes in
south Norway have acid pollution, and 50% of that pollution comes from
Britain. Sweden receives 6 times more sulphur dioxide from other countries
than it produces itself. 60% of Britain's sulphur dioxide comes from power
stations which use coal. Britain produces 3.6 million tonnes of sulphur
dioxide every year. 75% of it falls in other countries as acid rain. The soil in
parts of Scandinavia is now 10 times more acid than 50 years ago. In Britain
there are dangerously high levels of acid in 120 Welsh rivers and 57 Scottish
lakes. When scientists tried to put new fish into one lake, all the fish died in
less than two days.
_____________________________________________________________
36.
- He parked on the wrong spot. The police/his car/ tow away/now. (causative
‘have’)
- We / go / camping / if / you / get / a day off. (II type conditional)

Destruction of forests causes soil erosion and the silting of rivers and their
deltas, for instance, and the silt is carried offshore and kills coral reefs,
which are the habitats for many marine animals. Perhaps the most
devastating long-term effect of loss of rain forests will be climatic. Rain-
forest vegetation is a voracious consumer of atmospheric carbon dioxide,
which is increasing at a troubling rate. Many scientists say most of the
increase is a direct result of the population explosion and the increased
burning of organic fuels (oil, coal, gas and wood). Carbon dioxide is a
greenhouse gas because it traps the energy of sunlight and heats the
atmosphere. If, as many scientists believe, this warming is inevitable, global
agriculture could be radically affected, possibly precipitating mass famine.
___________________________________________________________

37.
- I / come / if / you / need / help. (III type conditional)
- She hasn’t worn earrings until now, but she/ears/pierce/tomorrow.
(causative ‘have’)

The most important greenhouse gas is CO2 . It causes half of the problem.
Nearly 6 billion tonnes of it enters the atmosphere every year from the
burning of fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil). An extra 1.5 billion tonnes every
year comes from the burning of rainforest trees. This makes the problem
worse in another way, too. Normally, trees absorb carbon dioxide, but today
there are fewer and fewer trees. That means more and more carbon dioxide.
In fact 50% of all carbon burned since 1850 is still in the atmosphere.
CFCs are gases in aerosols (Britain alone used 800 million aerosols in 1988),
refrigerators ( in the liquids which keep fridges cold), and plastic boxes.
CFC atoms are very dangerous. Each one can trap 10.000 times more heat
than an atom of carbon dioxide and they don't just stay in the air - they
destroy it. Because of CFCs the top level of the atmosphere, the ozone, is
now getting thinner.
_____________________________________________________________
38.
- The walls of their house are wet. They/must/them/insulated. (causative
‘have’)
- He knew that the secretary is having problems with her old car. (find the
mistake)

Many companies are focusing on recycling. BP America, the U.S. branch of

British Petroleum, has an innovative way to meet the new Environmental
requirements to treat hazardous waste before it is sent to the landfill. By
using chemical solvents, the firm converts waste to a benign powder that can
be disposed of on-site. There is an added benefit for BP - the oil it extracts
from that waste can be reused in industrial processes. A company in
Washington, which has manufactured pulp and paper products for 20 years,
collected and recycled 1.2 million tons of waste paper from businesses and
communities throughout the United States.
_____________________________________________________________

39.
- He told us he ______________________ (slobodan je/szabad) that day.
(complete according sequence of tenses)
- ________________________________________ ?
Yes! That's the right answer! Shakespeare wrote exactly 37 plays. (WH -
questions)

The Dutch chemical group DSM is also active in this area, planning to
double the amount of plastic it recycles. The company will grind the plastic
into starting material for film and bottles in the non-food sector.
The auto industry is also recycling plastic. During the manufacture of
dashboards, for example, as much as one-third of the plastic ends up as
waste. Volvo and General Motors are recycling this scrap into battery
casings, bumpers and fender linings.
Twenty companies, including Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Schweppes,
etc. have recently banded together to establish the European Recycling
Association. Coca-Cola, a member of the group, has an in-house recycling
program that has diverted 1.3 million pounds of waste from landfills near its
Atlanta headquarters since 1987.
_____________________________________________________________
40.
- Did Pablo Picasso ____________ 'Mona Lisa'
The answer is: __________. 'Mona Lisa' ________ painted by Leonardo
da Vinci. (WH – questions)
- What your mother_____________(do)? She’s an architect but she
______________ (not work) at the moment. (tenses)

Benjamin Franklin, besides being a statesman, was an electrical

experimenter of note. His experiment which proved that lightning was
identical with the electricity produced by friction is well known. Franklin
proposed a one-fluid theory of electricity, according to which a neutral body
always contained a certain normal amount of the fluid. An excess of the
fluid then corresponded to one kind of charge and a deficiency of the fluid,
to the other kind. The experiments of Gilbert and Guericke, Du Fay and
Franklin can be re-performed in our laboratory today, or even with whatever
materials are at hand in almost any place. They constitute the basis of
electrostatics, that phase of the subject which deals with electricity at rest.
_____________________________________________________________

41.
- (malo / kevés) students have laptops, but the majority have PCs at home.
(add few/ a few, little/ a little)
- You (arrive) at the conference on time, if you had taken the earlier bus.
(conditional)

The first electric battery was devised by Alessandro Volta, an Italian

physicist, who was led to his discovery through results obtained by his
friend, Luigi Galvani, in stimulating the muscles of a frog's leg by touching
the nerves with metal wires. Volta's further experiments convinced him that
the effect was due to electricity caused by the metals. In 1799, he invented
his battery, which consisted of alternate disks of copper and zinc arranged in
pairs, each pair being separated from the next by paper soaked in acid. This
discovery made it possible to send steady currents of electricity through
wires and to observe and study two phenomena that are tremendous practical
importance in present-day electrical engineering - namely, the heating of the
wires and forces that act between wires carrying currents.
_____________________________________________________________
42.
- She (stand) in front of the cinema for half an hour, but her boyfriend still
(not arrive). (tenses)
- The results of the experiments have been published by Prof. Smith.
(passive voice)

From Oersted's discovery, the advancement of electrical knowledge

proceeded with ever-increasing speed. A Frenchman by the name of André-
Marie Ampère repeated Oersted's experiments, and in an incredibly short
while had discovered the laws which are the basis of electrodynamics, which
deals with currents and the forces they produce. A few years later Michael
Faraday, an Englishman, showed that a current could be caused in a loop of
wire by passing a magnet through it. This discovery was also made by
Joseph Henry, an American, working independently. Thus by 1832 the
relationship between electricity and magnetism had been established, and by
1837 a number of workable motors and generators had been constructed.
____________________________________________________________

43.
- I / my computer / fix / yesterday. (causative ‘have’)
- This was not ______ (difficult) test during all your studies, I’m sure
Mathematics was ______ (hard) than English. (comparison of adjectives)

The first practical applications of electricity, however, were in the field of

communications. Samuel Morse's telegraph was put into commercial use in
1844, and for a long time was the most important electrical industry. Several
of our present-day electrical units were chosen to suit the convenience of the
telegraphers. The development of the electric-light and power industry can
be said to have begun about 1880, with the invention by Thomas Edison and
his associates of the incandescent lamp and practical means of supplying
energy to large numbers of lamps simultaneously.
The modern theory of electricity came as the result of new discoveries
about the nature of matter during the closing years of the last century.
_

44.
- A: How are you going to get to the airport? B: I’m going to take a taxi.
A: That’s not necessary. I (take) you to the airport. (tenses)
- ____ conferences are usually held at ____ cheap hotels, but _____
conference that we went to was held at ___ Hotel Intercontinental in ____
New York, in ____ USA. (articles)

Combustion occurs at the end of the blast tube, where fuel oil, under
pressure of about 100 pounds per square inch, is broken into a fine spray by
the nozzle. The spray, mixed with the air, is highly combustible; fired by the
spark, it bursts into the furnace firebox as a roaring flame. What little smoke
there is from this efficient combustion goes up a chimney flue. Through the
walls of the firebox the flame heats the air or water that will keep the house
warm.
_____________________________________________________________

45.
- The new owner drove his new car home. (passive voice)
- If you (miss) the new ‘Star Wars’ film in he cinema, you could watch it on
Dvix on your computer. (conditional)

The signal travels through a circuit on its way to the receiving set. The
transmitting circuit gets power from an electric generator. The current in this
circuit is much less powerful than that in a house circuit. It takes one
thousandth as much power to carry a telephone message as it does to heat a
toaster. The message usually is carried in wires on poles, or under ground or
under water in cables. On many long-distance calls, the signal is converted
into microwaves - extremely short radio waves that are beamed across
country - and then turned back into electric impulses. The signal then goes
by wire to the phone being called.
___________________________________________________________

50.
- The businessmen (negotiate) with the representatives with a Japanese firm
right now. (tenses)
- She don’t never drive to work by the car. (find the mistake)

The refrigerator's secret is to let the cold liquid fluorocarbon absorb heat
from the food inside. The heat boils the fluorocarbon and turns it into a
vapor - which gives up the heat while being re-liquified. As a liquid, the
fluorocarbon is sent back to the freezer, ready to pick up more heat. The
fluorocarbon vapor goes to the compressor, where, it is put under high
pressure and heated to above room temperature. In the condenser, which has
cooling fins as in a car's radiator, the vapor releases some of its heat to the
room. At about room temperature, the vapor condenses, becoming a liquid
again. This occurs, although the fluorocarbon is far above its normal
liquefying temperature, because it is under pressure.
__________________________________________________________

51.
- My car needs ____ fuel on 100 kms, only about 5 liters. (add few/ a few,
little/ a little)
- If water (reach) 100 degrees Centigrade, it (turn) into vapor. (conditional)

Counting has always been tiresome and from very early times men have
invented ways to make it easier. The first form of aid was the Semitic abacus
which was in use in the Tigris-Euphrates valley in 3000 BC. It consisted of a
tray of sand in which lines were drawn and pebbles were moved along the
lines to represent numbers. By the sixth century BC the Chinese had
developed another kind of abacus - a rectangular wooden frame fitted with
wires on which beads were threaded. Counting was done by moving the
beads along the wires. So efficient is this method that right up to 1946 it was
more used for calculation than any other device in the world - and was
faster, too. Strange it may seem, a rather similar principle is employed in
modern computers.
____________________________________________________________

52.
- On this test I got a _____ (good) result than on the last English test. But I
got _______ (good) mark this semester in the subject Telecommunication.
(comparison of adjectives)
- All night long I (download) some new software from the Internet. (tenses)

The speed of a mechanical device is limited by the fact that metal parts must
move. In electronic devices, though, there are no moving parts and an
electrical impulse can move at enormous speeds. Numbers can be
represented by passing a tiny electronic current through devices such as
thermionic valves, which can be switched on and off. If you have a row of
valves, all of which are switched either on or off, you can call the "on" state
l, the "off" state 0, and you may represent any number by a combination of
ones and zeros. This is similar in principle to Morse code in which numbers
are represented by dots and dashes. This method, in fact, is used in
computers today, though valves have been replaced by transistors and by
microelectronic integrated circuits in which thousands of components are
contained in a very small physical space. The microprocessor usually
comprises a single integrated circuit or "chip".
__________________________________________________________

53.
- John was twenty-five in December, __________________ ? (add question
tag)
- The boss is not going to support our new plans. (Transform into passive
voice)

In 1946, a device that used electronic principles for computation was

produced. This differed from computers in use today in various ways: for
example, control of the sequence of operations was effected through
switches set by hand. This meant, of course, that some of the benefits gained
by electronic speed were cancelled out. The next step, therefore, was to store
operating instructions within the calculator in the same way that numbers
were stored, an idea first proposed by an American, J.von Neumann, in
1946. The first stored program computer began operating at Manchester
University in June 1948. All today's computers operate on stored programs
of instructions and it is this characteristic that makes the electronic digital
computer different from all other calculating aids.
____________________________________________________________

54.
- I called the serviceman to fix my microwave oven. (make a causative
‘have’ sentence)
- Ron ___________ (not work) very hard this term. (tenses)

Fortunately, another form of description has been developed by which the

exact shape of every detail of any structure may be defined accurately and
quickly. This method consists of the making of a series of views arranged
according to a definite system, with figures added to tell the sizes. This is
known as mechanical drawing and it forms so important a part of all
industrial and mechanical work that it is called the "language of industry".
There are two things that a designer, inventor or builder must be able to do:
first, he must be able to visualize what an object looks like without actually
having the object; second, he must be able to describe it so that it could be
built. His problem then is how to represent solid objects on a sheet of paper
in such a manner as to tell the exact shape. This is done by drawing a system
of views of the object as seen from different positions.
____________________________________________________________

55.
- The scientists hoped that the experiment they (were) working on during the
past few months (will) be successful. (sequence of tenses)
- Tom earns 2400 Euros in a month.
How much _________________________ in a month?
How high __________ Tom's ______________ ? (complete the Wh-
questions)

Sometimes a left-side view describes the object or construction more clearly

than the right-side view and in such cases it should be used. It is sometimes
desirable or necessary to show the rear view or the bottom view of an object.
Views can then be projected to all six faces or planes of an object.
We know that the parts of an object that cannot be seen are represented by
hidden lines composed of short dashes. This method is satisfactory where
the object is solid or the interior simple. There are many cases, especially
where there is considerable interior detail or where several pieces are shown
together, in which the hidden lines become confusing or hard to read. This
difficulty is avoided by using a sectional view. It is obtained by supposing
the piece to be cut apart by an imaginary cutting plane, and the front part
removed, thus exposing the interior.
___________________________________________________________

56.
- We have left at about 7. (Wh – questions)
- Maria and Alison, you really should look after ________________ better.
(reflexive pronouns)

A written description of a new machine part would have to be very long to

tell all about it and even then might be misunderstood. A picture of it would
serve the purpose much better, but the picture would not show the exact
method of construction. It would give only the external appearance without
telling what was inside. It would be impossible to construct a locomotive or
an airplane from either a word description or a picture.
Fortunately, another form of description has been developed by which the
exact shape of every detail of any structure may be defined accurately and
quickly. This method consists of the making of a series of views arranged
according to a definite system, with figures added to tell the sizes. This is
known as mechanical drawing and it forms so important a part of all
industrial and mechanical work that it is called the "language of industry".
____________________________________________________________

57.
- Bob taught you to type last summer, ____________? (add question tag)
- In the _____________ (years between 1921 and 1929) a series of
economic ____________ (crisis) hit all ____________ (area) of the
American economy. (plural of nouns)

Around every magnet is an area of magnetic action which is known as a

magnetic field and consists of magnetic lines of force. Lines of force are said
to come out of the N-pole of a magnet and go into the S-pole. A line of force
follows a complete path from the N-pole to the S-pole then it goes through
the magnet back to the N-pole. Scientists measure the strength of the
magnetic force by the number of lines in a given area. The closer the lines,
the stronger is the force of the magnetic field. Certain materials seem to
gather in magnetic lines of force and these are said to be permeable.
Permeable materials can be used to protect scientific instruments and other
devices against magnetism. Watch cases, for example, are often made of
permeable materials which gather in the magnetic lines of force therefore
magnetism does not reach the moving parts of the watch.
____________________________________________________________

58.
- The radii of the circles are two feet long. (turn into singular)
- Tim phoned and told me he _____________ (zakasniće/késni fog) because
his car _______________ (pokvario se/elromlott). (sequence of tenses)

No one knows how magnetism was first discovered but the ancient Greeks
knew about it. They found a mysterious iron ore in a district called Magnesia
and they named the pieces of ore "Magnete stones". Magnets can be natural
and manufactured. A manufactured magnet is usually made of metal but
some are made of a ceramic material containing iron oxide. There are four
common properties of all magnets: 1) they attract and pick up small pieces
of iron and steel; 2) a bar magnet points roughly in a north-south direction
when suspended and balanced. Magnets of other shapes also come to rest in
a way that indicates north and south; 3) a suspended magnet turns and points
toward certain "poles" when approached by another magnet; 4) new magnets
can be made by rubbing rods of iron or steel with another magnet.
_____________________________________________________________

59.
- When she ____________ (arrive) to the party, John ___________ (go)
already home. (tenses)
- The people were listening to the president’s speech. (Wh- questions)

Scientists have theorized that the core of the earth is constantly turning
because the entire earth rotates on its axis. The core keeps turning within an
inner pocket surrounded by the "motionless" mantle and as it turns, it acts as
a "dynamo" generating electric currents that encircle the earth. These
currents set up an electromagnetic field, thus the earth becomes a huge
electromagnet. This explanation of the earth's magnetism is known as the
dynamo theory. The earth's center rotates at an unsteady speed. A speeding
up or a slowing down of rotation alters the electric currents deep within the
earth. Changes in the electric current bring about a constant shifting of the
magnetic field. A slowing down or speeding up of the core also causes
another phenomenon. Scientists believe the unsteady turning of the core
sometimes alters the rate at which the earth itself rotates. In 1897, the
rotation of the earth slowed slightly. Then, in 1914, the earth picked up the
lost rotational speed.
_____________________________________________________________

60.
- He could do anything if he only ___________________ (try). (conditional)
- Was he cleaning his garage when you arrived? No, he … (make a causative
‘have’ sentence)

The compass needle points in a northerly direction, but generally not true
north. The error from true north is called declination and the angle between
the direction of the needle and true north is the angle of magnetic
declination.
The magnetic poles shift regularly. In order to keep navigators informed, the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey publishes a series of maps giving
up-to-date figures for magnetic declination all over the earth. There is a solid
red line labeled "No Variation" which is also called the agonic line on such
maps. Agonic means "without angle", while the broken blue lines are the so
called isogonic (equal angle) lines. These lines are not straight but irregular
and their irregularity is caused by local geological conditions. The kind of
rock and the presence of iron ore in a local area can alter the direction in
which the compass points. The change is slight, but it is significant.
 Chapter 2
Read and translate the following
texts, and try to retell them in
your own words.
 AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING – FROM UNIVERSITY
STUDENT TO FORMULA 1 ENGINEER
Motor vehicles play a crucial role in the international economy through the
movement of people and goods. The automotive industry is one of the largest industrial
sectors in the modern economy and universities acknowledge the industry’s need for
well-trained personnel. The growing popularity of Formula 1 racing encourages many
facilities in higher education to offer degree programs in automotive and motor sport
engineering.
Let’s take a
specific example:
aerodynamics. Since
this is one the most
important parts of the
design of the modern
Formula 1 car, good
aerodynamicists are
always in demand. But
where can a F1 team,
like Renault for
example, find one?
Renault’s first
generation of Formula
1 aerodynamicists were
Teamwork: the Renault engineers
recruited mainly from industry. Two of the major names in the field of F1 aerodynamics,
Jean-Claude Migeot and Henri Durand, were aeronautical engineers in France's aerospace
program in Toulouse when they were hired by Renault in the early 1980s. Others were
mechanical engineers who taught themselves aerodynamics and joined the team. Like
drivers, talented aerodynamicists may switch from one team to another. Migeot is the
head of Fondmetal Technologies, a company that cooperates with the Minardi team,
while Durand is currently the technical director with the Jordan team. This also means
that there is a constant need for new aerodynamicists on the team. The latest generation
of engineers joining Renault, however, are young men recruited into Formula 1 straight
from university. The real questions is: Do fresh graduates have the necessary training and
experience to work on a F1 team? If so, where did they gain their experience?
City University of London is one of a series of universities that offer courses in
motor sport engineering with a ‘real-life’ touch: participation in the international Formula
Student competition. Formula Student is a project for engineering students to design and
build a small single seater racing car. The project usually forms part of their academic
studies, and culminates in a competition where student teams from all over the world
come together to race and compete against each other. There are restrictions on the car
frame and engine, but the main goal to test the students’ knowledge, creativity, and
imagination.

28
 Formula Student Car of the year 2003

To take an exam or to build an engine? That is the question…

The students have to
imagine the following situation:
their team got a commission
from a manufacturing firm to
produce a prototype car for
evaluation. This firm is planning
to produce 1000 cars per year at
a cost below $25,000 (c.
€21,000). The car must show
very high performance in the
areas of acceleration, braking,
and handling. Another
requirement is that the car is low
in cost, easy to maintain, and
reliable. In addition, factors such
as aesthetics and comfort should also be taken into consideration, because they affect the
marketing of the car. The challenge to the team is to design and fabricate a prototype car
that best meets these objectives. Each design is compared and judged with other
competing designs to determine the best overall car. The vehicles are judged in three
different categories: static inspection and engineering design, solo performance trials, and
high-performance track endurance.
But taking part in Formula Student means much more than just building a race
car. Young engineering students and graduates are exposed to marketing, time
management, project management, team building, budgeting, presentation skills, and
other management issues. Through Formula Student, they develop experience, skills and
professionalism as “hands on” engineers, and get a taste of the pressure of performing

29
well, not exceeding the budget and yet ensuring safety and reliability. The benefit to
students is great and this is a good experience for newly graduated engineers who are
considering a career in motor sport or the automotive industry.

How to get from working on this car …

It is not only students who find this competition very useful. Companies who are
sponsors of the Formula Student competition can see these highly skilled young
engineers in action, and it is a potential recruiting opportunity. The Annual Formula
Student Event is held in the UK at the end of each academic year (early July) over three
days. Here the teams can demonstrate their work and industry specialists come to judge
the cars’ design and performance.

… to working on these cars…

30
 SOME TECHNICAL DETAILS OF FORMULA ONE

By means of this text we can get a view into the life of a Formula 1 team and
specifically in the life of the BMW – William team. We can comprehend the importance
of the tyres and we can see what impact the race technology has on streetcars.
People who are not interested in motor sports usually think that a team only
consists of a driver and mechanics that change the tyres. The reality is far from this
opinion. Hundreds of people work in the flying circus from race to race and also between
them. They travel thousands of kilometres from one locale to another. But not the whole
team. A bigger group is always at the headquarters of the team. They have constant
contact with the others anywhere they are on the earth.
The headquarters is the birthplace of a Formula 1 car. Engineers there design a
high – tech machine with high – tech instruments, computer programs, simulators, wind
canals and others. In this building there are about 15 kilometres of computer wires. The
manufacturing also occurs there with high subtlety. The factory is as clean as pharmacy.
Every finished component is tested in special machines. Before the races, the team loads
the accessories on trucks and travels to the track. The cleanness of these trucks is very
important to keep team’s own prestige. If it is necessary, they wash the all trucks five
times per day. One of these vehicles is the motor home, a mobile luxury restaurant for
serving the members and the guests of the team. Within a team also there are public
relation persons, chefs, and nice girls for photographs employed.
We can see that Formula 1 is a typical example of team sports.
At every race the mechanics must build a mini headquarters. When the pilots
arrive they can prepare for the competition. Usually each driver has ten immediate
mechanics. They set up the pressure in tyres, angles of wings and numerous other things
in order for the car to become the fastest possible. When the car stops in the box,
engineers of Michelin or Bridgestone immediately take the tyre's temperature on the two
edges and in the centre. It follows from this whether the angle of the wheels is suitable or
not. When the car stands in the garage, they place electric heating duvets on tyres to
approximate its working temperature.
Maybe the most interesting event in a race is the pit stop. It requires co-ordinated
work of minimum 19 mechanics. Two to lift up the car, one that directs the pilot and pays
attention to the work and to the traffic in the box. Beside every tyre there are three men
for changing it. One who wipes the visor. Moreover two for refuelling and the controller
of the filling system. This is the secret of the six-second-pit stop. In every lap the car’s
computer sends 40 megabytes of data about itself. According to these information
engineers can tell to driver what he must set up to be faster.

The BMW – Williams team is one of the most determinant teams in Formula 1.
Frank Williams and Patrick Head founded it in 1977.
They ran their first Grand Prix in Argentina in 1978. Since then the team has won
the constructor’s championship nine times and the driver’s championship seven times.

31
They obtained 119 pole positions and 108 race wins. 670 engineers, mechanics and
others work in the BMW – Williams F1 project. 450 members of Williams work in Grove
in England and 220 employees of BMW in Munich.
The team’s number on every race weekend is about 100: 70 from Williams, 20
from BMW and 10 staff for catering. On tests there are two cars and 70 employees. For
every race they carry about 25 tons of accessories: spare parts, tools, 170 wheels and the
box accessories. Besides these there are at least three bodies of cars. To European places
they arrive with two trucks and with a motor home. BMW delivers about 6 tons of
accessories. It contains 10 engines, parts and tools. The team use 16 Hewlett Packard PCs
and 26 HP notebooks beside the track, moreover 100 receiver – transmitter units with
head – set. Computers require 500 meters wire for data processing and 300 meters for
power supply.
The Williams team make the whole car it themselves except the engine and the
tyres. For the year 2004 they built a new construction. Engineers changed the driving
chain and altered the aero dynamics, therefore the front part of the car became more
unusual then other cars in the field. In the course of developing the new FW25 car the
Williams team collaborated with BMW, because they have modern equipment for testing
the parts of every new car. In Munich BMW makes one of the most powerful engines in
Formula 1.
Until now rules have allowed teams to use more engines on a weekend, but from
this season they must use only one. It increases the lifetime of the engine to 800
kilometres instead of 400. It is a big task for engineers. Mario Theissen, the motor sport
director of BMW explains the situation: if an engine has to have longer lifetime, then
their parts must be stronger. Therefore the device becomes bigger and heavier, which
reduces the achievement and the maximum revolutions per minute. They started the
development of the new P84 engine in November in 2002, a year and a half before its
first use. There were many prototypes before the final version and the first tests were
performed in September in 2003. The maximum revolution per minute of the previous
engine reached 19200, and with 900 horse powers it was reliable. Theissen thinks that it
will decrease less than 10%.
Formula 1 is a good technological laboratory for BMW. The engine factory is
built in the neighbourhood of the developing centre of BMW. The quality of the engine
block, the cylinder head and the gearbox is considerably depending on the quality of the
casting. With high-tech technology engineers can manufacture light but very stiff parts.
The electronics have important role in the engine. They control processes within it.

The car and the engine can be the best, but if the tyres are unsuitable, the work of
the team is useless. The tyres in Formula 1 have a more important role than a great many
people think.
This season will undoubtedly be about the tyres. Maybe we do not think that these
parts of a race car can decide the result of the championship. They are more combined
than in the streetcars. Two factories deliver for Formula 1 teams: Michelin and
Bridgestone. They have great technical background for designing and manufacturing
tyres. A tyre’s outer diameter must be 660 mm, it cannot be wider than 350 mm. On them
there are four longitudinal channels, which must only have 2.5 mm depth. These grooves
are symmetrically placed on the tyre’s running surface. There are 50 mm between them.

32
Several years ago FIA suppressed the slick tyres to reduce the speed of cars in the curves.
This speed decreases present because these channels reduce the running surface of the
tyre. It was inevitable to prevent accidents, like Senna’s was in Imola in 1994.
Four things define the achievement of the tyre: the dimensions, the compound, the
structure and the car. For every race there are a few combinations of these parameters.
Teams must select one of them before the qualifying session. With the chosen tyre they
must compete in the course of the racing weekend. Altering the speed of car alters the
width of the tyre. At 300 km/h great grip is not the primary aim, because it causes loss of
time. In corners the situation is opposite. These are small differences but in Formula 1
every thousandth second is important.
The three main components of its material are carbon, oil, and sulphur.
Combining these constituents’ engineers can make soft, hard and medium hard mixtures.
The structure of the tyre is made by nylon and polyester with difficult processes. It is
very important how the tyre can endure the load. At high speeds the aerodynamical forces
can be greater than one tone. At the same time 4G longitudinal, 5G side forces and
vibrations appear. These cause attrition.
Another important factor is the suitable working temperature. It is about 100 ºC.
For the best sticking this temperature must evenly disperse on the running surface of the
tyre and also between the four wheels. If the rear wheel tyres are hotter, then the car can
be oversteered.
Moreover the pressure in the tyre is important. For this reason, in the Formula 1
they do not use air, but a special mixture of different gases. When the pressure is smaller
the car lies on to the road better, but it is often not a very pleasant feeling. Beside the dry
tyre there are also rain tyres and intermediate tyres. On the rain tyre there are special
channels, which “suck out” the water from under the car. The pattern of these channels is
formed with the help of computer simulators. They have a bigger diameter to lift the car
to prevent aquaplaning. The working temperature for these tyres is about 30 – 50 ºC.
Teams can use these tyres only when the director of the race permits it. The intermediates
are in use when the grip is not so good, but the use of rain tyres is not justified. They can
work between 30 and 100 ºC.

Car factories have realized that solutions, which are in use in motor sports, could
increase the quality of streetcars. In that way their products will be more marketable than
before.
The demand for diesel engines spread extraordinarily in the last few years in
Europe.
For petrol engines to become marketable again, manufacturers have to use
innovations to decrease the consumption and environmental pollution. Therefore they
started to use solutions, which have already been in use in motor sports. Most of these
technical tricks came from the Touring car championship and from Rally, because these
cars are the most similar to streetcars.
The first step was four valves for each cylinder. One of the most important
tendencies is changing the manner of the injection. If we can improve the mixture
forming then we can decrease the consumption. In earlier engines there was injection but
these systems injected the fuel to the suction pipe. Nowadays it is arranged so that the

33
petrol is directly injected to the working space. In that way the machine needs 10% less
fuel and it can spectacularly reduce the quantity of harmful gases after burning the fuel.
The system consists of a command unit, injection nozzles and a pressure storing tube.
The nozzles were constructed based on the experiences, which were obtained in the
course of developing diesel engines. The latest injectors are made using piezo-crystal
technology. It makes the timing of injection possible. This system works at the pressure
of 50 – 120 bars instead of 2 – 5 bars like traditional engines.
Another important tendency is the use of alternate valve control. More and more
factories produce such engines in which a computer controls the degree of acceleration,
the revolution per minute. With these data it can determine the time of opening and
closing valves. It is usually applied at the inhaling valve but we have the possibility to
control the exhaust valve. By altering the placement of the inhale side camshaft we can
influence the opening time. Certain systems can modify the lifting out of the valve. These
result in the fact that the consumption decreases by 7 – 8%.

There are many more solutions that increase the engine’s degree of efficiency.
One of this is the high quality fuel. We can cover the engine thus we can decrease the
consumption because of the convection losses. Engines, which have eight or more
cylinders, can switch off the unnecessary cylinders. Why does the engine have to work
when the car stops? When we are in a traffic jam the motor stops as long as we do not
push the clutch. These systems are not very wide-spread, because the electrical networks
in the cars are insufficiently advanced. It maybe solved by 2006.
The alternating compression-scale is yet another interesting innovation. The
fundamental principle is that we can change the path of the piston. One of the possible
solutions is that a device tilts the engine block not around the central shaft, but around an
outer point.
The latest development is the electric impulse-filler (EIF). In every suction pipe
there is one device. When the piston reaches the bottom death point, it opens the valves
of the impulse-filler. It creates a high-speed gas shove (faster than the speed of sound),
which pushes down the piston. Therefore the torque becomes 50% larger and the
consumption decreases with 15 – 20%. Siemens has not yet announced when this system
can be built into engines.
Car racing not just a sport, it is also one huge testing laboratory for mechanics.

Here are some interesting facts and figures about the BMW – Williams car:

Building a car from the first steps requires 250000 hours. The designers of BMW
– Williams F1 team make about 600-700 drawings before the beginning of manufacture.
This number can rise to over 1200 by the end of a season. The Williams F1 factory
produces more than 200.000 parts every year. They take the car entirely apart after every
race and service it. The engine consists of 5000 parts. 1000 of these parts are different.
BMW needs about 80 hours for manufacturing a Formula 1 engine. This device weighs
less than 100 kg. In the motor the following events take place when the speed of car is
360 km/h: 300 revolutions per second, 1500 ignitions, 9000 speed measurings, the
measuring and processing of 150.000 data. On a 300 kilometres long race the engine
performs about 8 million ignitions, 800.000 per cylinder. On a race weekend the team

34
uses 1200 litres of petrol, 70 litres of motor oil and 30 litres of gearbox-oil. The inner
temperature of the cockpit can be as high as 50 ºC. The driver loses 1.5 litres of water,
and burns about 600 calories. The pulse of the pilot can tower over 190. A Formula 1 car
can accelerate to 200 km/h and stop within 7 seconds. The car accelerates to 100 km/h
within 2.5 seconds. It can stop from 200 km/h within 55 meters and 1.9 seconds. Then the
temperature of the brake disks rises to 600 ºC. During the braking, a pilot weighing 75
kilograms presses the safety belt with 375 kg. The temperature of the exhaust gases is
800 ºC.

35
 GEARS AND ENGINES IN MOTORSPORTS
Victory is the most important thing in motor sports, therefore the designers want
to make the very best equipment for the cars. Here are a few examples for these attempts.
The pit stop is one of the most important parts of a race, because drivers can win
or lose time with it, if there is some trouble. Changing the four wheels and filling up the
car with enough fuel within 7-12 seconds requires fantastic speed and co-ordinated work
from the team. They practice these routine movements more than several thousand times
in the course of one season. For this they inevitably make use of special tools.
When a driver arrives in the box, it is important to stop in the suitable space. It is
marked with adhesive tape. The tape is very resistant against the loads, because it must
endure the force effects, which appear because of the rotation of tyres, when the driver
leaves the box. On the centre of this place there are two metallic wires, which have the
task to take off the static electricity from the car. The man with the “lollipop” navigates
the driver who drives out from the pit. The rod of the lollipop is made of carbon material
to be as light as possible.
The car in the box stops in front of the frontal lever. This is a mechanical device,
but there are also hydraulic jacks in the Williams team. The frontal lever must connect
completely with the front wing of the car. They must lift the car 5 centimetres off the
ground to be able to change the wheels. When the new wheels are on the car, it is not
necessary to keep the car high, what’s more, they have to lower the car back on the
ground, because only in that way can the screws be secured perfectly. The back lever
must be light and easy to move. The man holding is the only mechanic who must move
because his position is in the path of the car. If the engine stops, they can restart it with a
self-starter. This equipment is the same as in the garage, which is in use on free sessions,
but it is a longer version.
The change of wheels is the fastest part of this procedure. Every team uses
different nuts, therefore the heads of the pistols are also different. The screws are made of
metal, so the teams use magnetic heads on pneumatic pistols. If the mechanic pulls the
pistol too quickly, the nut will fall on the ground, but that rarely happens.
In Formula 1 weight is a very important thing, but for these tools that does not
apply. They must endure 678 Nm torque. The pistols work with compressed air on 20-
bar pressure. To prevent the losing of screws they use a right-handed thread on the right
side and a left-handed thread on the left side. The pistols for the different sides have
different colours. On the pistol there is a switch with two positions, which can change the
direction of the pistol’s rotation. Beside each wheel there are three people: one for
handling the pistols, one to take off the wheel, and one to put on the wheel. The pistol-
driver signals the end of the wheel change by raising his hand.
The lid of the tank opens automatically when the driver arrives to the pit lane and
pushes the speed limiter button. Behind the filling gap a man positions a shield of
plexiglass to prevent the fuel catching fire because of the hot exhauster. The plexiglas is
transparent so that the lollipop man can see when the mechanic has finished his work.
Two men place the filling tube to the car. Each team use the same filling system. The one
possible difference is the form of marking how the fuel flows into the tank. The
possibilities are: a led within the tank or on the filling head. If the led is light, the fuel

36
flows evenly. Two beams are on the filling head: one to connect and the other to release.
The quantity of the fuel, which is necessary for the filling up is programmed. The tube is
coated with heat reflexible material to keep the fuel cool. It must be 10C less than the
temperature of the environment. One man is stocked with the revive apparatus. Each
mechanic has a fire extinguisher. One mechanic waits with a fire extinguisher with 60
litres capacity in the background. There are two filling tubes at every team. If something
happens with one of them, the other is immediately brought out.

23 mechanics take part in this procedure:

wheel changing – 4x3
front lever – 1
back lever – 1
lollipop man – 1
self-starter – 1
security – 1
filler – 2
reserve filler – 1
air stream cleaner – 2x1
visor wiper – 1

Besides the speed and the victory, the safety of the human body is also of primary
importance. In the history of Formula 1 so far 26 drivers, 30 onlookers one race judge
and two race stewards have died. These figures indicate that this is a very dangerous
sport. To solve this problem the headquarters must bring new rules. Bernard Ecclestone
has been the head of the Formula 1 for the last two decades. He introduced new rules and
there have been no more deadly accidents on the auditorium. There is an association,
called Advisory Expert Group, which deals with creating new rules on scientific basis.
Nowadays cars must have a black box, which gives important data from the car to the
engineers.
The strongest part of the car is the so-called “coffin”. This is the part where the
driver is placed. It is made of carbon-enhanced composite. This gives the stiffness to the
car. On the front of the coffin there is the “bumper disc”. This is made of a special
material, which is very light and stiff. This takes the forces of the frontal collisions. This
disc is 20 centimetres thick and has a similar effect as the 1.5 meter-long bumper zone in
ordinary streetcars. For testing the quality of the coffin there are rigorous requirements.
Engineers make this test with several tons loading. These tests are based on the force
effect, which appears when the car slows down with 25 G. The petrol tank is placed
behind the coffin and the wall of the tank is doubled and between them there is
compressed air. The material for the coffin and the tank was taken from rocket science.
Other changes were made to the circuits. They reduced the 2.5 G curves on the
tracks. For reducing the speed of the car before the crash, there are pebble field and tyre
walls around the track. However, despite all these safety measures unfortunately disasters
still happen.

37
 And now a few word about the technical features: What is the gearbox, what is its
role, why it is build in every car?
Each internal-combustion engine has its own RPM (revolutions per minute) limit
and in this RPM domain the engine can give only a certain performance and torque. This
feature makes possible the use of the gearbox. Cogwheels modify the torque and RPM of
motor in the gearbox. We can change the direction of the driven wheel. These gearboxes
are almost perfect devices, they work without problem almost with 100% degree of
efficiency, and they do not need service. There are people who do not know or do not like
to push the clutch pedal at every shifting of the gear. For them there are the automatic
gears. The disadvantages of this system are that the degree of efficiency is worse than in
the manual gearbox, the car is slower, the consumption is bigger and the price is higher.
The need arose for a new design including the all the advantages of a traditional
gearbox. This is the sequential gearbox. The gears are in a row, there is no clutch pedal,
and so we only need to move the switch lever a little for the shifting of gears.
There are very fine devices in BMW SMG and in Ferrari F1, which can work in
several modes. The driver can shift gears ‘without noticing it’, or he can use double
clutching when shifting back, just like professional drivers do. The shifting from one gear
to another takes 0.08 seconds, almost as in the Ferrari F1 race car. This time is such a
short time that the drivers can hardly feel that the car has changed gears. It is no wonder
that more than 70 percent of the buyers of the Ferrari 360 Modena model order their cars
with a Formula 1 gearbox, although this device is not cheap, it costs around 8000 euros.
Audi approached this problem from a different perspective. They use a double
clutch system. It is not an entirely new construction, because in 1985 Walter Röhr’s Audi
Sport Quattro had a similar system installed. The fundamental principle is a simple one.
The first disc switches the even degrees, the other disc the odd degrees. For example: the
car is in the second degree. The first clutch is in closed position. Approaching to the next
gear the opened part of the clutch switches it. Now two degrees are switched on. It would
be unthinkable in traditional gearboxes. The programming of the command electronics is
very refined. It can change several degrees back. For one switch this gearbox requires
only eight thousandth seconds! Shifting from the sixth to the second degree is the most
difficult operation. First the gearbox must change back to the fifth and than to the second.
For this action it requires a total of one second. These toil gearboxes have great
prospects. They are not as cheap as an ordinary manual gearbox, but after a certain time
they will be attainable also in small cars.

ENGINES
The market participation of diesel engines was 15 percent in the beginning of the
1990’s in Western Europe, nowadays it has increased to over 40 percent. In Austria, in
Belgium and in France around two-thirds of the new cars refuel in diesel filling station. It
is because the consumption of modern diesel engines is less than with petrol engines, yet
their achievement is nearly as good as those. Nowadays the normal torque is 170 Nm and
accomplishment is 60 KW from one litre piston displacement. At the same time, diesel
engines satisfy environmental requirements: the emission of harmless exhaust gases has
decreased by 80-90 percent during 10 years. The most important reason for drivers is that
these engines pull very powerfully on the most frequently used gear. For the most part it

38
is the merit of Bosch, which is one of the most important partners for European car
industries.

Powder ignition
In internal combustion engines the sole energy source is the combustion of the fuel,
therefore it is crucial how this is solved. The critical factor for diesel engines is how the
device can pulverize fuel in the course of the injection. The smaller the drops of fuel are,
the better the atoms of oxygen can surround them. The secret of the best pulverizing is
that the fuel is injected through very small holes. The diameter of these holes is smaller
than the diameter of a hair. In order to perform this, the system needs high pressure,
about 1500 bars. The time of injection is also crucial. The earliest engines injected the
necessary amount of fuel in one dose. It caused a huge mechanical burden and made the
engine noisy. In the latest common-rail systems the pump just creates and retains the
pressure. The injection occurs when an electromagnetic operated needle lifts up. Thus
advanced ignition is introduced before the main dose. The speed of the magnetic valve
represents the limit for further developments.

Speedy crystal
In the common-rail systems instead of magnetic coils there are piezo crystals. Some
crystals alter their dimensions by the effect of electric voltage. They cut small layers from
it and put them into a rod. With electric impulses they can alter the length of rod, so the
pulverizer can be opened or closed. This takes only ten thousandth of a second. Within
one working beat there can be several injections. Therefore the engine works with less
noise, increases the torque and the achievement. The amount of the flowing back fuel is
lesser, so a smaller pump can be used. With very exactly regulated injection we can
eliminate the blue smoke after cold starting and the emitting of soot.

39
 MR. RESPECTABLE'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET:
EVALUATING THE SUZUKI SV-650 MOTORBIKE
Suzuki has long had a reputation for
building cutting-edge sport bikes.
Ever since the debut of the Suzuki
GSXR in the 1980s, each year they
have come out with something faster,
lighter, and better. The competition
between the Japanese "Big Four"
(Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki)
is so intense, that in order to keep up,
they must do a complete redesign of
their flagship models every other
year. But for 1999, Suzuki Motors
have really outdone themselves. They have probably decided to beat the competition by
introducing their special millennium models one year early. Just look at the Suzuki
Hayabusa, the fuel-injected Suzuki Gixxers, and now the Suzuki SV-650! Each of these
bikes are a major leap forward, in style, performance, and technology.

Motorcycles have become more specified. Cruisers become even bigger and heavier,
while sport bikes reach levels of performance that are too high for the streets, sacrificing
rider comfort for always-increasing speed. The side effect of this, however, is that we get
bikes that are good only for Saturday night or Sunday morning, but don’t have real-world
usefulness when we are faced with Monday morning traffic jams. As a result of this, the
Standard motorcycle is beginning to make a comeback. The Suzuki SV-650 fits nicely
into the middleweight class of this genre of fun, yet practical motorbikes.

About the competition of the Suzuki SV-650 ... well, there is no competition, really. You
could mention Ducati's 750 Monster, but its styling and price put the this Ducati in
another market class. Besides, maybe the 750 Monster would not perform too well in a
head-to-head duel with this Suzuki. The 2-valve, air-cooled motor cannot compete with
the SV's modern liquid-cooled 4-valve design.

Let’s evaluate the SV-650, we’ll start from the motor. This V-Twin produces torque from
around 2000 rpm to a maximum of 10,500 rpm. The vibration of the engine is minimal.
The aluminium big-tube frame is extremely light and rigid, it forms the basis for the
chassis. The only weakness of this model’s frame are the soft front fork springs.

40
The seating position on this model is very much in the sporting-standard tradition. Wide,
flat handle bars make the rider lean slightly forward. The foot pegs are placed just far
enough back to allow a balanced, athletic position
that will not tire the rider. The seat itself is very
comfortable, wide and supportive. Brakes are
sport bike quality, stopping quickly and safely.
The clutch engagement is a little abrupt when
changing the gears.

This bike is light and agile, it is perfect for the

urban commuter who has to deal with the
increasing volume of city traffic. You can cruise,
tour, commute, and even road race on this bike. It seems that Suzuki made all the right
compromises to build a bike that would suit so many missions so perfectly. If I had room
in my garage, and if I could still find one in a showroom, I would buy one in a second.
They are selling very fast, and I don't think the price is going to remain around the
introductory $5,699 for very long. There is a sport version of this motorbike available
overseas and in Canada.

41
 HISTORY OF MICROSOFT
It is hard to deal with the birth of Microsoft without mentioning the name of Bill Gates,
the founder and leader of Microsoft Corporation.

Early in his elementary school days, Bill Gates consistently scored higher than his peers
in most subjects, but especially math and science. In the spring of 1968, that he was first
introduced to computers. At that time, computers were still too large and expensive for a
school to buy its own computer, but various corporations allowed the students to use
theirs. Bill Gates, his buddy Paul Allen and a few others quickly took to computing. In
fact, they began to skip classes, instead they stayed in the computer room and wrote
programs, read computer books and found out exactly how these machines worked. They
soon learned to hack the system, and altered and crashed valuable files until they were
banned from the computer. Soon, however, Bill and his friends were actually hired by the
computer company to find bugs and explore weaknesses in the system. Instead of paying
the boys for their time, they were given something even better - unlimited computer time.

They studied manuals, explored the system, and bothered the employees with questions
until they had formed a base of knowledge that would one day lead to the formation of
Microsoft.

This computer company went out of business in 1970, and the boys had to find different
sources for computer time. They were soon hired by Information Sciences Inc. to write a
program for payroll. This time they earned money as well as enjoying the unlimited
computer time. The group became notorious for their skill in computer programming.
They were hired by various organizations to find bugs and fix them. Each job helped
Gates and his friends learn their skill and go ever deeper into the world of programming.

In the fall of 1973, Gates left for Harvard University. He enrolled as a law student, but
spent most of his time in the campus computer centre, programming. He stayed in touch
with Paul Allen and they talked about future projects and maybe one day having their
own business. Allen even moved to Boston to be closer to Gates, so they could continue
working on projects. Allen urged Gates to quit school and work with him full-time.

One year later, Paul Allen saw the first microcomputer on the cover of a magazine. He
bought the magazine and went immediately to show it to Gates. They realized the time
was right. The home PC business was about to explode and someone would need to
provide software for the machines. By stretching the truth a little, Gates arranged a
meeting with the Altair manufacturers. He had called them to tell them that he had a
program written for them. After the appointment was made, Gates and Allen stayed up
for nights, writing the program they had promised. It worked perfectly at the meeting,
and everyone was impressed. They sold the program, and realized that they could do this
as their job. Within a year, Gates had left Harvard and Microsoft was formed.

42
The company had some difficult first years, but eventually licensed MS-DOS to IBM.
The IBM PC was a great success with the public, and this signalled the success of
Microsoft. Microsoft continued writing software, for businesses as well as the consumer
market. In 1986 Bill Gates became a 31-year old billionaire. The next year, the first
version of Windows was introduced, and by 1993 a million copies per month were being
sold.

In 1995, Gates knew that the Internet was the next area of focus, and the course of
Microsoft shifted dramatically. The popular Internet Explorer browser soon became a
bestseller. Today, Microsoft software is everywhere, and indeed, is almost synonymous
with the terms "computer" and "Internet."

43
HACKERS - AND WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO
KNOW ABOUT THEM
Imagine this scene: It is night, you are alone in the room and it is dark, except the
flickering light of your computer screen. You are searching the underground, sharing,
trading information. In this cyber world you are only known by your handle (nickname),
and judged by the amount of information you have obtained. Who are you? You are a
hacker…

But let’s go back to basics.

Who is a hacker? What does a hacker do?

Count Zero, who is a hacker himself, gives the following definition: ‘ I think the best
definition of a hacker is someone who, if they see something (a program) closed and this
program is doing something, they just want to open it to see how it is working, and then
maybe play with it a little bit, and to make it work a little better.’ Hacking means you
penetrate (‘break into’) a closed computer system for the knowledge and information that
this system contains.

What is hacking?

Being a hacker implies curiosity, and looking at how you can use tools in different ways.
Hackers are the pioneers in this electronic frontier. They see the dangers, the weak spots,
the unethical, inappropriate business behaviour of computing companies.
Hacking is about exploring. It is about finding new corners in cyberspace. A good hacker
will attemp to do something better than it has ever been done before.
Robert Steele is the founder and president of the computer company Open Source
Solutions, Inc. He says: ‘One of the reasons why I support hackers is that they have been
telling us for over 10 years "Hey, look! We have found a mistake!" Hackers have been
identifying major vulnerabilities in Microsoft products and all kinds of computer and
communications products. And nobody has wanted to listen.’

The hackers’ motto is: "They make it, we break it".

Well, no.
The stereotype is that the hacker subculture is made up of bright, but antisocial teenage
boys who will obtain information illegally, damage computer systems or want to bring
down governments. Most people will say that those who destroy data, hack for money or
with illegal intent should be called crackers, not hackers. Part of the stereotype is true:
hackers are usually very intelligent people, who are/were very good students at school,

44
and attended top universities. However, not all are teenage boys, there are many hackers
with wives and regular jobs, and yes, there are female hackers, as well.

Is hacking and virus writing the same?

No, it is not.
Hacking requires a totally different set of skills from virus writing. In general, hackers
don’t like virus writers. After all, hacking involves a good knowledge of computer
systems and skill (and in today's counterculture it is considered "sexy"). Hackers look
down upon virus writers because when they create their viruses, their only goal is to
damage systems and they don’t need much skill for that.

What is the Underground?

The underground is a non-physical arena where hackers, perhaps, (phone-freaking) and

similar people interact and trade information. It should be labelled ‘the computer
underground’, but as in general, the underground is the `arena' where illegal activities
take place. The underground is a place for the freedom of speech and the freedom of
information.

Does a kind of "hacker ethic" exist?

To some extent, yes, there is a sort of ‘honour among thieves’ that includes respect for
very good technical solutions, and not participating in destructive activities.
The "take only memories" ethic has certainly existed among many hackers for years. This
means hackers enter certain systems only to surf through the them, to admire the designs,
but not take any data with you, ‘only the memories’.
If you want to read more about this subject, try some of these websites:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/whoare/psycho.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/whoare/outlaws.html
www.hackers.com
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hackers/interviews/reiadcount.html

45
 HOW JOYSTICKS WORK
Joysticks are used in all kinds of machines, including F-15 fighter jets, simulators and
computer games. In this article, we'll focus on computer joysticks, but the same
principles apply to other sorts of joysticks.

The basic idea of a joystick is to translate the movement

of a plastic stick into electronic information that a
computer can process.
The various joystick technologies differ mainly in how
much information they pass on. The simplest joystick
design, used in many early game consoles, is just a
specialized electrical switch.
This basic design consists of a stick that is attached to a
plastic base with a flexible rubber sheath. The base
houses a circuit board that sits directly underneath the
stick. The circuit board is made up of several "printed
wires," which connect to several contact terminals.
Ordinary wires extend from these contact points to the
computer.

The printed wires form a simple electrical circuit made up of several smaller circuits. The
circuits just carry electricity from one contact point to another. When the joystick is in the
neutral position -- when you're not pushing one way or another -- all individual circuits
are broken, except one. The conductive material in each wire doesn't connect, so the
circuit can't conduct electricity.
Each broken section is covered with a simple plastic button containing a tiny metal disc.
When you move the stick in any direction, it pushes down on one of these buttons,
pressing the conductive metal disc against the circuit board. This closes the circuit -- it
completes the connection between the two wire sections. When the circuit is closed,
electricity can flow down a wire from the computer (or game console), through the
printed wire, and to another wire leading back to the computer.

46
When the computer picks up a charge on a particular wire, it knows that the joystick is in
the right position to complete that particular circuit. If you push the stick forward, it will
close the "forward switch," if you push it left, it will close the "left switch," and so on.
The firing buttons work exactly the same way: when you press down, it completes a
circuit and the computer recognizes the command ‘Fire!’.

Joysticks pull off a really neat trick. They take something entirely physical (the
movement of your hand) and translate it into something entirely mathematical: a string
of ones and zeros which is the language of computers. When you're really engaged in a
game, you feel like you're interacting with the virtual world directly.

If you are interested in further information about joysticks, or want to find out how other
electronic devices work, check out the following website:
www.howstuffworks.com

47
 HOW DIGITAL CAMERAS WORK
In the past twenty years, most of the major technological breakthroughs in consumer
electronics have really been part of one larger breakthrough. When you get down to it,
CDs, DVDs, and MP3s are all built around the same basic process: converting
conventional analogue information (represented by a gradually fluctuating wave) into
digital information (represented by 1s and 0s, or bits). This fundamental shift in
technology totally changed how we handle visual and audio information -- it completely
redefined what is possible.

The digital camera is one of the most remarkable instances of this shift because it is so
truly different from its predecessor. Conventional cameras depend entirely on chemical
and mechanical processes -- you don't even need electricity to operate one. All digital
cameras have a built-in computer, and all of them record images in an entirely electronic
form.

The new approach has proved monstrously successful. It may be decades before digital
cameras completely replace film cameras, if they ever do, but they will probably account
for around half of the U.S. market within the next few years.

Understanding the Basics

Let's say you want to take a picture and e-mail it to a friend. To do this, you need the
image to be represented in the language that computers recognize -- bits and bytes.
Essentially, a digital image is just a long string of 1s and 0s that represent all the tiny
colored dots -- or pixels -- that collectively make up the image.

If you want to get a picture into this form, you have two options:

• You can take a photograph using a conventional film camera, process the film
chemically, print it onto photographic paper and then use a digital scanner to
sample the print (record the pattern of light as a series of pixel values).
• You can directly sample the original light that bounces off your subject,
immediately breaking that light pattern down into a series of pixel values -- in
other words, you can use a digital camera.

At its most basic level, this is all there is to a digital camera. Just like a conventional
camera, it has a series of lenses that focus light to create an image of a scene. But instead
of focusing this light onto a piece of film, it focuses it onto a semiconductor device that
records light electronically. A computer then breaks this electronic information down into
digital data.

The key difference between a digital camera and a film-based camera is that the digital
camera has no film. Instead, it has a sensor that converts light into electrical charges.

48
 HOW SATELLITE TELEVISION WORKS

When satellite television first hit the market, home dishes were expensive metal units that
took up a huge chunk of yard space. In these early years, only the most die-hard TV fans
would go through all the hassle and expense of putting in their own dish. Satellite TV
was a lot more difficult than broadcast and cable TV.

Today, you see compact satellite dishes perched on rooftops all over the United States.
Drive through rural areas beyond the reach of the cable companies and you'll find dishes
on just about every house. The major satellite television companies are bringing in more
customers every day with the lure of movies, sporting events and news from around the
world.

Conceptually, satellite television is a lot like broadcast

television. It's a wireless system for delivering television
programming directly to a viewer's house. Both
broadcast television and satellite stations transmit
programming via a radio signal.

Broadcast stations use a powerful antenna to transmit

radio waves to the surrounding area. Viewers can pick up
the signal with a much smaller antenna. The main
limitation of broadcast television is range. The radio
signals used to broadcast television shoot out from the
broadcast antenna in a straight line. In order to receive
these signals, you have to be in the direct "line of sight"
of the antenna. Small obstacles like trees or small
buildings aren't a problem; but a big obstacle, such as the Photo courtesy DirecTV
Earth, will reflect these radio waves.

If the Earth were perfectly flat, you could pick up broadcast television thousands of miles
from the source. But because the planet is curved, it eventually breaks the signal's line of
site. The other problem with broadcast television is that the signal is often distorted even
in the viewing area. To get a perfectly clear signal like you find on cable, you have to be
pretty close to the broadcast antenna without too many obstacles in the way.

Satellite television solves the problems of range and distortion by transmitting broadcast
signals from satellites orbiting the Earth. Since satellites are high in the sky, there are a
lot more customers in the line of site. Satellite television systems transmit and receive
radio signals using specialized antennas called satellite dishes.

49
 Satellites are higher in the sky than TV antennas, so they
have a much larger "line of sight" range.

The television satellites are all in geosynchronous orbit, meaning that they stay in one
place in the sky relative to the Earth. Each satellite is launched into space at about 7,000
mph (11,000 kph), reaching approximately 22,200 miles (35,700 km) above the Earth. At
this speed and altitude, the satellite will revolve around the planet once every 24 hours --
the same period of time it takes the Earth to make one full rotation. In other words, the
satellite keeps pace with our moving planet exactly. This way, you only have to direct the
dish at the satellite once, and from then on it picks up the signal without adjustment, at
least when everything works right.

Early satellite TV viewers used their expensive dishes to discover unique programming
that wasn't necessarily intended for mass audiences. The dish and receiving equipment
gave viewers the tools to pick up foreign stations, live feeds between different broadcast
stations, NASA activities and a lot of other stuff transmitted using satellites.

Some satellite owners still seek out this sort of programming on their own, but today,
most satellite TV customers get their programming through a direct broadcast satellite
(DBS) provider, such as DirecTV or the Dish Network. The provider selects programs
and broadcasts them to subscribers as a set package. Basically, the provider's goal is to
bring dozens or even hundreds of channels to your television in a form that approximates
the competition, cable TV. Unlike earlier programming, the provider's broadcast is
completely digital, which means it has much better picture and sound quality Early
satellite television was broadcast in C-band radio -- radio in the 3.4-gigahertz (GHz) to
7-GHz frequency range. Digital broadcast satellite transmits programming in the Ku
frequency range (12 GHz to 14 GHz ).

50
There are five major components involved in a direct to home (DTH) satellite system:
the programming source, the broadcast centre, the satellite, the satellite dish and the
receiver.

The Components

• Programming sources are simply the channels that provide programming for
broadcast. The provider doesn't create original programming itself; it pays other
companies (HBO, for example, or ESPN) for the right to broadcast their content
via satellite. In this way, the provider is kind of like a broker between you and the
actual programming sources. (Cable television companies work on the same
principle.)
• The broadcast centre is the central hub of the system. At the broadcast centre,
the television provider receives signals from various programming sources and
beams a broadcast signal to satellites in geostationary orbit.
• The satellites receive the signals from the broadcast station and rebroadcast them
to the ground.
• The viewer's dish picks up the signal from the satellite (or multiple satellites in
the same part of the sky) and passes it on to the receiver in the viewer's house.
• The receiver processes the signal and passes it on to a standard television.

Satellite TV providers get programming from two major sources: national turnaround
channels (such as HBO, ESPN and CNN) and various local channels (the NBC, CBS,
ABC, PBS and Fox affiliates in a particular area). Most of the turnaround channels also
provide programming for cable television, and the local channels typically broadcast their
programming over the airwaves.

51
Turnaround channels usually have a distribution centre that beams their programming to
a geostationary satellite. The broadcast centre uses large satellite dishes to pick up these
analogue and digital signals from several sources.

Most local stations don't transmit their programming to satellites, so the provider has to
get it another way. If the provider includes local programming in a particular area, it will
have a small local facility consisting of a few racks of communications equipment. The
equipment receives local signals directly from the broadcaster through fibre-optic cable
or an antenna and then transmits them to the central broadcast centre.

The broadcast centre converts all of this programming into a high-quality, uncompressed
digital stream. At this point, the stream contains a vast quantity of data -- about 270
megabits per second (Mbps) for each channel. In order to transmit the signal from there,
the broadcast centre has to compress it. Otherwise, it would be too big for the satellite to
handle. In the next section, we'll find out how the signal is compressed.

52
 HOW GPS WORKS
Our ancestors had to go to pretty extreme measures to keep from getting lost. They
erected monumental landmarks, laboriously drafted detailed maps and learned to read the
stars in the night sky.

Things are much, much easier today. For less than $100, you can get a pocket-sized
gadget that will tell you exactly where you are on Earth at any moment. As long as you
have a GPS receiver and a clear view of the sky, you'll never be lost again.

The Global Positioning System is vast, expensive and involves a lot of technical
ingenuity, but the fundamental concepts at work are quite simple and intuitive.

Photo courtesy Garmin

Garmin GPS 72 handheld

When people talk about "a GPS," they usually mean a GPS receiver. The Global
Positioning System (GPS) is actually a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting satellites (24
in operation and three extras in case one fails). The U.S. military developed and
implemented this satellite network as a military navigation system, but soon opened it up
to everybody else.

53
 Photo courtesy NASA
NAVSTAR GPS satellite

Each of these 3,000- to 4,000-pound solar-powered satellites circles the globe at about
12,000 miles (19,300 km), making two complete rotations every day. The orbits are
arranged so that at any time, anywhere on Earth, there are at least four satellites "visible"
in the sky.

Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defence

Artist's concept of the GPS satellite constellation

A GPS receiver's job is to locate four or more of these satellites, figure out the distance to
each, and use this information to deduce its own location. This operation is based on a
simple mathematical principle called trilateration.

54
A GPS receiver calculates the distance to GPS satellites by timing a signal's journey from
satellite to receiver. As it turns out, this is a fairly elaborate process.

At a particular time (let's say midnight), the satellite begins transmitting a long, digital
pattern called a pseudo-random code. The receiver begins running the same digital
pattern also exactly at midnight. When the satellite's signal reaches the receiver, its
transmission of the pattern will lag a bit behind the receiver's pattern.

Photo courtesy U.S. Army

A GPS satellite

The length of the delay is equal to the signal's travel time. The receiver multiplies this
time by the speed of light to determine how far the signal travelled. Assuming the signal
travelled in a straight line, this is the distance from receiver to satellite.

In order to make this measurement, the receiver and satellite both need clocks that can be
synchronized down to the nanosecond. To make a satellite positioning system using only
synchronized clocks, you would need to have atomic clocks not only on all the satellites,
but also in the receiver itself. But atomic clocks cost somewhere between $50,000 and
$100,000, which makes them a just a bit too expensive for everyday consumer use.

The Global Positioning System has a clever, effective solution to this problem. Every
satellite contains an expensive atomic clock, but the receiver itself uses an ordinary
quartz clock, which it constantly resets. In a nutshell, the receiver looks at incoming
signals from four or more satellites and gauges its own inaccuracy.

The most essential function of a GPS receiver is to pick up the transmissions of at least
four satellites and combine the information in those transmissions with information in an
electronic almanac, all in order to figure out the receiver's position on Earth.

55
Once the receiver makes this calculation, it can tell you the latitude, longitude and
altitude (or some similar measurement) of its current position. To make the navigation
more user-friendly, most receivers plug this raw data into map files stored in memory.

Photo courtesy Garmin

The StreetPilot II, a GPS receiver with built-in maps for
drivers

You can use maps stored in the receiver's memory, connect the receiver to a computer
that can hold more detailed maps in its memory, or simply buy a detailed map of your
area and find your way using the receiver's latitude and longitude readouts. Some
receivers let you download detailed maps into memory or supply detailed maps with
plug-in map cartridges.

A standard GPS receiver will not only place you on a map at any particular location, but
will also trace your path across a map as you move. If you leave your receiver on, it can
stay in constant communication with GPS satellites to see how your location is changing.
With this information and its built-in clock, the receiver can give you several pieces of
valuable information:

• How far you've travelled (odometer)

• How long you've been travelling
• Your current speed (speedometer)
• Your average speed
• A "bread crumb" trail showing you exactly where you have travelled on the map
• The estimated time of arrival at your destination if you maintain your current
speed

To obtain this last piece of information, you would have to have given the receiver the
coordinates of your destination, which brings us to another GPS receiver capability:
inputting location data.

56
57
 TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION

Many aviation historians regard the Douglas DC-3 as the greatest airliner ever built. It
entered service in 1936. What made the DC-3 so great was its ability to earn a profit
carrying only passengers. All previous airliners were uneconomical to operate, and early
airlines depended on government subsidies to stay in business.

But despite its laudable economics and comfortable interior, the 21-seat DC-3 was no
match for the passenger trains and ocean liners of the 1930s and 1940s. Airsickness was
still a common affliction aboard unpressurized, propeller-driven airliners—forced to fly
at lower altitudes through the most turbulent air. Moreover, their piston engines were
costly to maintain and produced deafening noise and bone-rattling vibration.

In 1943, the British government formed a committee under the chairmanship of Lord
Brabazon to identify post-war civil aviation requirements. The Brabazon Committee
recommended several advanced concepts based upon the revolutionary new gas turbine
(or "turbojet") engine that Britain's Frank Whittle had pioneered.

One of the Brabazon Committee's recommendations called for a small, jet-powered,

transatlantic mail plane. The de Havilland Aircraft Co. accepted the challenge of
designing and building the proposed aircraft. Many different approaches were studied
under the leadership of the firm's chief designer, Ron Bishop—including several radical,
tailless concepts.

The first production Comet (foreground) flies in

formation with the two prototypes. This aircraft later
disintegrated over the Mediterranean, in 1954.
In the end, the D.H. 106 evolved from a jet mail plane into the world's first jet airliner.
The appropriately named Comet was a streamlined machine with a bullet-like nose and
four de Havilland jet engines buried in its wings. Built in secrecy to protect de

58
Havilland's commercial lead, the Comet was finally unveiled to the world on July 27,
1949.
The Comet was originally built for British Overseas Airways Corp., which had placed an
initial order for 14 airplanes in 1946. The initial Comet 1 model was designed to carry 36
passengers over 1,500 miles at 35,000 feet and 500 mph—twice as high and twice as fast
as most contemporary propliners.

BOAC inaugurated the world's first scheduled jet service, between London and
Johannesburg, on May 2, 1952. It was the dawn of the Jet Age, and passengers were
effusive in their praise of the Comet's quick, quiet, smooth, vibration-free flights.

Other airlines began operating the type, as well—including two French carriers,
Aeromaritime and Air France. Additional orders started coming in from Canada, Japan,
Venezuela, and Brazil. The slightly larger, longer-range, 44-seat Comet 2 made its first
flight in February 1952. And the 78-seat, transatlantic Comet 3 was also in the works.

The Avro Canada Jetliner, parked at Chicago's

Midway Airport in 1951. The largely forgotten C102
was the first jet transport to land at Midway.
The future looked bright for de Havilland, but triumph soon turned into tragedy.

Three accidents marred the first year's Comet operations. None of those accidents was
blamed on the airplane itself. But on Jan. 10, 1954, a BOAC Comet plunged into the
Mediterranean, in good weather, shortly after takeoff from Rome. An engine-induced fire
was thought to be the probable cause, and a number of preventive modifications were
made, grounding the Comet fleet for two months. Two weeks after resuming operations,
another Comet crashed near Sicily under nearly identical circumstances. The aircraft had
disintegrated in flight, and the Comet 1 was grounded once again—permanently.

The mysterious crashes led to a lengthy investigation. A Comet was immersed in a water
tank where loading tests simulated operational conditions and the effects of repeatedly
pressurizing the cabin for high-altitude flights. These tests revealed a new and deadly
phenomenon—metal fatigue. Tiny stress cracks formed around the Comet's square
window frames. The structure could fail catastrophically without warning, leading to an

59
explosive decompression of the cabin. That is what happened to the two Comets that fell
into the Mediterranean, claiming the lives of all on board. The painful lessons learned
from the Comet disasters were incorporated into every subsequent jet transport, and fail-
safe structures were designed to stop the propagation of cracks.

The single Comet 3 became the prototype for the improved Comet 4. BOAC ordered 19
Comet 4s in 1955. On Oct. 4, 1958, the airline inaugurated the first-ever transatlantic jet
service between London and New York. But de Havilland had lost the competitive edge.
Only 113 Comets were produced, the last one being retired from airline schedules in
1980.

Brave New Word

Few people remember the world's second jet airliner, even though its name became a
generic term. The Avro Canada C102 Jetliner prototype took off on its maiden flight
from Malton, near Toronto, on Aug. 10, 1949, just two weeks after the Comet. The
Jetliner is now a footnote in history. It could have been much more.

According to Jim Floyd, the Jetliner's chief designer, "The first impression expressed by
most people seeing it for the first time is that it looks like a modern passenger jet. In fact,
it was flying over 50 years ago—more than halfway back to the Wright Brothers. And it
was the first passenger jet to be built and flown in North America."

The Jetliner was designed for intercity routes, such as those carrying the bulk of air traffic
in North America. The C102's pressurized cabin could seat up to 52 passengers. Its four
Rolls-Royce engines were slung in pairs under each wing.

The Jet Age did away with the sight and sound (and
vibration) of piston-powered, propeller-driven
airliners. This is the American Airlines 707-120B.

60
During numerous demonstration tours, the Jetliner became the first jet transport to land in
cities such as Chicago, Washington, Tampa, Miami, Denver, and Los Angeles. On April
18, 1950, the C102 made history when it flew from Toronto to New York with the first
sack of airmail to be carried by a jet. The crew received an enthusiastic welcome to
Manhattan, complete with a motorcade and banquet. In 1951, the Jetliner broke all
records on a triangular trip from Toronto to Chicago to New York and back. It flew at
520 mph and 36,000 feet. Nearly a decade would pass before any other transport could
match its performance over similar routes.

National Airlines signed a letter of intent for four C102s, American and United each
expressed serious interest in it, and the U.S. Air Force wanted to acquire 20. Howard
Hughes, who owned TWA, was especially keen on the Jetliner. But just when Avro
seemed to be on top of the world, the bottom fell out. The Canadian government told the
firm to halt all work on the C102 in 1951. Avro was ordered to allocate all of its
resources to the production of military jets for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Tragically, for Canada (and commercial aviation), the Cold War killed the Jetliner. The
Jetliner prototype was scrapped in 1956, with only its nose being saved for eventual
display in Ottawa's National Aviation Museum.

While the spotlight was on the Comet and the Jetliner, the Seattle-based Boeing Aircraft
Co. was busy producing its long-range Stratocruiser and its new, record-breaking B-47
Stratojet bomber for the U.S. Air Force. The sleek-looking B-47 was powered by six jet
engines. To refuel the B-47 in flight during strategic bombing missions, Boeing produced
the KC-97 flying tanker—a variant of its Model 367 Stratofreighter (which was a military
version of the Stratocruiser).

Boeing engineers were convinced that the future of air travel was linked to the turbine
engine. They also foresaw the need for a jet successor to the KC-97. So they started
looking at turbine-powered derivatives of the Model 367 Stratofreighter.
In August 1952, three months after the Comet entered service, Boeing's president,
William Allen, announced that the company was proceeding with its own jet transport as
a private venture. The firm invested over $16 million in the construction of a single
prototype, betting its entire future on the project. The jetliner design was Boeing's Model
707, and it would be marketed as such. But the Dash 80 designation was retained for the
prototype, partly as a ruse to keep the real configuration hidden from competitors.

Powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3 engines, the 707 would be a large airplane—over
twice as heavy, and carrying four times as many passengers, as the Comet 1.

The Dash 80's first flight took place on July 15, 1954, with Boeing test pilot Tex
Johnston at the controls. But the grounding of the Comet that spring cast a shadow over
jetliners. Airlines were reluctant to buy the 707.

The first order came from the U.S. Air Force in September 1954, when it bought an

61
initial batch of what later totalled over 800 KC-135 Stratotankers and related military
versions of the plane.

The Boeing 367-80 is seen on a test flight over the

Seattle area circa 1954. Note the provision for a
refuelling boom on the belly, used in KC-135 trials.
Boeing proceeded to put the Dash 80 through gruelling tests to prove its structural
integrity and superior performance. Meanwhile, Douglas announced its own plans for a
jetliner. The DC-8 would be slightly bigger than the 707.
Pan Am inaugurated 707 service between New York and Paris on Oct. 28, 1958. The
carrier also introduced the larger, longer-range 707-320 Intercontinental version in 1959.
During the course of one year, a dozen Pan Am 707s could carry as many people across
the Atlantic as Cunard Line's giant steamships, the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
People could now fly overseas in less time than it took a passenger train to travel from
Chicago to Cleveland. Such statistics added up to overwhelming competition—and the
beginning of the end—for ocean liners and streamliners. They also generated a flood of
orders for Boeing.

American Airlines started flying 707s across the United States in January 1959.
Coinciding with the dawn of the Space Age, the 707 inspired nicknames such as
"Astrojet" and "Star Stream." One airline brochure declared, "Your plane is floating in a
clear, dimensionless world of its own. On a particularly clear day you can sometimes see
the very curve of the Earth's surface at the horizon."

Today we think nothing of boarding a jetliner in Chicago and flying halfway around the
world, enjoying a meal and a movie along the way. Hundreds of millions of passengers,
and countless tons of freight, are carried annually by air.

The 707 brought about this transportation revolution. It also changed the aircraft industry.
But the 707 gave birth to a family of transports—built around its basic design—that has
dominated the global airline market ever since.

"The 707 provided airlines with both expanded capacity and reduced costs at a time when
passenger traffic was poised for tremendous growth," said Jon Proctor, editor-in-chief of
Airliners magazine. "Reliable turbine engines and cheap kerosene fuel, combined with

62
increased passenger comfort, made Boeing's gamble an instant success."

More than 1,000 707s had been built when production ended in 1991. There are still a
few 707s in service, not to mention several hundred KC-135s. The Dash 80 served as a
company-owned research aircraft through 1970, being used to test all sorts of new
systems for Boeing jetliners. ASME named it an International Historic Mechanical
Engineering Landmark in 1994.

The venerable Dash 80 took to the air one last time in August, when it flew from Boeing
Field in Seattle to Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia. The
aircraft will be on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum's new
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre, whose opening marks the 100th anniversary of the Wright
brothers' first flight.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the Dash 80's first flight. One could argue that
no airplane in history— other than the Wright Flyer—has had such an enduring influence
on world culture.

63
 THE NEW WEBB TELESCOPE
NASA has made many successful attempts to expand the envelope of mankind's
knowledge of the universe and its origins. In doing so, it has also pushed the envelope of
manufacturing. The latest case in point: the James Webb Space Telescope that is to take
the place of the Hubble Space Telescope in 2011.

The Webb telescope is an orbiting infrared observatory, and the project is managed by
the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Md. It will study the previously
unobserved epoch of galaxy formation, peering through space dust to witness the birth of
stars and planets.

The Webb telescope may one day help us to understand how planetary systems form and
interact, and how the universe built up its present chemical/elemental composition.
Information from the telescope may also determine the shape of the universe.

A major manufacturing challenge, as with any telescope, lies in the light-gathering

mirrors. The larger the mirror, NASA points out, the fainter and more distant the objects
it can collect light from. But weight is a huge factor in the cost of launching satellites, so
the lighter the mirrors, the lower the launch costs.

The primary mirror will be made up of 18 hexagonal segments 1.3 meters wide
measuring a total of 6.5 meters in diameter, or more than 21 feet. That's 2.5 times larger
in diameter than Hubble's primary mirror and six times larger in area. Optical resolution
is to be about 0.1 arc-second in light wavelengths from 0.6 to 28 micrometers. It will be
the largest of eight mirrors that generate images for a near-infrared and visible spectrum
camera, a near-infrared multi-object spectrograph, and a mid-infrared instrument with
camera and spectrograph.

The Webb Space Telescope will use extremely large-aperture, low-mass mirrors. Made in
segments so they can be folded to fit into a rocket nose cone for flight, they will open and
array themselves when they reach their destination. These robust mirrors must be
fabricated rapidly and cost effectively. But the risks and costs of even the smallest error
are huge.

Unlike the Hubble, which is winding down its service 375 miles above Earth, the Webb
telescope will be almost a million miles away at one of the Lagrangian points in space,
where the gravitational pulls of Earth and the sun are about equal. That puts it far beyond
the reach of technicians should something go wrong.

The primary mirror will be made of beryllium. Beryllium's advantage over glass is a
near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion in the deep-space operating range of about -
375°F, or about 40 kelvin.

Brush Wellman Corp. in Cleveland supplies the beryllium blanks; Axsys Technologies in

64
Cullman, Ala.,
machines the mirror blanks, and SSG/Tinsley of Richmond, Calif., grinds and polishes
the blanks. Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo., is responsible for the overall telescope
design.

Getting it built is the job of a team of contractors led by Northrop Grumman Corp.
Manufacturing is being overseen by a NASA team, including the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory, which is part of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for
Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

The Smithsonian effort is being directed by Lester M.

Cohen, chief engineer for structural analysis and design. Trained as a civil engineer, he
began his professional career in 1973 at Stone & Webster Engineering, a Boston firm that
designs and builds power plants.

The structure of the primary mirror for the Webb

Telescope permits small adjustments.

Since this is an all-or-nothing gamble, Cohen and his team are modelling and simulating
every step in the primary mirror's manufacturing, assembly, and alignment processes.
They are using finite element analysis software from Ansys Inc. in Canonsburg, Pa., to
monitor technical developments in the mirrors and to help predict the performance of
each manufacturing and inspection process.

"At the observatory, we do a lot of work in measuring what happens in manufacturing

and predicting what happens in space," Cohen explained. "We monitor the processes for
all kinds of deformations, ranging from tiny increments due to gravity to about 40 times
gravity during the launch. Our work here has become more intense and exacting as
NASA demands that mirrors be larger, lighter, and more precise."

The Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory fulfils its commitments to NASA and the

65
contractors as a sort of backseat driver. Cohen and his team try to keep pace with the
designers and engineers at the contractor companies and, whenever possible, work ahead
of them. That way, they can anticipate problems and have solutions ready to offer when
problems do indeed crop up. While this might be interpreted as a duplication of effort, it
is essential in a program that's this visible, risky, and costly.

For example, the designers have to account for the huge difference between
manufacturing temperature, approximately 70°F or 290 K, and the operating temperature
in a space of 40 K. "The goal here is to make sure that what is beautiful on the ground is
beautiful in space," Cohen added.

To see how these differences would affect the mirror's precision, prototypes were taken
to the NASA Marshall Space Centre in Huntsville, Ala., for measurement at 40 K with a
laser interferometer. Then they were warmed up to 290 K for additional measurement. To
avoid creating any thermal strain gradients, cooling and warming cycles were done
slowly, a few days each. The mirror stayed within required specifications.

There are significant manufacturing challenges in the composite backplanes for the
primary mirror. These are to be made from boron composites for their stiffness. "No
composite structure has ever been modelled and tested to the degree of fidelity we need,"
Cohen said. "ATK in Magna, Utah, will design and fabricate subscale parts to show that
we understand the mechanics of what is going on, and that the overall thermal and
temporal stability requirements can be met."

The analysis and manufacturing challenges in the backplane are the adhesives used to
combine all of the composite parts and the uniformity to which the composites
themselves can be manufactured. "As glues dry, they shrink, and that introduces lots of
orthotropic properties into the material, lots of stresses and strains in a variety of
directions," Cohen said. "These can cause dimensional changes with temperature
gradients as small as a fraction of 1°F. Even without the pull of gravity, this is enough to
affect stability. The composites themselves can distort in an undesirable fashion as the
temperatures change in orbit."

The mirrors are attached to the backplane via hexapod actuators, which can adjust the tip,
tilt, and piston of each mirror segment. A radius of curvature actuator can also correct for
the large (20mm) shrinkage of the mirror radius between room temperature and 40 K.

Cohen estimated that the computer models of the mirror have up to 12 million degrees of
freedom. "We made these huge models," he pointed out, "because we wanted to have the
feeling that we really knew the model."

This meant approximations, simplifications, and extrapolations were to be strictly

avoided. Otherwise his solutions and predictions could be open to question, and
conflicting interpretations might be argued.

"For each million DOFs you need between one and two gigabytes of RAM to handle the

66
analyses," Cohen said. He and Smithsonian mechanical engineer Michael Eisenhower use
Hewlett-Packard Itanium workstations. The 64-bit Itanium processors handle up to 24
GB of RAM so they accommodate big FEA scratch files very well. Scratch files for
models this size need about 10 gigabytes of disk space, Eisenhower said.

Eisenhower and Cohen also rely heavily on Ansys

capabilities for substructuring. Essentially shorthand
for model builders, substructuring saves modelling and run time by reducing sets of
thousands of identical elements to an equivalent single element, often called a
superelement. "Without substructuring we may not be able to run these models in
anything like real time," Cohen said.

According to Cohen, "Because every optic is a completely unique project, you have to
always be looking at the learning curve, down which you will proceed only once for each
piece. You always have to have a crosscheck for the engineers and the analyses. That's
what we do at SAO."

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 PACKAGING SUNLIGHT
Methods under study aim to capture solar energy where it is abundant and deliver it
where it is needed.

There's hardly a place the sun doesn't shine. But most people typically don't think of solar
energy as the solution to a potential oil crisis. It's difficult to imagine driving into the
local gasoline station and filling the gas tank with sunlight.

Still, a number of scientists and engineers from around the world are intrigued by solar
energy's potential. With solar collectors that operate with a collection efficiency of
merely 20 percent, the sunlight falling on a mere one-tenth of a percent of the Earth's land
area could supply enough energy to meet the current needs of all the citizens of the
planet. Furthermore, the solar energy reserve is essentially unlimited and its use is
ecologically benign.

Good enough reasons to expect the vast utilization of solar energy—were it not for some
very serious drawbacks. The solar radiation reaching the Earth is very dilute, with a
maximum of only about one kilowatt per square meter. It's also intermittent (available
during daytime and under clear skies) and inconveniently distributed over the surface of
the Earth.

This solar reactor was used to recycle dust from

electric arc furnaces at temperatures above 1,500 K.

These issues have spurred the search for recipes to concentrate, store, and eventually
transport solar energy from the sunny and sparsely inhabited regions of the Earth's
sunbelt to where much of the energy is required, the world's industrialized population

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centres. These tasks can be accomplished by converting concentrated solar energy into
chemical energy carriers, in the form of solar fuels that can be stored for long periods of
time and transported over great distances to

meet customers' energy demands.

Producing fuel from sunlight may sound like some futuristic technology, but the means
can be found in the writings of two prominent scientists of the 19th century, Sadi Carnot
and Josiah W. Gibbs. They created the discipline of thermodynamics, which is the study
of how energy can be converted from one form to another—for example, from solar
energy to chemical energy. In very simple terms, thermodynamics tells us that the higher
the temperature at which we supply energy to a process, the more creative we can be with
what comes out as a final product.

When people use sunlight in a typical flat-plate solar collector, they can produce warm
water that could be used for taking baths or supplying space heat. This type of device can
make a great deal of sense for certain local conditions. If, however, the same solar energy
powers a chemical reactor at very high temperatures, near 2,300 K, then this opens up a
whole new possibility: Solar energy collected in the Australian Outback can heat homes,
supply electricity, propel cars, and more—in Tokyo.

Parabolic mirrors can concentrate the dilute energy of sunlight into a small area, and this
energy can be captured efficiently, with the help of suitable receivers, to produce heat at
high temperatures for driving an endothermic chemical transformation. Regardless of the
nature of the fuel, the theoretical maximum efficiency of such an energy conversion
process is limited by the Carnot efficiency of an equivalent heat engine. With the sun's
surface as a 5,800 K thermal reservoir and the Earth as the thermal sink, 95 percent of the
solar energy could, in principle, be converted into the chemical energy of fuels.
It is up to engineers to design and develop the technology that approaches this limit.

SOLAR HYDROGEN

Almost everyone has had firsthand experience with concentrating solar energy. Children
often play with magnifying glasses, focusing sunlight onto a point to ignite paper and
leaves. Increase the size of the concentrator, and you can perform even more impressive
stunts. Sunlight focused with a large parabolic mirror can drill a soccer ball-size hole
through a quarter-inch-thick piece of steel in less than 10seconds.

SUNLIGHT INTO FOSSIL FUELS

Metals are attractive candidates for storage and transport of solar energy. Furthermore,
the replacement of fossil fuels by solar fuels, such as solar hydrogen and solar metals
produced from sunlight alone, is a long-term goal. It requires the development of new

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technologies, and it will take time before these methods are technically and economically
ready for commercial applications. That makes it strategically desirable to consider mid-
term goals aiming at the development of hybrid solar/fossil-fuel endothermic processes in
which fossil fuels are used exclusively as chemical reactants and solar energy as the
source of process heat.

The solar parabolic dish at the Paul Scherrer

Institute tracks the sun. The dish concentrates the
rays of the sun into a small circle at its focus.

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 HOW HURRICANES WORK

Every year between June 1 and November 30 (commonly called hurricane season),
hurricanes threaten the eastern and gulf coasts of the United States, Mexico, Central
America and the Caribbean. In other parts of the world, the same types of storms are
called typhoons or cyclones. These huge storms wreak havoc when they make landfall.
They can kill thousands of people and cause billions of dollars of property damage when
they hit heavily populated areas.

The hurricane is a name for a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean.
"Tropical cyclone" is the generic term used for low-pressure systems that develop in the
tropics.
"Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 17 meters per
second (39 mph / 62.7 kph / 34 knots) are called tropical depressions. Once the tropical
cyclone reaches winds of at least 17 meters per second (m/s), it is typically called a
tropical storm and assigned a name. If winds reach 33 m/s (74 mph / 119 kph / 64 kt),
then it is called a "hurricane."

According to the National Hurricane Centre, the word "hurricane" comes from the name
"Hurican," the Caribbean god of evil.

Hurricanes are defined by the following characteristics:

• They are tropical, meaning that they are generated in tropical areas of the ocean
near the Equator.
• They are cyclonic, meaning that their winds swirl around a central eye. Wind
direction is counter clockwise (west to east) in the Northern Hemisphere and
clockwise (east to west) in the Southern Hemisphere.
• They are low-pressure systems. The eye of a hurricane is always a low-pressure
area. The lowest barometric pressures ever recorded have occurred inside
hurricanes.
• The winds swirling around the centre of the storm have a sustained speed of at
least 74 mph (119 kph / 64 kt).

Hurricanes form in tropical regions where there is warm water (at least 80 degrees
Fahrenheit / 27 degrees Celsius), moist air and converging equatorial winds. Most
Atlantic hurricanes begin off the west coast of Africa, starting as thunderstorms that
move out over the warm, tropical ocean waters. A thunderstorm reaches hurricane status
in three stages:

• Tropical depression - swirling clouds and rain with wind speeds of less than 38
mph (61.15 kph / 33 kt)
• Tropical storm - wind speeds of 39 to 73 mph (54.7 to 117.5 kph / 34 to 63 kt)
• Hurricane - wind speeds greater than 74 mph (119 kph / 64 kt)

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It can take anywhere from hours to several days for a thunderstorm to develop into a
hurricane. Although the whole process of hurricane formation is not entirely understood,
three events must happen for hurricanes to form:

• A continuing evaporation-condensation cycle of warm, humid ocean air

• Patterns of wind characterized by converging winds at the surface and strong,
uniform-speed winds at higher altitudes
• A difference in air pressure (pressure gradient) between the surface and high
altitude

Warm, moist air from the ocean surface begins to rise rapidly. As this warm air rises, its
water vapour condenses to form storm clouds and droplets of rain. The condensation
releases heat called latent heat of condensation. This latent heat warms the cool air
aloft, thereby causing it to rise. This rising air is replaced by more warm, humid air from
the ocean below. This cycle continues, drawing more warm, moist air into the developing
storm and continuously moving heat from the surface to the atmosphere. This exchange
of heat from the surface creates a pattern of wind that circulates around a centre. This
circulation is similar to that of water going down a drain.

Photo courtesy NASA

This photo is a composite of three days' views (August 23,
24 and 25, 1992) of Hurricane Andrew as it slowly moved
across south Florida from east to west.

Patterns of Wind
"Converging winds" are winds moving in different directions that run into each other.
Converging winds at the surface collide and push warm, moist air upward. This rising air
reinforces the air that is already rising from the surface, so the circulation and wind
speeds of the storm increase. In the meantime, strong winds blowing at uniform speeds at
higher altitudes (up to 30,000 ft / 9,000 m) help to remove the rising hot air from the
storm's centre, maintaining a continual movement of warm air from the surface and

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keeping the storm organized. If the high-altitude winds do not blow at the same speed at
all levels -- if wind shears are present -- the storm loses organization and weakens.

Parts of a Hurricane
Once a hurricane forms, it has three main parts:

• Eye - the low pressure, calm centre of circulation

• Eye wall - area around the eye with the fastest, most violent winds
• Rain bands - bands of thunderstorms circulating outward from the eye that are
part of the evaporation/condensation cycle that feeds the storm

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 Exercises for the written exam
I. Find the wrong answer, then translate the correct ones into Serbian
or Hungarian
1. ‘Science is becoming interdisciplinary’ means:
a) A scientist can no longer concentrate on his field only.
b) People working in any area of science have to be involved in other areas, too.
c) This requirement is going to transform all sciences.
d) An engineer can choose to cooperate with an engineer from another area of
engineering.
2. ‘Individuals and companies cannot buy, store or even find the articles they need.’
means:
a) There are too many articles.
b) Articles are too expensive.
c) Universities have all articles.
d) Companies have no storing space for journals.
3. ‘The features that make books easy to use – legible type, title pages, contents lists and
indexes- evolved over hundreds of years.’ means:
a) It took several hundred years to develop these characteristics.
b) Books without contents lists are more difficult to read.
c) Indexes, contents lists, title pages and legible type evolved a few hundred years ago.
d) All books today share these features
4. ‘The technology of the new composites will create a field requiring as much invention
as the manipulation of metals did in the 19th century. ‘ means:
a) The technology of new composites will involve the creativity and new ideas.
b) In the 19th century the manipulation of metals was a new field.
c) Inventiveness will be a requirement in the field of new composites.
d) With the technology of new composites the manipulation of metals was invented.

II. Fill the gaps with their synonyms

‘The limited _____________ (set) of _______________ (materials) has produced an
_____________ (endless) variety of things by which _____________ (human) lives, just
as a
26-letter _____________ (group of letters) has provided the enormous _____________
(series) of words by which he _____________ (talks). Elements fall into _____________
(2+1) __________
(groups): metals, which _____________ (are dominant) (comprising three fourth of the
___________ (whole)), nonmetals, and metalloids, which have some ______________
(features) of both. Under ______________ (ordinary) conditions some elements,
_____________ (like) chlorine and neon, are ____________ (gas-like); two, mercury and
bromine, are ____________ (flowing); most are _______________ (hard).

III. Find the wrong answer

1. ‘Molecules in liquids, like those in gases, are in incessant motion.’ means:
a) Molecules in both liquids and gases are in continuous motion.

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b) Molecules are always moving in two elements, liquids and gases.
c) Molecules in liquids, unlike those in gases, are in constant movement.
d) In gases, as well as in liquids, molecules move all the time.
2. ‘This phenomenon accounts for the fact that the waters of the earth remain fluid
throughout the winter, even though they are covered with ice.’ means:
a) This happening explains why there’s water under the ice even in winter.
b) No matter how cold it is, because of this phenomenon, water will remain liquid below
an ice blanket.
c) This characteristic ensures that the entire body of water is frozen throughout the
winter.
d) Due to this fact, only the top layer of water will be covered with ice.
3. ‘The liquid molecules strongly resist the attempt to reduce their volume even under
pressure.’ means:
a) Under pressure, molecules of fluids can be increased in size.
b) Liquid molecules do not shrink despite the application of pressure.
c) Molecules in liquids will not decrease their volume if put under pressure.
d) The volume of liquid molecules will show great resistance to pressure.
4. ‘Steam flowed inside a central cylinder and around the inner pot, where the food was
placed.’ means:
a) There was a round container in the middle of the pot with the food in it, surrounded by
vapour.
b) The food was placed within the cylinder and covered in flowing steam.
c) Steam circulates inside this vessel without touching the food.
d) The food is situated in an enclosed area with steam surrounding it.

IV. Find the opposite to the words given in brackets

1. Electrons have a ______________ (positive) charge and the number of electrons in an
atom __________________ (rarely) ____________________ (differs) the number of
protons, making the atom electrically _______________ (charged).
2. A nucleus can __________________ (attract) two protons and two neutrons,
______________ (increasing) its mass and transforming itself into a ______________
(similar) element.
3. An ______________ (stable) nucleus can sometimes remain ______________
(restful), even _______________ (before) emitting alpha or beta particles.

V. Choose the right answer to the underlined words

1. The picture of a machine part does not show the exact method of construction, only its
external appearance.
a. definite/excess b. precise/outside c. correct/internal d. approximate/overall
2. Fortunately, mechanical drawing can define any structure accurately.
a) successfully/state b) accidentally/describe c) by chance/tell d) luckily/specify
3. The series of views are arranged according to a definite system, with figures added to
tell the sizes.
a) specific to/pictures b) in detail/illustrations c) based on / numbers
d) accordingly/numbers

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4. This way we shall obtain a view showing the exact shape of the cylinder and the
outline of the other parts as seen from above.
a) get/contour b) receive/outside line c) allow/general shape d) provide/line

VI. Choose the right pairs of synonyms

1. Electrical engineering is concerned with the conversion, transmission and utilization of
energy through the medium of electricity.
a) interested and involved in/use b) working and dealing with/managing
c) worried about and taking care of/usefulness d) related and connected to/work

2. Oersted discovered that the magnetic needle, when placed beneath a wire carrying
current, was acted on by forces which caused it to be oriented in the direction
perpendicular to the wire.
a) below/horizontal b) above/at right angle c) under/vertical d) higher/normal

3. With the invention of the incandescent lamp by Thomas Edison and his associates it
became possible to supply energy to a large number of lamps simultaneously.
a) friends/in a large range b) collaborators/widely c) fellow workers/at the same time
d) partners/thoroughly

4. From Oersted’s discovery, the advancement of electrical knowledge proceeded with

ever-increasing speed.
a) movement/went on b) improvement/related c) progress/continued
d) way/progressed

5. An excess of the fluid corresponded to one kind of charge, and a deficiency of the
fluid, to the other kind.
a) exceeding/lowering b) overrated/defect c) surplus/lack d) exclusive/minor

VII. Choose the right pair of synonyms

1. 1. Factories should not permit the escape of dangerous gases into the atmosphere.
a) allow/leaking b) let/emerging c) hold/outlet d) maintain/freeing

2. There are few consequences of the population explosion more striking than the
obliteration of the world’s rainforests.
a) conclusions/wiping out b) controls/erasing c) results/destruction d) effects/planting

3. An area of rainforest five times the size of Manhattan is felled every day – a rate that
will eliminate all rainforests by 2050.
a) fallen/velocity b) cut down/speed c) dug into/ratio d) felt/proportion

4. Global warming will probably precipitate famine.

a) result in or bring about /shortages b) lead to/lack c) bring about/fasting
d) cause hunger to occur sooner

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5. There are several ways to stop the Greenhouse effect, for example, by conserving
rainforests or banning the use of CFCs.
a) keeping/denying b) staying/imposing c) preserving/prohibiting
d) saving/encouraging

VIII. Read these texts, then decide whether the following statements
are TRUE or FALSE
A
It was not immediately realized that electricity produced by Volta’s battery was identical
in nature to that produced by friction. We had therefore three phenomena at the end of the
eighteenth century that were not known to be related: current electricity, frictional
electricity, and magnetism. Volta, by showing that two kinds of electricity produced the
same effects soon proved them to be identical. The relation between electricity and
magnetism was first demonstrated by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, in
1820. Oersted discovered that a magnetic needle, when placed beneath a wire carrying
current, was acted on by forces which caused it to be oriented in the direction
perpendicular to the wire.
B
The atmosphere is a blanket of gases around the Earth. For thousands of years these gases
have kept the planet’s temperature about 15 degrees Celsius by trapping some of the
sun’s heat. But now, because of the pollution, there are more and more gases in the
atmosphere. This means that the Earth is getting hotter. A greenhouse becomes hot for
the same reason. Its glass lets the sun’s heat pass through, then stops some of it leaving.
That’s why scientists call the problem of Earth’s using temperature ‘The Greenhouse
Effect’.

1. T / F : According to the evidence supplied by Oersted in the early nineteenth century, a

magnetic needle would react to electrical current.
2. T / F : Volta can be credited with proving that electricity and magnetism are closely
connected to each other.
3. T / F : It was only in the nineteen hundreds that the various physical phenomena were
shown to be associated.
4. T / F : A magnetic needle will close a hundred and eighty degree angle with the wire
that has electricity running through it.
5. T / F : It took quite some time for people to comprehend that the characteristics the
power provided by the battery and by friction were fundamentally the same.
6. T / F : The rise of pollution has caused a decrease in the number of gases in the
atmosphere.
7. T / F : The windows of a greenhouse prohibit sunrays to enter while permitting them to
leave.
8. T / F : In the past millennia the temperature of our planet has not dropped below fifteen
degrees which is due to its gas-cover.
9. T / F : Gases envelope the earth.
10. T / F : The more gases there are in the atmosphere, the higher the temperature of the
earth.

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IX. Read these texts, then decide whether the following statements are
TRUE or FALSE
A
The speed of a mechanical device is limited by the fact that metal parts must move. In
electronic devices, though, there are no moving parts and electric impulse can move at
enormous speed. Numbers can be represented by passing a tiny electronic current through
devices such as thermionic valves, which can be switched on and off. If you have a row
of valves, all of which are switched either on or off, you can call the ‘on’ state 1, the ‘off’
state 0, and you may represent any number by a combination of ones and zeros. This is
similar in principle to Morse code in which numbers are represented by dots and dashes.
B
Scientists have not always agreed on an explanation of the earth’s magnetism. When
William Gilbert studied the earth’s magnetism in 1600, he said that the earth contained a
great mass of magnetic material which he believed gave the earth its magnetic field. The
core of the earth probably consists of iron and nickel and one might conclude that Gilbert
was right because iron and nickel are magnetic and it seems logical that they would set up
a magnetic field within the core of the earth. However, iron loses all its magnetism at a
temperature of 1.500 degrees Fahrenheit. The core of the earth has a temperature of at
least 10.000 degrees Fahrenheit, and at such temperature the iron-nickel core could
hardly be magnetic.

1. T / F : There is a paradox between the working principles of the Morse code and the
representation of numbers with the help of switches.
2. T / F : A row of valves, all of which are switched on, stands for the number one.
3. T / F : The main resemblance between mechanical and electrical devices is that both
devices are equipped with various mobile parts.
4. T / F : Directing a small amount of power through thermionic valves defines any
number, including ones and zeros.
5. T / F : The speed of electronic devices is limited by the fundamental characteristics of
its parts.
6. T / F : There has been occasional disagreement in connection with the magnetism of
the earth.
7. T / F : Within the temperature of one and a half thousand degrees, iron does not retain
magnetic characteristics.
8. T / F : It was refuted in the seventeenth century that the earth’s magic field was due to
the large amount of magnetic material it retained.
9. T / F : It was a unreasonable conclusion that two metals included in the core, iron and
nickel would create a magnetic field.
10. T / F : It is difficult for the iron and nickel core of the earth to be magnetic at ten
thousand degrees Fahrenheit.

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