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ENGINEERING - WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?Module II NEW EDITION General English for University and Professional Purposes II
Student’s Script
For Internal Use Only
Ижевск, 2011
CONTENTS
UNIT 1 ENGINEERING LESSON 1 ENGINEERING - WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? Task 1.Look atthe title of the unit and list the main branches of engineering. Compare your list with others in your group.
Task 2. Read the text to find out how many of the branches listed are mentioned.
Engineering is largely a practical activity. It is about putting ideas into action. Civil engineering is concerned with making bridges, roads, airports, etc. Mechanical engineering deals with the design and manufacture of tools and machines. Electrical engineering is about the generation and distribution of electricity and its many applications. Electronic engineering is concerned with developing components and equipment for communications, computing, and so on.
Mechanical engineering includes marine, automobile, aeronautical, heating and ventilating, and others. Electrical engineering includes electricity generating, electrical installation, lighting, etc. Mining and medical engineering belong partly to mechanical and partly to electrical.
Task 3.Match the branches of engineering to pictures A-F.
Task 4.Fill in the chart and decide whatkinds of engineers - electrical, mechanical, or both - are concerned with the listed areas. Prove your point of view.
Task 5. Read the following text and discuss with a partner if your ideas were right or wrong.
Source: Turning ideas into action, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and Engineering a Career, Institution of Electronics and Electrical' Incorporated Engineers.
Transport: Cars, trains, ships, and planes are all products of mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineers are also involved in support services such as roads, rail track, harbours, and bridges.
Food processing: Mechanical engineers design, develop, and make the machines and the processing equipment for harvesting, preparing and preserving the foods and drinks that fill the supermarkets.
Medical engineering: Body scanners, X-ray machines, life-support systems, and other high-tech equipment result from mechanical and electrical engineers combining with medical experts to convert idea into life-saving and preserving products.
Building services: Electrical engineers provide all the services we need in our homes and places of work, including lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, refrigeration, and lifts.
Energy and power: Electrical engineers are concerned with the production and distribution of electricity to homes, offices, industry, hospitals, colleges and schools, and the installation and maintenance of the equipment involved in these processes.
Task 6.Fill in the gaps in the following description of the different branches of engineering using information from this diagram and language you have studied in this unit.
The main branches of engineering are civil, 1________, 2_______, and electronic. Mechanical engineering is 3, 4 _______ _______ machinery of all kinds. This branch of engineering includes 5 _______, automobile, 6 _______,and heating and ventilating. The first three are concerned with transport: 7 _______, cars and planes. The last 8 _______ with air-conditioning, refrigeration, etc.
Electrical engineering deals with 9 _______ from generation to use. Electricity generating is concerned with 10 _______ stations. Electrical installation deals 11 _______ cables, switchgear, and connecting up electrical equipment.
Two branches of engineering include both 12 _______ and 13 _______ engineers. These are mining and 14 _______ engineering. The former deals with mines and mining equipment, the latter with hospital 15 _______ of all kinds.
Task 7.Watch the video “Is Engineering Right For Me?” and answer the question – do you think Engineering is right for you?
Task 8.Summarize everything you have learned about engineering and its main branches. Prepare a presentation on any branch of engineering. IT’S TIME TO HAVE FUN! Games and Puzzles: http://www.engineering.com/GamesPuzzles/tabid/82/Default.aspx LESSON 2 ENGINEERING MATERIALS Task 1.Look atthe title of the unit and list the materials you know which are used in engineering. Discuss your list with a partner.
Task 2. Read the text (reading time is 8 minutes) and answer the following questions:
1. How did man learn to obtain metal from stone? 2. What do we call the age which followed the Bronze Age? 3. Why do scientists consider metals to be the most useful in the form of alloys? 4. Can an alloy have properties which no metal in nature has?
METALS AND ALLOYS
Everybody knows that metals and alloys play important part in any branch of technique as well as in our everyday life. But when did man come to know them? How early were metals and alloys used by man?
From the earliest times man has made things of materials obtained from the earth. For thousands of years of the Stone Age for making tools he used mostly stone. Then came the discovery that metal can be produced from certain types of stones when they were treated with fire. By heating stones to very high temperatures man made the metal the stones contained melt and run out of them. Sometimes, as we know it now, man had to add some carbon (C) to produce compounds of metals. We know also copper (Cu) and tin (Sn) to be two of the earliest metals obtained this way. Then man noticed that the two metals, when melted together, produced a new material that was much harder and stronger than either of them had been. Scientists think this discovery opened a new period in man's development. Since the discovery the period to continue for about seven hundred years is considered to be the age of bronze. That's why the scientists gave it the name of the Bronze Age. It had lasted for about 700 years when came the time when man learned to produce iron, which became one of the most important metals for him. It marked the beginning of a new age - the Iron Age.
Since then man has learned how to produce a lot of other metals and how to obtain thousands of alloys from them. To produce an alloy man melted together two or more metals. As the time passed many different types of alloys were discovered. Now we know some alloys to contain not only metals but also non-metals, such as carbon, sulphur (S), phosphorus (Ph), etc. Generally speaking, it is in the form of alloys that one considered metals to be the most useful. A lot of metals are converted into alloys of much importance and scientists and metallurgists want much more new alloys to serve man's needs. We want you to know that only about as little as 30 metallic elements serve modern needs of man, but there are over five thousand alloys, hundreds of which are in common use. So many different alloys have been elaborated because modern industry requires metals to be used for different purposes.
We know scientists to classify all the alloys into some types or classes according to their chemical composition and physical properties. According to composition, all the alloys are to be classified as ferrous alloys (those containing iron) and non-ferrous ones (those containing no iron or only a small quantity of it). The classes of alloys based upon their physical properties include light-weight alloys, low melting-point alloys and others.
An alloy to answer the purpose it has been elaborated for is to have certain properties or certain combination of properties which no metal in nature has. Many industries need alloys having certain chemical and physical properties. For example, new kinds of stainless steel are being designed to resist the action of acids and corrosion due to the atmospheric agents under high temperatures. Some of the alloys to be used in the automobile engines are to withstand very high temperatures. Future improvements in gas turbines depend in large measure on the development of new improved heat-resisting alloys too. In the nearest future we expect metallurgists to elaborate new ways of controlling both chemical and physical properties of alloys and elaborating many new ways of important alloys for our technique and economy.
Task 3. Fill the gap.
1. To produce (…) man melted together two or more metals. 2. Now we know some alloys to contain (…) such as sulphur, phosphorus, etc. 3. According to composition, all the alloys are to be classified as (…) ones. 4. The classes of alloys based on their physical properties include (… …) alloys and others. 5. New kinds of (…) steel are being designed to resist the action of acids and corrosion.
Task 4.Study the table and choose the most useful material from your point of view. Give grounds.
Task 5.Look through the table again. Fill in the chart and find a material which has the following properties.
Task 6.What are these made of? Match the photos with these materials.
Task 7.Study the following text about aluminium. Aluminium is used to make aircraft, engine components, and many items for the kitchen.
We can add extra information to the text like this:
Aluminium, which is light, soft, and ductile,is used to make aircraft, engine components - for example, cylinder heads- and many items for the kitchen, such as pots.
Note that the extra information is marked with commas or dashes:
, which -for example,... - , such as ...,
Task 8.Add this extra information to the following text about plastics. 1. Plastics can be moulded into plates, car components, and medical aids. 2. Thermoplastics soften when heated again and again. 3. Thermosetting plastics set hard and do not alter if heated again. 4. ABS is used for safety helmets. 5. Nylon is self-lubricating. 6. Nylon is used for motorized drives in cameras. 7. Acrylic is a clear thermoplastic. 8. Acrylic is used for aircraft canopies and double glazing. 9. Polyester resin is used for boat and car bodies. 10. Polyester resin is hard and has good chemical and heat resistance.
Plastics are synthetic materials. They can be softened and moulded into useful articles. They have many applications in engineering. There are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics.
ABS is a thermoplastic which is tough and durable. Because it has high impact strength, it has applications where sudden loads may occur.
Nylon is a hard, tough thermoplastic. It is used where silent, low-friction operation is required.
Acrylic can be formed in several ways. It is hard, durable, and has many uses.
Polyester resin is a thermosetting plastic used for castings. It has a number of useful properties.
Task 9.Watch the video “Advanced Engineering Materials - Metal foams by North Carolina State University” and answer the questions – What are the properties of metal foams? Where are they used? Task 10. Prepare a presentation on any material, its properties and usage.
LESSON 3 MECHANISMS Task 1. Look at the pictures and identify the mechanisms. Work in pairs and explain the principles on which they operate.
Task 2. Scan the text and find out which of these mechanisms are mentioned. Discuss with a partner which of these mechanisms are widely used in every day life.
cam foot pump tap escalator pendulum MECHANISMS
Mechanisms are an important part of everyday life. They allow us to do simple things like switch on lights, turn taps, and open doors. They also make it possible to use escalators and lifts, travel in cars, and fly from continent to continent.
Mechanisms play a vital role in industry. While many industrial processes have electronic control systems, it is still mechanisms that deliver the power to do the work. They provide the forces to press steel sheets into car body panels, to lift large components from place to place, to force plastic through dies to make pipes.
All mechanisms involve some kind of motion. The four basic kinds of motion are: Rotary: Wheels, gears, and rollers involve rotary movement. Oscillating: The pendulum of a clock oscillates - it swings backwards and forwards. Linear: The linear movement of a paper trimmer is used to cut the edge of the paper. Reciprocating: The piston in a combustion engine reciprocates.
Many mechanisms involve changing one kind of motion into another type. For example, the reciprocating motion of a piston is changed 20 into a rotary motion by the crankshaft, while a cam converts the rotary motion of the engine into the reciprocating motion required to operate the valves.
Task 3. Read the text to find the answers to the following questions. Discuss your answers with a partner.
1. What does a cam do? 2. What does oscillating mean? 3. How are plastic pipes formed? 4. What simple mechanisms in the home are mentioned directly or indirectly? 5. What is the function of a crankshaft? 6. Give an example of a device which can produce a linear movement. 7. How are car body panels formed? 8. What do mechanisms provide in industry? Task 4. You are going to read the text about scissors. Before reading it discuss with a partner what you know about this device. Try to persuade your partner that it is a vital device. Task 5. Read the text (Source: Encyclopedia Britannica).
SCISSORS Scissors is a cutting instrument which consists of a pair of opposed metal blades that meet and cut when the handles at their ends are brought together. The term shears sometimes denotes large-size scissors. Modern instruments are of two types: the more usual pivoted blades have a rivet or screw connection between the cutting ends and the handle ends; spring shears have a C-shaped spring connection at the handle ends.
Spring-type scissors probably date from the Bronze Age and were commonly used in Europe until the end of the Middle Ages. Pivoted scissors of bronze and iron were used in ancient Rome and in China, Japan, and Korea. In Europe their domestic use dates from the 16th century, but not until 1761, when Robert Hinchliffe of Sheffield, England, first used cast steel in their manufacture, did large-scale production begin. In the 19th century much hand-forged work was produced, with elaborately ornamented handles. By the end of the 19th century, styles were simplified for mechanical-production methods.
The two blades are made to twist or curve slightly toward one another so that they touch in only two places: at the pivot, or joint, and at the spot along the blades where the cutting is taking place. When completely closed, the points of the blades touch. In the case of the finest cutting instruments, the two unfinished metal blanks and the fasteners are coded with an identifying mark so they can be manufactured as a set.
Blanks are usually made from red-hot steel bars that are forged at high speed between the dies of drop hammers, but others also of satisfactory quality may be made from cold-forged blanks. The steel may contain from 0.55 to 1.03 percent carbon, the higher carbon content providing a harder cutting steel for certain applications. Stainless steel is used for surgical scissors. Certain nonferrous alloys that will not produce sparks or interfere with magnetism are employed in making scissors for cutting cordite and magnetic tape. Handle and blade are usually constructed in one piece, but in some cases the handles are electrically welded to the steel blades.
Expert sharpening is required to restore the edge-angle sharpness; each blade is passed smoothly and lightly across a grinding wheel, following the twist of the blade, with an even pressure throughout the stroke to avoid causing ridges or other irregularities.
A special form of shears used for sheet-metal work, called tin shears, or tin snips, is equipped with high-leverage handles to facilitate cutting the metal. Another special form, pruning shears, are designed for trimming shrubs and trees. Task 6.Make up questions to the text beginning with the following words. Ask your partner to answer them.
What Where Why When How much Who Task 7.Look through the text again and decide what the following numbers refer to.Discuss your ideas with a partner.
16 1761 19 0.55 1.03 Task 8.Summarize the information you have learned about mechanisms and scissors in particular.
Task 9.Watch the video “How Clocks Work” and answer the question – how do clocks work?
Task 10. Prepare a presentation on any mechanism.
LESSON 4 SAFETY AT WORK Task 1.Work in pairs. Why do the signs below have different colours and shapes?
1. 2.
3. 4.
Task 2. Read the text. Match the examples to the signs.
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