A New Era for Aircraft

Transport for tomorrow

The text gives some information on transport for the future and innovations used in the car. The main problems connected with it are which vehicle to use and how we are going to use it. According to the text a small electric car will become a usual means of transport in the near future. The car will have an automatic guidance system and the driver will be piloted automatically the greater part of the journey.

To produce new generation cars we need highly developed electronics and new materials. Just 20 years ago the only electronic device in the car was radio. At present modern vehicles are provided with sophisticated electronic systems, such as electronic instrument panel, radar, 4-wheel control system, navigation earth satellite system and others. For example, an electronic instrument panel can tell the driver the level of oil and fuel in the tank, the time of arrival to the place of destination, and so on. Fuel adjusting device can regulate the fuel intake into the car’s carburetor to get the best fuel economy.

Recently a new electronic device, a radar, has been developed in the USA. The main function of it is to detect all possible dangers in front of the car and warn the driver that the speed should go down and the driver should apply the breaks.

Speaking about a new generation car I’d like to say that it has been designed by a Japanese company. The car has a lot of unusual characteristics, for example, the 4-wheel control system ensures the movement diagonally and sideways like a crab, which is especially convenient when leaving the parking place. Many important parts of the car such as pistons, pressure rings, valves are made of new silicon materials, which can withstand temperatures up to 1,000oC, so the car doesn’t need a cooling system.

In conclusion I want to say that the number of innovations used in the car is great but it continues to grow and in the future we will have a perfect model.

A New Era for Aircraft

The text gives information on the new generation passenger liners of the 21^st century. The model of such a supersonic aircraft was demonstrated in Paris on the old La Bourget Airfield.

It’s interesting to note that the airliner looks like a rocket with its elongated fuselage and a sharp nose. The diameter of the fuselage is 4 metres and the overall length 100 metres. The cabin accommodates 300 passengers. The speed of a new liner is 5 or 6 times above the speed of sound. The plane flies so fast that its skin is heated to very high temperatures. That is why the only way out is to fly in the stratosphere.

According to the text to build a reliable supersonic liner we need highly economical combined engines and new heat insulating materials combined with better aerodynamics.

It’s also interesting to say that the aircraft will be lightened by new composite materials used instead of the conventional metal alloys. Because of the extreme temperatures generated by atmospheric friction the aircraft will also require complicated cooling measures. One possibility is to use cryogenic fuel, such as liquid hydrogen both as coolant and propellant. As far as I know specialists in many countries are working on new propeller engines which are much more economical and less noisy than jets.

In conclusion I want to say that new generation aircrafts will have the longer distance of flight and higher level of safety and comfort. If passenger liners of this type are built, the distance between Tokyo and Moscow will be covered in less than two hours.

         The Internet

The Internet is a magnificent global network with millions and millions of computers and people connected to one another. Each day people worldwide exchange a huge amount of information, electronic mail, news, and ideas.

         The Internet has grown at a surprising rate. It’s one of the best resources for up-to-date information. Almost everyone use it regularly. With a few touches at a keyboard a person can get access to any ma­terial: full-text news­papers, magazines, journals, reference works, and books. There is a hypertext-based system by which you can navigate through the Internet. Hypertext is the text that contains links to other docu­ments. A special program known as «browser» can help you find news, pictures, virtual museums, electronic magazines, etc. and print Web pages.

Internet Video conferencing programs enable users to talk to and see each other, and to exchange textual and graphical information. The next generation of Internet-enabled televisions will incorporate a smart-card for home shopping, banking and other interactive services. Internet-enabled TV means a TV set used as an Internet device.

The Internet is a good example of a wide area network (WAN). For long-distance or worldwide communications, computers are usually connected into a wide area network to form a single inte­grated network. Networks can be linked together by telephone lines or fiber-optic cables. Modern telecommunication systems use

fi­ber-optic cables because they offer considerable advantages, such as great speed of transmitting signals and perfect quality. Fiber-optic cables,.for example, are immune to electromagnetic interference and they consume much less electric power than copper cables and wires. Computers are connected by means of a modem to ordinary telephone lines or fiber-optic cables, which are linked to a dish ae­rial. Communication satellites receive and send signals on a trans­continental scale.

         Descending to New Ocean Depths

The text gives information on some types of advanced manned submersibles. A submersible is a small, mobile undersea research vessel capable to function in the ocean depths. Submersibles are constructed in various sizes and shapes. They can be used for laying pipelines underwater, for seafloor mapping, for making direct observations and measurements, recovering lost equipment, for possible rescue activity and so on.

Speaking about the shape of a new submersible I’d like to describe one of them. It has a spherical transparent plastic hull mounted on a metal platform that makes it look like underwater helicopter. Due to the cycloid rotor the helicopter can maneuver itself in the water like a sports car.

It is pointed out that this model has a mechanical hand called a sensory manipulator system. This system is provided with miniature video cameras and the microphones which enable the submersible to hear and see the marine life.

Nowadays the scientists are working over the project of the world’s deepest submersible. It will be capable to submerge up to 21,000 feet. The ship will be driven by a battery-operated electric motor and stay under water up to 9 hours. This craft will be provided with colour video cameras and will collect samples by manipulating 2 robotic arms.

In conclusion I want to say that Russian, French, Japanese and American scientists and engineers are developing crafts which can submerge deeper, stay longer and perform difficult underwater tasks with extreme precision. If such crafts are constructed on a large scale many people will get the opportunity not only spend their holidays under water but grow and cultivate sea plants, fish and pearls.

   Optical Technology

  One of the most interesting developments in telecommunication is rapid progress of optical communication. It is a result of combining two great technologies of the 20^th century: the laser, first demonstrated in 1960, and the fabrication of ultra-thin silicon fibers 10 years later.

Optical fibers are made from glass and are usually about 120 micrometers in diameter. Although they are so small they are much more efficient than copper cables with the same bandwidth. It means that they carry more channels of information over longer distances.

It is difficult to steal information from optical fibers and they don’t ignite, so they can be used in flammable atmospheres, for example in petrochemical plants. Optical fibers are more expensive per meter than copper cables, but optical systems can transmit pulses of light as far as 135 kilometers without any need for amplification or regeneration. It means that less expensive repeaters are required. Besides, they use much less electric power to deliver the signals.

So, we may say that optical communication promises a considerable increase in capacity, quality, performance and reliability of the global telecommunication network. Optical fibers increase the speed of telecommunication and provide new, specialized information service.

In fact, any kind of information, such as voice, computer data, even video images, can be processed and transmitted over a single digital communication network.

Nowadays optical transmission systems are being installed between major cities of Kazakhstan at a rapid rate. It is found that optical technology is cost-effective and versatile. It finds new applications every day- from connecting computers or communication equipment within one building to long distance and space communication..

          Superconductivity

The text presents some information on superconductivity, the history of its development and practical application. Superconductivity is the loss of electrical resistivity by chemical elements, compounds or alloys on being cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero. Just one hundred years ago people thought that this phenomenon was impossible, but on April 8, 1911, a Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes found that the electrical resistivity of a mercury wire disappeared suddenly when cooled below a temperature of 4 Kelvin. He also discovered that a superconducting material can be returned to its normal state either by passing a sufficiently large current through it or by applying a sufficiently strong magnetic field to it. But at that time there was no theory to explain this phenomenon.

50 years later, in 1957, American physicists presented a satisfactory theory on superconductivity and in 1972 they got the Nobel Prize for it. Many scientists made a contribution to this theory, among them Russian physicists Landau and Ginzburg. They introduced a model which proved to be useful in understanding electromagnetic properties of superconductors. In 1986, American scientists from IBM, found a metallic ceramic compound which could become a superconductor at a temperature well above 23 K. It was difficult to believe it, but in 1987 American physicist Paul Chu produced superconductivity at 98 K in a special ceramic material. That was a sensation. Nowadays scientists found a ceramic material that works at a room temperature.

Speaking about the industrial production of superconductors it is necessary to say that while superconductors are easily made, their quality is often uneven. Some break when produced, others lose their superconductivity within minutes or hours. All are extremely difficult to fabricate into wires. These difficulties will continue until scientists give a fuller explanation of how superconductivity is produced in new materials.

In conclusion I’d like to say that the latest world achievements in the field of superconductivity mean a revolution in science and technology. Prestige, scientific advantage, economic and military benefits can have a nation if it masters this new field of science. Potentially superconductors can be widely used in huge and powerful electromagnets for nuclear research, in electronics in tiny but immensely powerful highspeed computers, in power engineering for lowering the cost of electric generation and storage and other spheres of human activity.

          GREAT BRITAIN

The full name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The United Kingdom is situated on the British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and a great number of small islands. Their total area is 244 000 square kilometres.

The island of Great Britain consists of three main parts: England, Wales and Scotland.

There are no high mountains in Great Britain. There are many beautiful lakes in the mountainous parts of the country.

Most rivers flow into the North Sea and they are not very long. The Thames is the deepest and the longest of the British rivers. Great Britain is not very rich in mineral resources; it has some deposits of coal and iron ore and vast deposits of oil and gas that were discovered in the North Sea.

The warm currents of the Atlantic Ocean influence the climate of Great Britain. Winters are not severely cold and summers are rarely hot.

The population of the United Kingdom is over 58 million people. The main nationalities are English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish. In Great Britain there are a lot of immigrants from former British Asian and African colonies.

Great Britain is a highly industrialized country. It is known as one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of iron and steel products, machinery and electronics, chemicals and textile, aircraft and navigation equipment. One of the main industries of the country is shipbuilding.

The main industrial centers are London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow and Bristol.

The capital of the country is London. The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy. The Queen is the head of the state, but in practice the elected government rules it with a Prime Minister at the head. The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

There are three main political parties in Great Britain: the Labor, the Conservative and the Liberal. The Labor party is the ruling party nowadays.