Choose the phrase which could replace these phrases.

A.the great highs and lows of science

1. achievements in scientific development;

2. successes and failures in scientific development;

3. different directions in science;

B.broke the dawn of atomic energy

1. gave the start of it;

2. prevented its development;

3. encouraged production of nuclear weapon;

C.unleashing a proliferation problem

1. succeeding in its solution;

2. attempting to solve it;

3. promoting its spread;

D.unlocking the energy glue of the nucleus

1. discovering nucleus as a source of energy;

2. discovering the structure of nucleus;

3. discovering the nucleus as a source of electricity;

E.a tempting source of energy

1. a profitable way of getting electricity;

2. an attractive way of getting energy;

3. a reliable way of getting energy.

7. Fill the gaps with the new words:

Devastate, transmutation, self-sustain, trigger, kinetic, raw, proliferation, envelope(v), split, exothermic

1) Purifying uranium was hard, and neutrons in the experiments were quickly mopped up before they could__________ the fission cascade.

2) Fermi obtained the first__________ chain reaction in 1942 at the University of Chicago.

3) The work of the research team of the Manhattan Project was__________ in mystery.

4) Speed or velocity can be used to calculate the__________ energy.

5) In1917 Ernest Rutherford got __________ of nitrogen into oxygen by firing alpha particles at the gas.

6) Fermi was__________ when his theory of full beta decay was rejected by scientific journal Nature on the basis that it was too speculative.

7) We say the gas is ionized, which means that some of gas molecules have been__________ into positive ions and negative electrons.

8) A __________ of personal computers has greatly influenced the development of technologies.

9) __________ uranium is enriched to be used in the production a sustainable fission.

10) During __________ reaction some heat is released.

Use the words given in brackets to form a word that fits in the gaps.

1) Dirac thought of the quanta as tiny__________ (oscillate) .

2) Beta radiation involved the__________ (convert) of a down quark in a neutron into an up quark in a proton, while emitting a W-particle.

3) Interference effects are easily__________ (understand) if one thinks of a wave as some sort of displacement in a medium.

4) A sphere has the smallest possible surface area for a given mass, and therefore minimizes neutron__________ (leak) .

5) The amount of critical mass of fissile material is __________ (depend) on several factors: physical properties and nuclear properties, their geometry and purity.

6) In fact, the energy in a few grams of antimatter is enough to transport an__________ (man) spacecraft to Mars in about a month.

7) Fission chain reactions occur because of interactions between neutrons and __________ (fission) isotopes.

8) Questions remained about what the numbers in the __________ (matrix) were and what they meant in real life.

9) The universe is a sea of information; the form we assign to it is__________ (second) .

10) The __________ (come) electron, or other particle, absorbs a photon to produce a second more energetic electron.

SPEAKING

Answer the following questions.

1. What kind of energy is released during a nuclear reaction?

2. Why is it possible to use nuclear fission to produce electricity?

3. Why is the use of nuclear fuel more advantageous than chemical fuel?

4. How does uranium-238 become plutonium-239?

Complete these sentences with information that reflects your personal views.

I. To obtain energy by manipulating one or several nuclei of atoms we can do it using two ways…

II. Not all neutrons are able to continue the fission reaction…

III. The amount of critical mass of fissile material is dependent on several factors…

IV. In order to enrich uranium…

Read the statements and mark T (true) or F (false).

1. In spontaneous nuclear fission the outer absorption is necessary.

2. Plutonium-239 has a low spontaneous fission rate compared with the rate of spontaneous fission of uranium-235.

3. Nuclear fission cannot occur without neutron bombardment.

4. During nuclear fission the sum of the masses of the fragments is smaller than the original mass.

5. The critical mass is the biggest amount of fissile material for a nuclear chain reaction is maintained.

6. The amount of critical mass of fissile material doesn’t depend on its purity.

7. The most common use of controlled nuclear fission is in nuclear reactors.

8. The self- sustaining release of neutrons is known as a chain reaction.