Critical Reading and Discussion

1. What kinds of actions are needed to curb air pollution?

2. What are the main air pollutants in your city? Where do they
come from?

3. How are people affected by the bad air quality?

4. What can we do about the problem?

5. Could modern cars and the development of better cars be of
a great aid in improving the air quality?

6. What can you say about the air pollution in your city?

7. What have been done and what measures are now underway in
other countries to improve the air quality in big cities?

8. What should be done in your city to clean up the air?

9. Can individuals do anything?

Getting Started

Before you read the next text, look at its title. Make predictions
what you expect the text to be about and discuss them with the
whole class. Be as specific as you can. Share your ideas with the
whole class. Then scan the first part of the text and say if the following
statements are true or false.

1. Accessibility to safe water has become a major challenge to
the world as fresh water supplies are stretched to meet the
demands of the population, industries and agriculture.

2. Worldwide demand is getting twice as much every ten years.

3. Diseases due to unsafe water account for 60% of infections
in the developing world.

4. An average American uses 1000 litres of water a day.

5. 90% of the flow of the Nile River is used for irrigation or lost
through evaporation from reservoirs.

6. The Aral Sea is three-quaters of the size it was 50 years ago.

7. Ground water levels are dropping up to 10 feet every three
years.

Text 5.1

Water Pollution

Part One. The Water Crisis

1.1. One of the most urgent problems in the world today is the
shortage of the clean water. Access to clean water is the basic
human right. But acid rain, industrial pollution and sewage dumping,
oil spills have made water undrinkable.

According to the UN, nowadays 40 per cent of the world have
no access to clean water or sanitation, and as industrial and

 

Unit 5

Water Pollution

 

agricultural development everywhere in the world escalates, the
situation is deteriorating. Worldwide demand for water is doubling
every 21 years, more in some regions. Supply can't remotely keep
pace with demand, because of growing population, especially in
the third world countries. Water shortage plague almost every
country in North Africa and the Middle East. Northern China,
western and southern India, a part of Pakistan, South America and
much of Mexico all face water scarcity. Water-borne diseases
account for 80% of infections in the developing world. More than
3 mln people die every year from unsafe water. The last century has
seen world demand for water increase 7 times. The demand for water
in many countries simply outruns the supply. Water is likely to
become a growing source of tension and competition between
nations. Most of estimated 3 billion people to be added in the next
50 years will be born in the countries already experiencing water
shortages. There are large differences in per capita water
consumption between different countries. In some countries people
are surviving on the daily ration equal to or less than a bucket of
water, while average American uses 1000 litres of water a day. A
shortage of drinking water could affect one-third of the world by
2025, and spark conflicts. We are running out something no one can
live without.

1.2. According to the UN Commission on Water for 21st century
more than half of the world's major rivers are going dry or are polluted.
They are posing a threat to the health and livelihood of the people
who depend upon them for irrigation, drinking and industrial water.
Of the major rivers in the world the Amazon in South America and
the Congo in the sub-Saharan Africa are the healthiest. The Yellow
River in China is severely polluted. 90% of the flow of the Nile River
is used for irrigation or is lost through evaporation from reservoirs
and is polluted with the irrigation drainage and industrial and
municipal waste when it reaches the Mediteranean Sea. The Amu's
and the Syr Darya's flow into the Aral Sea in Asia has been reduced
by three-quaters and has caused a catastrophic regression in the
sea level. The sea is just a quarter of the size it was 50 years ago and
has been split in two parts. Both halves suffer from increased salinity
which dry into huge salt plains that cause dust storms and spread
diseases and severely damage agriculture. Fishing has been wiped
out, agriculture is closed to follow it.

Lake Baikal in Siberia with a depth more than a mile, contains one-
fifth of the world's fresh water resources. The local people call it the
Holy sea. It contains a rich variety of animals and plants, including
1,300 rare species that do not exist anywhere else in the world. It was
declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. Now the environment around
Lake Baikal is endangered not only because of massive volumes of
industrial effluents, which pour into the lake every day, but by a joint
Russian - Chinese plan to built a pipeline through the region which will
pump 30 million tons of Russian crude oil to China every year.

The world's natural underground reservoirs are diminishing rapidly.

Across Africa, Asia, and South America, ground levels are
dropping up to 10 feet a year, largely due to irrigation. The UN called
on governments to curb the use of ground water and to ensure that
countries relying on irrigation move away from water-hungry crops.

Comprehension

1. What made many water resources unsafe?

2. Why cannot water supply keep pace with the demand?

3. What can you say about per capita water consumption in
different countries of the world?

4. What can you say about the extent to which world's major
rivers are polluted?

5. What is the cause of ecological disaster at the Aral Sea?

6. Why is preservation of the largest resource of fresh water in
the world under threat?

Ex. 1. In the paragraph indicated by the number in parenthesis find.
the word or phrase that best fits the meaning given.
Which word(s) means(mean).,.?

1. scarcity, deficit (1.1)

2. the opportunity or right to use something (1.1)

3. not suitable for drinking (1.1)

4. to develop or increase more quickly than something else (1.1)

5. become twice as great (1.1)

6. need, require (1.1)

7. increase quickly by a large quantity (1.1)

8. changing liquid into vapour (1.2)

9. movement to a worse condition (1.2)
10. reduce smth to a lower amount (1.2)

 

Unit 5

11. the source that provides income you need to live (1.2)

12. increased concentration of mineral salts in soil (1.2)

13. to control or limit something that is harmful (1.2)

Ex. 2. Give a definition synonym or description of each of the words
below.

1. urgent problems (1.1)

2. to keep pace (1.1)

3. differences in per capita water consumption (1.1)

4. to run out of something (1.2)

5. a rich variety (1.2)

6. rare species (1.2)

Paragraph Reading

Select the statement that best expresses the main idea of the
paragraph.

Paragraph 1.1

1. Access to clean water is a basic human right.

2. We are running out of drinking water.

3. One of the most urgent environmental problems in the world
is the shortage of clean water.

4. The world faces water crisis.

Paragraph 1.2

Write a sentence that expresses the mam idea of the paragraph.

Text 5.2

Water Pollution

Part Two. The Major Water Pollutants
and the Main Ways of Water Pollution

Before you read the text skim through it quickly and choose
5-6 sentences that convey the main ideas. Discuss your findings
with the whole class.

Then read the text carefully and do the tasks that follow.

2.1. There is a growing concern over the safety and quality of
drinking water as it could be contaminated by wide range of

___________________________________,__.___.__ Water Pollution

chemicals, microbial and physical hazards that pose threat to health.
The most important factor influencing the quality of water is the
nature of wastes reaching water sources from domestic and industrial
effluents. The impact of ecologically harmful substances can be
particularly damaging. Dangerous substances are substances, which
are persistent, toxic and accumulate in living tissues causing chronic
intoxication. A list of dangerous substances includes heavy metals
as mercury and cadmium, certain pesticides, chlorinated industrial
chemicals and solvents. Further substances may be added to the
list from time to time. It is only comparatively recently that we have
become fully aware of implications of dioxin poisoning. Dioxins are
formed by presence of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and chlorine; in
most cases heat is also a contributor. Many reports state that one
particular dioxin 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxion (TCDD) is
one of the most toxic and mutagenic substances known to man.
TCDD is often what people mean when they use the term. It now
appears that its trace amounts can cause cancer, genetic deformities
in man and animals. Sewage, chlorine, phenol producing plants and
other ecologically trouble spots as the burial of wastes of production
of chemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, paints and
others contaminated water with dioxins and their derivatives. The
chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides and related compounds such
as the industrial poly chlorinated biphenyls also present a major
threat to the biosphere because of their stability and affinity for
lipid tissues. Mercury which is one of the most dangerous
substances has the ability to accumulate in sea plants and fish.
Concentrations of mercury in fish from polluted water may be up to
10 ppm but most marine fish contain 0.15 ppm. Mercury poisoning
from fish is not considered to be a risk in most areas, but fish from /
some fresh water lakes, such as Lake Erie, is not considered suitable
for human consumption. Many countries of the world, that tried to (-,
replace surface water contaminated with sewage by ground water
as a safe reliable source of drinking water, may be now drinking
water containing arsenic. People are at serious risk in 17 countries
around the world - including China, Vietnam, Argentina and the
US, where limits set by the World Health Organization are exceeded.

2.2. In many cases, sewage is treated and broken down in sewage
plants before it is pumped back into lakes, rivers and seas. But it is
often returned untreated. Water can usually clean itself of organic

 

Unit 5

Water Pollution

 

waste, but this process takes a long time. In some areas, too much
untreated sewage is pumped out and the water never gets clean.
Modern agriculture relies on large inputs of a wide range of synthetic
chemicals to improve and sustain high agricultural yields. Fertilizers
and pesticides washed off in the rain get into rivers, some pesticides
fall into water through air drift from aerial spraying. Pollution also
travels through (under) ground water. Underground rocks can store
water for upwards of 40 years. In many areas, ground water is polluted
by pesticides and fertilizers laid on the fields as much as 30 years ago.
Ground water is also increasingly at risk from toxic leakage around
waste-disposal facilities, rain water percolates through these sites and
washes out toxic pollutants, some may even be radioactive. Domestic
sewage, artificial fertilizers, thermal pollution caused by industries using
water for cooling (such as nuclear power stations) promote overgrowth
of bacteria and algae by eutrophication and disrupts of the aquatic
ecosystem. Organic and chemical pollution kills many organisms.
Others, notably blue-green algae thrive on the extra nutrients available
depleting the water sources of oxygen and killing other aquatic life.

2.3. Technological catastrophes are among extremely appalling
sources of water pollution. As the latest example of the kind a blast at
petrochemical plant in the city of Jillin, in China on 13 November, 2005
can be mentioned. A 100 tonne toxic spill stretching for 80 km affected
the city Harbin's 3.8 mln population, who endured 5 days with no
running water. The spill polluted with benzen, nitrobenzen and heavy
metalls flowed into the Amur River and reached Russian cities.

2.4. Many serious cases of water pollution are caused by oil spills.
Oil floats on water and does not dissolve in it. Oil coats the feather of
sea birds and the scales of fish, If a big oil tanker loses some oil in the
sea, sea birds and fish are killed and beaches are polluted. Some of oil
spills result from oil tankers accidents like the Exxon Valdez tragedy,
which happened near Alaska in 1990, when the tanker run aground and
tones of oil poured into the sea, or like the accident with Prestige
occurred several years ago which led to oil contamination of French
and Spanish coast lines. Others result from deliberate washing of tanks
at sea, from industrial effluents and accidents at pipelines.

2.5. The oil spill also has a less visible toxic effect: it reduces the
level of oxygen dissolved in the water. As well as the fish and sea

gulls, oil kills millions of tiny plants and animals on the deeper
layers of the ocean. Contamination of water with oil occurs when
water is injected into oil wells to increase production, in production
of oil from oil shale and tar sands. Bulk transport of oil by sea is the
most efficient way of distributing the large amounts of it needed by
many countries. Besides that many countries use offshore oil
production and bring oil ashore by submarine pipelines.

2.6. The risk of accidents involving oil spillage cannot be totally
eliminated.

Fast and effective means of dealing with oil spills are absolutely
necessary for recovering from oil both at sea and on beaches. Special
dispersants and equipment have been developed and research in
this field is advancing steadily. At present the most common ways
include collecting the oil using floating barriers, special devices called
skimmers, breaking the oil spill into little drops by adding chemicals,
burning the oil on the water and designing on skin of the tank, using
tank with double hull in order to escape an oil spill if accident such as
collision or grounding occurs. But all of them are not free of drawbacks
(low efficiency, ecological unsafety and high cost).

2.7. Water is our life, we should take care about keeping it clean.
Business culture should be changed and the environment should
be given a higher priority. In the long term a living river is more
profitable than a dead one. And some say that if they wanted to, the
commerce powers could halt environment degradation. United
Nations report on the state of the world's water resources declares
that they will continue to diminish because of population growth,
pollution, and climatic changes. At the heart of the crisis is the
inertia of political leaders and the lack of awareness of the problem.
The water crisis is crucial for the survival of our planet.

Word Study

Ex. 1. In the paragraph indicated by the number in parenthesis find
the word or phrase that best fits the meaning given.
Which word(s) means (mean)...?

1. waste organic matter, which flows away through underground
pipelines (2.1)

2. material which has been used and is no longer wanted (2.1)

 

Unit 5

Water Pollution

 

3. originated in people's home rather than in factories (2.1)

4. poisonous (2.1)

5. right for a particular purpose or occasion or acceptable for it
(2.1)

6. act of using (2.1)

7. not made safe (2.2)

8. man-made (2.2)

9. substances that help plants to grow (2.2)

 

10. prevents something from continuing normally, destroys (2.2)

11. prosper, grow strong (2.2)

12. explosion (2.3)

13. an unpleasant event that leads to dangerous consequences (2.4)

14. under the surface of the sea (2.5)

15. an accident in which a vehicle that is moving crashes into smth
(2.6)

16. thing that is considered to be the most important (2.7)

Ex. 2. Give a definition synonym or description of each of the words
below.

1. effluent (2.1)

2. to accumulate (2.1)

3. living tissues (2.1)

4. mutagenic substances (2.1)

5. trace amounts (2.1)

6. sewage (2.1)

7. pesticide (2.1)

8. ecologically trouble spot (2.1)

9. fertilizer (2.2)

 

10. leakage (2.2)

11. eutrophication (2.2)

12. nutrient (2.2)

13. appaling (2.3)

14. oil spills (2.4)

15. tiny (2.5)

16. drawback (2.6)

17. to take care about (2.7)

18. profitable (2.7)

19. degradation (2.7)

Learn and Revise:

urgent, shortage, per capita, consumption oil spill, variety,
effluent, sewage, aquatic, accident pipeline, priority, keep (kept)
pace with, promote (promoted), degradation, pump (pumped) out,
evaporation, damage, contamination, disrupt (disrupted), escalate
(escalated), waste, regression, livehood, unsafe, demand, supply,
average, split (split) in, accumulate (accumulated)

Vocabulary Study

Ex. 1. Which word is different? Why?

 

dumping	throwing away	storing
variety	range of different things	similarity
disrupt	destroy	create
contaminate	purify	pollute
effluent	waste	raw materials
run out	come to an end	acquire
nutrients	food	poison
release	hold	pump out

Ex. 2. Match the words from the left column with the words from the
right column.

 

A	В
industrial	life
rich	problems
urgent	effluents
heavy	spills
major	consumption
toxic	leakage
aquatic	variety
oil	threat
water	metals

Ex. 3. Place the appropriate word from the list in each of the blanks below:

efficient spills

aquatic sewage

domestic

pollutes
pollutants

1. Oil... polutes the coastal waters and endangers fishing in the
North Sea.

 

Unit 5

Water Pollution

 

2. Both industrial and... domestic effluents often include heavy
metals, like lead and mercury.

3. Engineering and other industrial processes make extensive use
of a range of cleaning solutions and chemical solvents for
degreasing machine parts and other used devices, these
solvents are now common ground water....

4. Bulk transport of oil by sea is the most... way of distributing
the large amounts of it needed by many countries, the risk of
accidents involving oil... cannot be totally eliminated.

5. Sewage and agricultural chemicals falling into rivers, lakes and
seas pollute them causing eutrophication and disrupting of the
... ecosystem.

6. Many rivers are biologically dead due to... and agricultural chemicals
falling into them.

Critical Reading and Discussion

Ex. 1. What is the best way to get rid of oil spills?
Consider different ways of tackling oil spills, their advantages and
disadvantages. Answer the questions that follow and then complete
the scheme fig. 5.1. Think of arguments to support your point of view.

a) What do you think is the average percent of oil removed from
the surface of water in the case of collecting oil using floating
barriers, special devices called skimmers?

b) Is there real possibility to pollute water and move oil into the deeper
water by speeding up the natural process of oil decomposition
using chemicals which break oil spills into little drops?

c) Why it is difficult to maintain tankers with special design such
as tankers with double hull skin?

d) What is done to protect the tankers against corrosion?

e) Does the special construction guarantee the absolute protection
from oil spills when a tanker moves at a full speed?

f) Why does burning of oil on the water present a serious threat to
sea organisms?

Ex.2,

1. What percent of water in Russia as a whole is treated properly?
(~ 17%; 30%; 50%; 75%)

2. What can be done to improve the situation?

3. Could suffer fines for major pollution offences and harsher penalties
for ecocrimes contribute essentially to solve the problem?

Ways of tackling oil spills

elimination of oil spills that have been formed

-	+

-	+

+ escaping of oil spills in case of collision or running aground

prevention of the oil spills
formation

 

-	+

difficulties to maintain tankers with

special construction, does not

guarantee the absolute protection

from oil spills when a tanker moves at

a full speed

Fig. 5.1. Ways of tackling oil spills

4. How can you characterize the consumption of water in Russia
as compared with the USA and European countries?

5. Do you think it is true that 520 m³ of sewage effluents fall on man
per annum in Russia, and 370 m³ of them contain 170 kilograms of
toxic substances?

6. What methods are usually used for purification of water?

7. How can you characterised the quality of drinking water in
St. Petersburg? Does the water quality in St. Petersburg meet
the needs of a major international city?

8. What do you know about pollution of the Neva's basin?

9. Have you ever heard about oil spills on the Neva and the Gulf of
Finland?

 

10. Why were Sweden and Finland involved in the construction of
the south-west wastewater plant in St. Petersburg which was
put into operation in 2005?

11. In what way is decent municipal water connected with the health
of St. Petersburg's citizens and its attractiveness as an investment
destination?

12. How long will it take to reach a situation when the citizens of our
city can turn on the tap and trust the drinking water?

Depletion of Stratospheric Ozone Layer

Unit 6

Depletion of Stratospheric
Ozone Layer

Getting Started

Before you read the text scan through it to find out the role of
chlorine atoms in depletion of stratospheric ozone.

What do you know about ozone behaviour?

What are dangerous consequences of destroying the upper
ozone layer?

Text 6

Depletion of Stratospheric Ozone

1. The gaseous atmosphere of the Earth is crucial to life in many
different ways. The ozone layer of the stratosphere (a band of warm
gas between 15 and 40 kilometers) acts as a shield against ultra-violet
radiation from the sun. Absorbing high-energy radiation it prevents
harmful burning rays from the sun to reach the earth's surface. Harmful
burning rays from the sun can kill plants, cause burns, skin cancer
and other diseases in animals and man. This explains why we are so
concerned that chemicals released into the atmosphere are destroying
this high-altitude ozone layer. In the 1980s significant ozone depletion
over the Antarctic was detected. Later existence of large holes in
ozone layer were confirmed by satellite measurements.

2. Much to everyone's amazement, the culprits resposible for
the holes turned out to be very stable man-made chemicals such as
halons, used in fire-fighting equipment and chlorofluorocarbons
(CFC), which used in aerosols, refrigeration and many other ways.
When the CFCs were first synthesised, they were definitely viewed
as "good guys" because of their noncorrosive nature and unusual
ability to resist decomposition. Inevitably large quantities of CFCs

had leaked into the atmosphere but nobody was worried about this
development because these compounds seemed to be totally benign.
In fact the great stability of the CFCs (a tremendous advantage for
their various applications) was in the end a great disadvantage when
they were released into the environment. The CFCs eventually drift to
high altitudes in the atmosphere where the sun strips of chlorine atoms.
These chlorine atoms in turn promote the decomposition of the ozone
in the upper atmosphere. Chlorine atoms act as catalysts for the
decomposition of ozone to oxygen by the following pair reactions:

Cl+0₃=C10+0₂

0+C10 = Cl+0₂

Sum: CI+O3+O+CIO f C10+0₂+Cl+0₂

When species that appear on both sides of the equation are
canceled, the end result is given by the reaction: 0+0₃= 20₂

Estimates show that one chlorine atom can catalyze the
destruction of about one million ozone molecules per second. The
resulting increased levels of ultra-violet radiation reaching the earth
may cause a rise in cancer in humans, damage crops and other
serious consequences.

3. As a result, in 1987, countries signed the Montreal Protocol,
in which they agreed to cut production of CFCs by 50 %, several
countries have since agreed to phase out CFCs completely. The
manufacture of new products containing CFCs is slowly declining
in most countries, but it is not happening quickly enough. A good
news is that chemical industry is leading the way to find
environmentally safe alternatives to CFCs. Chemistry is going green.
A good example of green chemistry is the increasing use of C0₂
rather than CFCs to put the sponginess into polystyrene packing
materials by the Dow Chemical Company. Dow does not generate
C0₂ for this process but instead uses waste gases captured from
various manufacturing processes.

Scientists in many countries of the world are developing different
ways to get rid of the chemicals destroying Earth's ozone layer.

The Americans are planning to separate CFCs with charged
water droplets sprayed from commercial planes, which would also
destroy the molecules before they reached the stratosphere.

Some environmentalists argue that governments should ban all
production of CFC immediately to prevent an irreversible environ-
mental crisis.

 

Unit 6

 

Depletion of Stratospheric Ozone Layer

 

Sun causes clouds to evaporate releasing destructive carbons which deplete ozone layer

ULTRA-VIOLET RADIATION

ULTRA-VIOLET RADIATION

OZONE HOLE

Fig. 6.1. Ozone depletion

Comprehension

1. In what way does ozone layer protect us from the damaging
effects of ultraviolet radiation?

2. What are the causes for depletion of the ozone layer?

3. Describe fig. 6.1

4. What are the main sources of CFCs?

5. How can we stop the upper ozone layer from depleting?

Word Study

Ex. 1. In the paragraph indicated by the number in parenthesis, find
the word or phrase that best fits the meaning given. Which word(s)
means (mean)...?

1. beam(l)

2. worry (1)

3. illness (1)

4. reduction of amount of something, that is available to be used,
until little or none remains (1)

5. surprise (2)

6. favourable, not dangerous (2)

7. chemical compound which confains bromine and resembles a
chloroflurocarbon (2)

8. decreasing (3)

9. something that may be used in place of something else (3)

 

10. get rid of (3)

11. to make material light and full of holes (3)

12. to say officially that people must not use or do smth (3)

Ex. 1. Give a definition, synonym or description of each of the words
or phrases below. This exercise can be done orally or in writing.

1. crucial (1)

2. depletion (1)

3. much to everyone's amazement (2)

4. leak (2)

5. promote (2)

6. phase out (3)

7. alternative (3)

8. by-products (3)

9. counterbalance (3)

 

10. to phase out (3)

11. alternative (3)

12. irreversible (3)

 

Learn and Revise:
crucial, prevent (prevented),	harmful,	altitude,	man-made,
synthesise (synthesised), decomposition,	equation	destruction,
phase (phased) out,	alternative,	capture (captured),	ultraviolet

Unit 6

Paragraph Reading

Select the statement that best expresses the main idea of the
paragraph.

Paragraph 1

1. The gaseous atmosphere of the earth is crucial to life.

2. Ultraviolet radiation from the sun can kill plants, cause disease
in animals and man.

3. The ozone layer of the stratosphere protects us against harmful
rays from the sun.

Paragraph 2

1. Chemicals released into the atmosphere destroy high-altitude
ozone layer.

2. Decomposition of CFCs drifted to high altitudes plays essential
role in destroying the ozone layers and emergence of ozone
holes.

3. Increase levels of ultraviolet radiation may cause serious
consequences.

Paragraph 3

1. The manufacture of new products containing CFCs is slowly
declining in most countries.

2. Different approaches are developed to get rid of chemicals
that are destroying Earth's ozone layer.

3. Chemical industry is leading the way to find environmentally
safe alternatives to CFCs.

Vocabulary Review

Ex. 1. Which word is odd? Why?

 

obliterate	destroy	drift
culprits	criminals	victims
be concerned	worry	relax
phase out	withdraw	add
benign	safe	harmful
strip	take of	acquire
eliminate	get rid of	absorb
deplete	use up	store

_________________________ Depletion of Stratospheric Ozone Layer

Ex. 2. Match a world in column A with a word in column B.

 

A	В
ultraviolet	altitude
ozone	consequences
man-made	ability
high	advantage
serious	radiation
fire-fight	equipment
satellite	chemicals
unusual	layer
tremendous	measurements

Ex. 3. Place the appropriate word from the list in each of the blanks
below. Do not use word more than once.

holes damaged harmful protects

1. The ozone layer is a layer of gases that... us from ultraviolet
light from the sun, which can have a... effect on animals, and
causes skin cancer in humans.

2. The ozone layer is being... by chemicals, especially CFCs.

3. When... appear in the ozone layer, harmful light from the sun
reaches the Earth.

Critical Reading and Discussion

1. What do you think are the priorities in solving the problem?

2. What countries should make a leading contribution in solving
the problem?

3. What directions in chemical research are the most promising
for improving the situation?

4. Have you any doubts about possibility to solve the problem?

5. What international efforts should be made to conserve upper
ozone layer?

6. By what time could the problem have been solved?

Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

Visible, ultra-violet and other wavelengths of radiation

сог,н,о, Щ ^ CH, N.O, etc (

Absorb and reemit infrared radiation

Unit 7

Greenhouse Effect
and Global Warming

Getting Started

Before you read the next text look at its title and the picture related
to the text, try to explain it.

Then read the text and answer the questions that follow.

Text 7

Greenhouse Effect

1. The energy, which drives our weather and climate, comes
from the sun. The Earth receives energy, largely in the form that we
see as visible light. The atmospheric gases and others do not absorb
light in the visible region. Therefore, the visible light from the sun
passes through the atmosphere to warm the earth. In turn the warm
earth radiates this energy back toward space as infrared radiation.
But, on the way, some of it is absorbed by gases in the atmosphere,
which are strong absorbers of infrared waves, they reradiate some
of this energy back toward the earth.

2. Thus these gases act as an insulating blanket keeping the
earth much warmer than it would be without them. If these gases
were not present, all of the heat the earth radiates would be lost into
space. This is similar to the effect of glass in a greenhouse, which
allows the sunlight in but keeps some of the radiated heat from
escaping. Hence the gases in the atmosphere, which absorb radiated
heat, are called the greenhouse gases, and the process is known as
greenhouse effect.

3. Greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere. The
natural greenhouse effect keeps the temperature of the Earth some
30°C warmer than it would be otherwise. Without it the Earth would

Infrared
radiation

Fig. 7.1. Greenhouse effect

be too cold to support life, the oceans would freeze. Water vapour is
the most important natural greenhouse gas. Its concentration in the
atmosphere depends on the Earth's temperature. The concentration
of other natural greenhouse gases is determined by the balance
between the processes, which produce them ('sources') and those,
which absorb them ('sinks'). The main natural greenhouse gases are:

- carbon dioxide (C0₂), which is released when living things
breathe, die and decay, and which is absorbed by plants and
the animals that feed on them;

- methane (CH₂), which is produced when organic material
decays in the absence of air, as in marshes and wetlands, and
by digestion in the stomachs of cattle and sheep, and is
destroyed by chemical reactions in the atmosphere;

- nitrous oxide (N₂0), which is given off by vegetation and soils,
and eventually breaks down chemically in the stratosphere;

- ozone (0₃), which is generated by the sun's rays in the
stratosphere, and by chemical reactions in the lower
atmosphere, and destroyed by other natural chemical reactions.

Comprehension

1. What is the energy source which drives our weather and climate?

2. In what form does the Earth receive energy?

3. What gases in the atmosphere are called the greenhouse gases?
What did the name originate from?

 

 

Unit 7

Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

 

4. What would happen if the natural greenhouse effect did
not keep the temperature of the Earth some 30°C warmer?

Word Study

Ex. 1. In the paragraph indicated by the number in brackets, find the
word or phrases that best fits the meaning given. Which word(s)
means (mean)...?

1. run, control (1)

2. soak something up or take something in (1)

3. heat (1)

4. emit(l)

5. bounce off (2)

6. get away (2)

7. take place (3)

8. in the other case (3)

9. release (3)

 

10. start to fall apart, rot (3)

11. produced (3)

Ex. 2. Give a definition, synonym or description of each of the words
or phrases below.

1. largely (1)

2. visible light (1)

3. in turn (1)

4. on the way (1)

5. much warmer (2)

6. to be similar to (2)

7. keep the heat from escaping (2)

8. too cold to support life (3)

9. digestion (3)

Paragraph Reading

Select the statement that best expressed the meaning of the
paragraph.

Paragraph 1

1. The energy which drives our weather and climate comes from
the Sun.

2. The atmospheric gases are strong absorbers of infrared energy.

3. Energy received from the sun as visible sunlight heats the
earth's surface which emits energy, some escapes to space but
some is trapped by greenhouse gases.

Paragraph 2

1. Absorption of infrared energy by atmospheric gases is similar
to effect of glass in a greenhouse.

2. The atmospheric gases act as insulating blanket keeping the
earth much warmer than it would be without them.

3. Greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere.

Paragraph 3

1. The most important natural greenhouse gases are water
vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone.

2. The concentration of C0₂, CH₄, N₂0, and 0₃ is determined by
the balance between the process, which produce them, and
these which absorb them.

3. Water vapour is the most important natural greenhouse gas.

Vocabulary Review

Ex. 1. Which word is different? Why?

 

reflect	bounce off	defect
drive	run	submit
radiate	emit	absorb
escape	get away	be held
decay	fall apart	restore
allow	ban	permit
otherwise	in case of	in the other case
warm	cool	heat
absorb	sink	release
largely	chiefly	to a lesser degree

Ex. 2. Place the appropriate word from the list in each of the blanks
below. Do not use more than one word.

receives trapped radiates keeps return

1. The Earth... the energy from the sun as visible sunlight.

2. The warm Earth... infrared energy back into space.

3. Some of it is... by atmospheric gases.

 

Unit 7

Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

 

4. Greenhouse gases... additional heat to the Earth.

5. The natural greenhouse effect... the temperature of the Earth
about 30°C warmer than it would be otherwise.

Critical Reading

1. Why can the visible light from the sun pass through the
atmosphere to warm the earth? Why is some energy radiated
by the warm earth into space absorbed by atmospheric gases?

2. What would happen to planet if the green house effect did not
occur?

Text 8

Global Warming

Look at the picture taken from the Financial Times and guess
what the people in the picture are talking about.

Have you ever heard of Kyoto protocol? What is it about?
What countries signed it? Did our country join them?

1. While the natural green house effect is essential to life, a
problem arises because human activity causes the release of additional
greenhouse gases and these releases build up in the atmosphere.
The rain forests have ability to slow down the greenhouse effect
since during photosynthesis trees trap carbon from carbon dioxide
and by doing it, reduce C0₂ levels in the atmosphere. But forests are
being destroyed to make room for things like farms, mines,
hydroelectric powers and as a result of forest fires. An increase in
greenhouse gas concentration leads to a rise in the greenhouse effect.

Carbon dioxide comes in large quantities from fossil fuels - oil, coal
and gas - burnt to provide the energy we need to run our homes,
offices and factories, as fuel for transport and for other purposes and
from burning forests. Methane comes from agriculture, coal mining,
natural gas extraction and distribution and from waste disposed of on
land. Nitrous oxide is thought to come mainly from farming and from
burning fossil fuels and other materials. Ozone is produced in the lower
atmosphere when nitrogen oxides, mainly from burning fuel, and organic
compounds, some natural, some man-made, react in sunny weather.

2. All these gases have been increasing in the lower atmosphere
over the last 100 years. The trend has increased in recent decades as

Fig. 7.2

world population has grown and as less-developed countries have
industrialized. In addition, a powerful family of GHG is the entirely
man-made, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) compounds
containing chlorine, fluorine and carbon. They have being widely
used in aerosols and refrigerators, for making insulating and structural
foams, as solvents for cleaning, etc.

3. An increase in the green house effect may lead to global warming,
disastrous change in the climate. Using the computer models on which
scientists base their predictions of climate change, Greenpeace
estimates that no more than 225 billion tonnes of carbon can be burned
if global warming is to be limited to the increase of one degree
centigrade. The United Nations Advisory group on Green House
Gases concluded that temperature increases beyond \°C may cause
extensive ecological damage. The total amount of fossil fuels currently

 

Unit 7

Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

 

due to be expected is 1000 billion tonnes, which if burnt would result
in unacceptable temperature rise. Global warming threats all of us
with future droughts, foods and crop losses, that have the potential
for massive human miseries. Changes in climate could dramatically
decrease rain falling over enormous areas, turning more the land into
desert. For example, Central Africa, South Asia, some part of the US
might face the danger of drought and famine. In other places, over the
oceans and in coastal zones, more rain might fall, and more storms,
floods, hurricanes, typhoons, mudflows and slides might occur. More
over, a rise in the earth's average temperature of only one or two
degrees would probably cause a large amount of ice at the North Pole
and South Pole (the polar ice caps) to melt and raise sea levels.

The Antarctic ice-cap contains 90 per cent of the world's fresh
water. If it melted completely it would raise the sea level by more than 70
meters, many densely populated areas would be flooded. Many of the
world major population centers situated on the coast could stop their
existence and disappear under water. About one billion people would
lose their homes and become environmental refugees. At present the
fastest temperature rise is observed in the Antarctic Peninsula, during
the past 50 years the Antarctic was warmed by 2.5 degrees centigrade.
The increase in temperature affects badly life of penguins, the
inhabitants of the Antarctic. The warmer weather has made it more
difficult for penguins to bring up young, as they nest in high rocks that
do not trap snow or water because of yearly meltdown. There is also
less krill plankton to eat. This led to a dramatic decline in their population.

The reducing of ice covering on North Pole by 40% and appearance
of water on North Pole for the first time in 50 million years have given
convincing evidence of global warming. American researchers during
their recent expedition to the Pole have observed a patch of open
water (polynia) in the ice covering about 1 km in width.

Comprehension

1. In what way concentration of the natural greenhouse gases
been changing over the last 100 years?

2. What are fossil fuels?

3. What factors influence the process?

4. What are man-made green house gases?

5. What substances belong to the group of entirely man-made GHG?

6. What measures are taken to eliminate the CFSs?

 

7. What may lead to global warming?

8. What changes could be produced by global warming?

Word Study

Ex. 1. In the paragraph indicated by the number in parenthesis, find
the word or phrase that best fits the meaning given. What word(s)
means (mean)...?

1. begin to exit (1)

2. accumulate, get bigger (1)

3. extra (1)

4. supply (1)

5. to be in operation, be in working order (1)

6. aim, object (1)

7. get (raw material) from the ground (1)

8. tendency (2)

9. artificial (2)

 

10. completely (2)

11. great unhappiness (3)

12. covered with water (3)

13. serious shortage of food (3)

14. a large area of land where is very little water and very few plants (3)

15. people who have been forced to leave their country (3)

16. convincing proof (3)

Ex. 2. Give a definition, synonym or description of the word or
words combinations below.

1. a problem arises (1) 9. solvents (2)

2. cause (1) 10. hurricane (3)

3. fossil fuels (1) 11. completely (3)

4. digestive process (1) 12. drought (3)

5. mainly (1) 13. densely populated (3)

6. the trend has increased (2) 14. environmental refugees (3)

7. in addition (2) 15. peninsula (3)

8. in recent decades (2) 16. lead to (3)

Learn and revise:

existence, inhabitants, entirely, drought, famine, decay, soil,
completely, greenhouse gases, essential, environmental refugees,
fossil fuel, damage

 

Unit 7

Paragraph Reading

Select the statement that best expressed the main idea of the
paragraph.

Paragraph 1

1. Greenhouse gases have been increasing in the atmosphere
over the last 100 years.

2. Human activity causes the release of additional green house
gases, which may lead to global warming.

3. An increase in the green house effect may give a rise to disastrous
consequences.

Paragraph 2

1. The problem of global warming has been made complicated with
the growth of population and industrialization of less-developed
countries.

2. A wide use of entirely man-made GHGs significantly worsens
the problem.

3. Besides constantly increasing in the atmosphere additional
GHG (C0₂, 0₃, CH₄) caused by human activities the problem
is adversely affected by entirely man-made CFSs.

Paragraph 3

Write sentence that express the main idea of the paragraph.

 

Vocabulary	Review
Ex. 1. Which word is odd? Why?
extra	left	additional
build up	accumulate	clean up
provide	take away	supply
run	be in working order	be out of order
aim	favour	object
mainly	partly	principally
extract	mine	process
trend	tendency	measure
entirely	partially	completely
artificial	natural	man-made
permanently	temporally	constantly
evidence	proof	doubt

I_____________________ Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

Ex. 2. Match a verb in column A with a word (words) in column B.

 

A	В
come to	factories, offices
lead to	energy
reduce	the danger
treat with	fuel
decrease	global warming
face	a rise (in)
burn	rain falling
run	droughts and floods
provide	carbon dioxide levels

Ex. 3. Place the appropriate word from the list in each of the blanks
below. Do not use word more than once.

greenhouse flooding rise increase essential

1. Natural green house effect is... to life.

2.... gases go up into the Earth's atmosphere and stop heat from
leaving the Earth.

3. An... in the green house effect may cause the ice at the North
Pole and South Pole to melt and sea levels to rise, leading to
serious... in many parts of the world.

4. In other places, temperature will... and there will be less rain,
turning more of the land in to desert.

Critical Reading and Discussion

1. Are urgent actions already in hand to eliminate the CFSs?
Are they sufficient to cope with the problem?

What else should be done to remove the threat of dangerous
consequences of global warming?

2. What role can chemistry play in finding solution to the problem?

What scientific researches are especially promising on this point?

3. What is the upper side of Kyoto protocol for our country?
What are the main arguments of its opponents?

 

3 Степанова Н.А.

Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Problems

Unit 8

Nuclear Energy

and Nuclear Problems

2. Nuclear fission was discovered in the late 1930 when U-nuclides
bombarded with neutrons were observed to split into two lighter
elements:

²³⁵9₂U=¹⁴¹₅₆Ba = ⁹²₃₆Kr ₊ 3'₀n

In order for the fission process to be self-sustained, at least one
neutron from each fission event must go on to split another nucleus -
fig. 8.1.

Nucleus

Getting Started

What are the advantages and disadvantages (pros and contras)
of nuclear power?

Why some countries remain nuclear-free?

Is it true that nuclear reactors supply about 15% of all electricity
generated in the world?

What accident has lead many people to question the wisdom of
continuing to build and make use of nuclear power plants?

What do you know about consequences of the accident at
Chernobyl in 1986?

What lesson, if any, have been extracted from the tragic event?

Text 9

Nuclear Energy

1. The protons and the neutrons in atomic nuclei are bound
together with forces that are much greater than the forces that bind
atoms together to form molecules. In fact, the energies associated
with nuclear processes are more than a million times those associated
with chemical reactions. This potentially makes the nucleus a very
attractive source of energy. There are two types of nuclear process
that produce energy:

1. Combining two light nuclei to form a heavier nucleus. These
processes are called fusion.

2. Splitting a heavy nucleus into two nuclei with smaller mass
numbers. This process is called fission.

These processes can supply amazing quantities of energy with
relatively small masses of materials consumed.

Fig. 8.1. Representation of a fission process in which each

event produces two neutrons that can go on to split other nuclei, leading

to a self-sustaining chain reaction

Neutrons released from the break-up of one nucleus bombard
other nuclei, causing a chain reaction which leads to sudden, explosive
release of energy. This is the basis of both nuclear weapons and
nuclear power, in which energy of nuclear fission is converted to
electricity. If less than one neutron on average causes another fission
event, the process dies out. If exactly one neutron from each fission
event causes another fission event, the process sustains itself at the
same level and is said to be critical, if more than one neutron from
each causes another fission event, the process rapidly escalates and
the heat build-up causes a violent explosion. To achieve the critical

Unit 8
Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Problems

 

state, a certain mass of fissionable material, called the critical mass, is
needed. If the sample is too small, too many neutrons escape before
they have chance to cause a fission event, and the process stops.

During World War II, the United States carried out an intense
research effort called the Manhattan Project to build a bomb on the
principles of nuclear fission. This programme produced the fission
bomb, which was used with devastating effect on the cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Basically, a fission bomb operates
by suddenly combining two subcritical masses, which results in
rapidly escalating fission event that produce an explosion of
incredible intensity.

3. The process of combining two light nuclei, called nuclear
fusion, produces even more energy per mole then does nuclear
fission. In fact, stars produce their energy through nuclear fusion.
Our sun, which presently consists of 73% hydrogen, 26% helium
and 1 % other elements, gives off vast quantities of energy from the
fusion of protons to form helium. In nuclear fusion, two nuclei join
together: the protons and the neutrons combine to form a larger
nucleus, some protons, neutrons and other particles escape, and
energy is released. Another nuclear bomb works on this principle.
Intense efforts are under way to develop a feasible fusion process,
however, initiating the fusion processes much more difficult than
initiating fission. Currently, scientists are studying two types of
systems to produce the extremely high temperature required: high-
powered lasers and heating by electric currents. At present many
technical problems remain to be solved, and it is not clear whether
either method will prove useful.

4. Because of the tremendous energy involved, fission has been
developed as an energy source to produce electricity in reactors
where controlled fission can occur. The resulting energy is used to
heat water to produce steam that runs turbine generators, in much
the same way that a coal-burning power plant generates energy by
heating water to produce steam. A schematic diagram of a nuclear
power plant is shown in fig. 8.2.

In the reactor core (fig. 8.3), uranium that has been enriched to
approximately 3% ²³⁵₉₂U is housed in metal cylinders. A moderator
surrounding the cylinders shows the neutrons down so that the
uranium fuels can capture them more efficiently. Control rods,

Large water —'
source

Fig. 8.2. A schematic diagram of a nuclear power plant

composed of substances (such as cadmium or graphite) that absorb
neutrons, are used to regulate the power level of the reactor. The
reactor is designed so that if malfunction occurs, the control rods
are automatically inserted into the core to absorb neutrons and to
stop the reaction. A liquid (usually water) is circulated through the
core to extract the heat generated by the energy of fission. This
heat is then used to change water to steam, which runs turbines
that in turn run electrical generators.

Although the concentration of ²³⁵₉₂U in the fuel elements is not
great enough to allow an explosion such as that which occurs in a
fission bomb, a failure of the cooling system can lead to temperatures
high enough to melt the reactor core. This means that the building
housing the core must be designed to contain the core even in the
event of such a melt-down. A gr