Sources of power

The industrial progress of mankind is based on power; power for industrial plants, machines, heating and lighting system, transport. In fact, one can hardlyfind a sphere where power is not required.

At present most of the power required of obtained mainly, from two sources. One is from burning of fossil fuels¹, i.e.² coal, natural gas and oil, for producing heat that will operate internal- and external-combustion engines³. Many of these engines will actuate generators, which produce electricity. The second way of producing electricity is by means of generators that get their power from steam of water turbines. Electricity so produced then flows through transmission lines to houses, industrial plants, enterprises, etc.

It should be noted, however, that the generation of electricity by these conventional processes is highly uneconomic. Actually, only about 40 per cent of heat in the fuel is converted into electricity. Besides, the world resources of fossil fuels are not everlasting. On the other hand⁴, the power produced hydroelectric plants⁵, even if increased many times, will be able to provide for only a small fraction of the power required in near future.

Therefore much effort and thought are being given to other means of generating electricity.

One is the energy of hot water. Not long ago we began utilizing hot underground water for heating and hot water supply, and in some cases, for the generation of electric power.

Another promising field for the production of electricity is the use of ocean tides⁶.

The energy of the Sun, which is being used in various ways, represents a practically unlimited source.

Using atomic fuel for the production of electricity is highly promising. It is a well-known fact, that one pound of uranium contains as much energy as there million pounds of coal, such cheap power can be provided wherever it is required. However, the efficiency reached in generating power from atomic fuel is not high, namely 40 per cent

No wonder, therefore, that scientists all over the world are doing their best⁷ to find more efficient ways of generating electricity directly from the fuel (without using intermediate cycles). They already succeeded developing some processes, which are much more efficient as high as 80 per cent, and in creating a number of devices capable of giving a higher efficiency. Scientists are hard at work trying to solve all these and many other problems.

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1. fossil fuels — ископаемое топливо

2. i.e. (id est) — то есть

3. internal- and external-combustion engines — двигатели внутреннего и внешнего сгорания

4. on the other hand — с другой стороны

5. hydroelectric plants — гидроэлектростанция

6. tide n — морской прилив и отлив

7. to do one's best — делать все возможное

XII. Translate the text.

RADAR

Electromagnetic waves in the super high frequency range, that is waves of between about 1 and 10 centimeters in length, are reflected by large solid object in much the same manner as light. They are however, able to travel greater distances than light in the Earth’s atmosphere, because they are not reflected or diffused by small dust particles in the atmosphere. If, therefore, a transmitter sends out a beam of these centimetric waves, an adjacent receiver can be made to pick up any of the beam that is reflected back by a large solid object. In this way distant object that is not visible by light can be located. By suitable scanning arrangements, the position and shape of the object can be outlined on a cathode ray tube. Thus, electromagnetic waves of these frequencies, which are called radar frequencies, provide a method of “seeing” in the dark or in the fog.

XIII. Make the annotation.