Nanotechnology: How the Science of the Very Small is Getting Very Big

«Научно-технический прогресс» является одной из тем, представленных в обязательном минимуме содержания основного общего и среднего (полного) образования по иностранным языкам.

редлагаем читателям журнала мето- дическую разработку урока, посвя- щенного современным нанотехноло-

гиям.

Центральным элементом разработки выступает материал аудиопередачи о на- нотехнологиях, подготовленный америка- нской корпорацией «Голос Америки». Ау- диоматериал содержит информацию о значении термина «нанотехнологии», пре- имуществах нанотехнологий перед обыч- ными технологиями, сферах применения нанотехнологий, их влиянии на окружаю- щую среду. Передача ориентирована на учащихся с уровнем владения английским языком не ниже уровня Intermediate. Про- должительность репортажа – 14 минут. Программа начитана носителями языка. Материал может использоваться как пол- ностью, так и частично, в зависимости от целей урока, языковой и общекультурной подготовки обучающихся.

Аудиофайл самой передачи может быть загружен с официального сайта корпора- ции «Голос Америки». Точный адрес ука- зан в конце статьи.

I.  PRE-LISTENING

1.1.       PREDICTING

Look at the pictures, read the title and dis- cuss what you think the radio program is going to be about.

1.2.  THINK AHEAD

In groups, discuss the following questions:

1.  What technologies and inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries make our lives easier and more convenient? Personal computers? Cell phones? The Internet? Satellites? Microwaves? How did they change our lives? How do you personally use these technolo- gies and inventions in your daily life?

2.  What is the effect of new technologies and inventions on the environment? Do they pollute the environment? If yes, is there any- thing that can be done to make their use safer for living beings?

3. Have you heard anything about nanotech- nologies? If yes, in what fields are they used? Do you use the advantages of nanotechnologies in the modern equipment? How often? How do they make your life different from the life of your parents when they were your age?

1.3.  VOCABULARY

The words in italics will help you under- stand the report. Read the sentences and try to guess the meaning of the words from the context. Then write either synonyms or their Russian equivalents in the space provided.

1.   Today we tell about one of the most important research fields in technology. It is called nanotechnology. It is the science of making things unimaginably small.

2.  The speedometer is an instrument in a vehicle, that measures speed.

3.  Carbon dioxide is a gas exhaled from the lungs of by people and animals.

4.  The camera does not work, because the battery is dead. It needs to be recharged.

5.  Earth is one of the nine planets in the solar system.

6.  Credit card information is stored in a

microchip.

7.  Greenpeace activists worry that nano- materials could pass into the environment – the air and water – causing health problems.

Now try to match each word with its explanation in English. If you experience dif- ficulties, ask you teacher to assist you. (or ask a partner? look in a dictionary?)

1.  nanotechnology  A. to find the size

of quantity, etc. of something in

6.  microchip                F. the branch of science that deals with structures that are less than 100 nanometers long

7.  environment           G. a chemical

element found in all living things, existing in a pure state as diamond

II.  LISTENING

2.1.  FIRST LISTENING for general idea

Listen to the report and find the answer to the following question:

Do nanotechnologies change our ever- yday lives? How?

2.2.      SECOND LISTENING for main ideas Listen to the four parts of the report again, one part at a time. Each part represents one main idea. After you listen to each part, answer the corresponding question in com- plete sentences. Limit your answers to 1-3 sentences. Make a summary of the report using your answers. Compare your summa-

ries with your classmates.

Part 1

Q 1: What is nanotechnology?

standard units                                                                                                          

2.  to measure              B. using the energy of

the sun3. carbonC. the natural world in which people, animals

Part 2

Q 2: Where and how can nanotechnolo- gies be applied?

and plants live                                                                                                         

4.  charge                       D. the amount of electricity that is put into a battery or carried by a sub

Part 3

Q 3: How can nanotechnologies be applied in the computer industry?

stance                                                                                                                         

5.  solar                         E. very small piece of equipment which contains information and performs certain

Part 4

Q 4: What effects can nanotechnologies have on the environment?

operations                                                                                                                 

86                                   Материалы к учебным темам

2.3.  THIRD LISTENING for details

Read through all of the questions, then listen to each part and circle the best answer to each question or the correct ending to each statement. Compare your answers with your classmates.

Part 1

1.  Nanotechnologists work with materials

…

(a)  about the size of one millimeter

(b)  about the size of atoms and molecules

(c)   as thin as paper

2.  The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope enabled scientists to observe …

(a)  the structure of water

(b)  distant objects in space

(c)    molecules and even atoms in greater detail than ever before

3.  The speech “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” by a Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman is discusses the theory …

(a)  that scientists can make devices about the size of atoms

(b)  that carbon dioxide can be turned into carbon sixty

(c)   that scientists cannot go further than the size of atoms in making devices

Part 2

4.  When did scientists first begin to think about using nanotechnologies to make extre- mely small devices?

(a)  after the period of industrial revolution

(b)  after the development of carbon nano- tubes

(c)   after IBM supported research

5.  What was not mentioned in the report as a use of the nanotube?

(a)  film

(b)  flat material

(c)   glass

6.    Where, according to the report, can nanotechnologies be used?

(a)    in production of sporting goods and machines that reduce air pollution

(b)  in the machine building industry

(c)   in the computer design industry

Part 3

7.  What is one prospect for nanotechnolo- gies in computer science?

(a)  nanotechnologies will make computers affordable for everyone

(b)    nanotechnologies will help to make small, and fast computers

(c)    nanotechnologies will help to make transistors useless

8.  What is Intel famous for?

(a)  the personal computer

(b)  the micro chip with tiny transistors

(c)   the micro computer

9.  What are the most current issues nano- technologists deal with?

(a)  to create a nano-sized transistors

(b)  to make nano-sized transistors work in Hewlett Packard computers

(c)   to stop competition between Intel and Hewlett Packard

Part 4

10.  What danger of nanotechnologies was not mentioned in the report?

(a)  nano-particles in mobile phones cause cancer into laboratory mice

(b)    nano-particles caused lung damage into laboratory mice

(c)    nano-particles can harm the human body’s ability to fight infection

11.    What is known about the effect of nanotechnologies on the environment?

(a)     nanotechnologies have a positive effect

(b)     nanotechnologies have a negative effect

(c)   not much is known about the effect of nanotechnologies on the environment

12.      The environmentalists think the government should …

(a)  develop rules for nanotechnology con- sumers

(b)  develop rules for nano-materials

(c)   develop rules for nano-materials pro- ducers

Материалы к учебным темам                                                                                       87

III.  FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

3.1.  SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

In groups of 3-4 students, discuss the fol- lowing questions:

What have you learned from this report what that you did not know before? The report was made in 2006 and everything described in the program was “the nearest future” at that time. Do you consider most of the technologies discussed in the report as of future, present, or even past? Whichat technologies? What other new technologies has been developed over the last few years? What technologies do you personally use on a daily basis? What technologies would you like to have access to in future? Why? How will they change your life?

3.2.     INTERNET RESEARCH PRO- JECT

1.  If you want to do a web search on new communications technologies, what keywords would you enter in a search engi- ne? What keywords may be misleading in your search and why?

If you want, you can try using these words in your search and see what results you get.

2.   Study summaries of web sites devo- ted to new communications technologies. You can get such summaries once you type “communications technologies” as a key phrase in your web search. What issues connected with communications technologies are brought up on each site? Can you group the issues? What are the most common issues addressed? What are the least frequent issues addressed? The table below will help you complete the task.

88                                   Материалы к учебным темам

3.    Split into groups of three. Each student in a small group will have one topic for individual web search and  study:  Student  A  –  topic A, Student B – Topic B, Student C – Topic C.

Topic A: History and social influence of new communications technologies

Topic B: Conferences and congresses on new communications technologies

Topic C: Application of new communica- tions technologies in education

Then share your findings within your group.

3.3.  REFLECTION TOPIC

In this unit you have learned about new communications technologies. Write an essay on one of the following topics:

(a)    how new communications technolo- gies changed the life of people in the 21 cen- tury;

(b)    how new communications technolo- gies effect your life;

(c)    communications technologies of the 22nd century.

Answer Keys

1.3. VOCABULARY

1-F, 2-A, 3-G, 4-D, 5-B, 6-E, 7-C

2.3. THIRD LISTENING FOR DETAILS

1-B, 2-C, 3-A, 4-B, 5-C, 6-A, 7-B, 8-B,

9-A, 10-A, 11-A, 12-B

Tapescript

NANOTECHNOLOGY: HOW THE SCIENCE OF THE VERY SMALL

IS GETTING VERY BIG

Written by Mario Ritter 07 February 2006

Part 1

Listen to Explorations (MUSIC)

VOICE ONE: I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO: And I’m Faith Lapidus with Explorations in VOA Special English. Today we tell about one of the most impor- tant research fields in technology. It is called nanotechnology. It is the science of making things unimaginably small. But there is nothing small about the problems that scien- tists hope nanotechnology will solve.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE: Nanotechnology gets its name from a measure of distance. A nanome- ter, or nano, is one-thousand-millionth of a meter. This is about the size of atoms and molecules. Nanotechnologists work with materials this small. Many experts credit the idea to physicist Richard Feynman. In nine- teen fifty-nine, this Nobel Prize winner gave a speech. He called it “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom.” Mister Feynman dis- cussed the theory that scientists could make devices smaller and smaller — all the way down to the atomic level. Although he did not use the word nanotechnology, the speech got many scientists thinking about the world of the very small. But for years this idea remained only a theory.

VOICE TWO: At the time, no way existed to record structures the size of molecules. Not even electron microscopes could do the job. But as the nineteen eighties began, two researchers found a way. Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer worked at a laboratory in Zurich Switzerland. They worked for IBM, the American company International Business Machines.

They invented what they called a scan- ning tunneling microscope. This permitted scientist to observe molecules and even atoms in greater detail than ever before.

VOICE ONE: Once they could see nano- sized structures, the next step for scientists

Материалы к учебным темам                                                                                       89

was to find a way to create their own. By the middle of the nineteen eighties, scientists had increased their research on carbon. They were interested in the ability to use this com- mon element to make nano-sized structures. Carbon had already been engineered in che- mical reactions to make long poly-carbon chains.

Today, the result of carbon chemical engineering is everywhere — in the form of plastic. Scientists in the nineteen eighties wanted to create nano-structures from carb- on atoms. In nineteen eighty-five, Robert Curl, Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley succeeded. They aimed a laser at carbon. This powerful light caused some of the car- bon to become a gas.

The scientists cooled the gas to an extre- mely low temperature. Then they looked at the carbon material that remained. They found, among several kinds of carbon, a molecule of sixty atoms — carbon sixty.

VOICE TWO: Carbon sixty is a group of tightly connected carbon atoms that forms a ball. It is a very strong structure. This is because all the atoms share any loose elec- trons that might take part in chemical reac- tions with other atoms. This kind of molecu- lar carbon can also appear with different numbers of carbon atoms. There is also car- bon seventy, for example.

For their work, Robert Curl, Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in nineteen ninety- six.

(MUSIC)

Part 2

VOICE ONE: The next nano-structure development came in nineteen ninety-three. Japanese scientist Sumio Iijima of the com- pany NEC developed carbon nanotubes. These nano-sized objects are really six-sided atomic structures connected to form a tube. They are extremely strong. Scientists believe that someday nanotubes could replace the carbon graphite now used to make airplane parts.

Soon after this discovery, researchers star- ted to think about using nanotubes to build extremely small devices.

In two thousand three, IBM announced that it had made the world’s smallest light. Researchers used a carbon nanotube at- tached to a silicon base. They sent opposing

90

electrical charges down the tube. The reac- tion between the charged particles produced an extremely small amount of light. IBM says the wavelength of light produced could be used in communications.

VOICE TWO: Nanotubes appear to have many different uses. Scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a way to make a flat material, or film, out of nanotubes. The researchers create the super thin film by chemically growing nanotubes on a piece of glass. They use another piece of sticky material to remove the film of nano- tubes from the glass. When the film is finis- hed, it is only fifty nanometers thick. That is about one one-thousandth the width of human hair.

The material is extremely strong and it carries electricity as well. Researchers think the nanotube material could be used to make car windows that can receive radio signals. They also believe it could be used to make solar electricity cells, lights or thin, moveable displays that show pictures like a television. VOICE ONE: Nano-materials are already being used in some products. For example, materials using mixtures of nano-materials are being used to make sporting goods like

tennis balls and tennis rackets better.

Soon, nano-materials could be used to improve devices that reduce pollution relea- sed by cars. Similar technology could be used to warn of the presence of poisonous molecu- les in the air.

(MUSIC)

Part 3

VOICE TWO: Computer scientists hope developments in nanotechnology will help break barriers of size and speed. In nineteen sixty-five, electronics expert Gordon Moore recognized that computer chips, the engines that drive computers, would quickly grow in power.

He even thought of a way to measure this progress. He said researchers would double the number of tiny transistors on a computer chip about every two years. A transistor is a device that controls electrical current.

That statement is known as Moore’s law. It has proved correct for more than forty years. Mister Moore would go on to help start the company Intel, one of the world’s leading computer chip makers. And Moore’s

Материалы к учебным темам

law is one of the most talked about scientific barriers.

VOICE ONE: In nineteen seventy-one, Intel created a computer chip containing two thousand three hundred transistors. In two thousand four, Intel made a chip with five hundred ninety-two million transistors. But current technology has reached its limit. The next jump to one thousand million transi- stors will require new discoveries in nano- technology.

Researchers are trying to solve the pro- blems of creating nano-sized transistors. In two thousand two, IBM announced that it had created the world’s smallest transistor based on the element silicon. IBM said the transistor was four to eight nanometers thick.

In two thousand five, researchers for the company Hewlett Packard wrote about the problems of creating nano-transistors in the magazine Scientific American. They said transistors are often measured by the distance between the middle of two current- bearing wires. Their nano-wire transistor measured thirty-nanometers in size. They said the smallest transistor currently used in a computer is ninety nanometers. But making nano-transistors small enough to meet the demands of Moore’s law may be years in the future.

(MUSIC)

Part 4

VOICE TWO: Although nanotechnology is exciting, there are concerns about the safety of super small structures. Scientists and environmental activists worry that nano-materials could pass into the air and water causing health problems.

There is reason for concern. A study by NASA researchers found that nano-particles caused severe lung damage to laboratory mice. Other studies suggest that nano-par- ticles could suppress the growth of plant roots or could even harm the human body’s ability to fight infection.

VOICE ONE: The Environmental Protection Agency says there is not much known about the effects of nano-structures in the environment. This is because the laws of physics do not work in the same way at the level of the extremely small. The EPA recogni-

zes that this could mean that there are unkno- wn health risks involved in nanotechnology.

The government is expected to spend about thirty nine million dollars on research meant to investigate the health risks of nano-materi- als. But that is less than four percent of total government spending, which will be more than one thousand million dollars this year.

Many environmental groups say at least ten percent of that total is needed. They say private industry needs to spend more on safety research. And, they say, the govern- ment needs to develop rules for nano-materi- als, which are already being made in hun- dreds of places around the country.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO: This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE: And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

Примечание:

Аудио запись программы можно бесп- латно скачать из сети Интернет с офици- ального сайта «Голос Америки»

http://ww w.voanews.com/special- english/archive/2006-02/2006-02-07- voa3.cfm

П.В. Сысоев

д.п.н., профессор ТГУ им. Г.Р. Державина,

г. Тамбов Л.И. Сысоева Заслуженный учитель РФ, МОУ «Гимназия № 12»,

г. Тамбов

Материалы к учебным темам                                                                                       91

Скачано с www.znanio.ru