Broken Magnet Highlights Largest Collider's Engineering Challenges

Even at the world's soon-to-be largest particle accelerator—a device that promises to push the boundaries of physics—scientists need to be mindful of one of the most fundamental laws in the universe: Murphy's Law. In late March, a scant few months before the much anticipated Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is slated to go online, a small but crucial part of the machine broke with a bang.

The accident happened as a team was testing a set of magnets that will steer protons—tiny positively charged particles found in every atom's nucleus—around the accelerator to nearly the speed of light. The test was meant to simulate what could happen in emergency situations, when gas might build up to high pressures inside the accelerator. When the pressure inside got high, it snapped supports holding the magnets, and gas burst out of the tube, stirring up a cloud of dust. No one was hurt, but the dramatic failure revealed a design flaw in the massive machine. "We were busy solving hard problems, and somehow an easy one slipped past us," said Jim Strait of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois.

Fermilab was responsible for the part that failed in the tests, and they're now scrambling to work out a solution and put it in place as quickly as possible. It's not clear yet whether this will delay the startup of the accelerator, which is expected in early 2008. Still, scientists are thankful that they caught the problem before the machine actually powered up. "If you don't do enough tests, you get something like the Hubble," said Dan Green of Fermilab, who also works on the LHC. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope turned out to have a faulty lens due to a simple error. The gaffe wasn't caught until the telescope was in orbit, and it cost tens of millions of U.S. dollars to fix.

anticipated – предвосхищать                                                                tosteer - направлять

LHC - адроновый ускоритель со встречными пучками               accelerator - усилитель

designflaw - упущение, недоработка                                                   gaffe – оплошность

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THE AMERICAN FAMILY

Nine out of ten people in the USA live as members of families and they value their families highly. Most Americans say that family is very important to them.

A traditional American family is one in which both parents are living together with their children. Early marriages are not common in the USA and married couples are usually waiting quite long before they have children. Parents work hard to provide conditions in which children are brought up and try to give them a good education.

American children are very independent and are not capricious at all. Even in well-to-do families teenagers often work after school as baby-sitters, paper deliverers, cleaning people to earn their pocket money.

Old people often do not live with their grown up children. Many live in old people's homes.

Americans are always on the move and sometimes change their homes every few years. The typical American family has more money than a British family.

1.    What is traditional American family like?

2.    Are early marriages common in the USA?

3.    Do both parents work in most American families?

3. Topic: “From the History of Engineering”

№ 15

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Historians of science are divided in their explanation of the change in western man's outlook which occurred in the seventeenth century. Some consider seventeenth century science as a sudden advance in a process which had been going on since the earliest days of history. This view seems reasonable when we remember how much Copernicus was influenced by Ptolemy, Galileo by Aristotle and Archimedes, and how much Vesalius and Harvey owed to Galen. Others believe that the growth of modern science was the result of economic changes. Science developed in Italy at a time when the country was rich. As trade and industry moved towards the Atlantic, the centre of scientific advance also moved to Holland, France and England.

There are many examples of the way in which technology and science influence one another. The medieval clock was the origin of the work on the pendulum done by Galileo. The needs of navigation led to the interest in astronomy which produced the work of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Newton. The manufacture of spectacles, especially in Holland, made possible the invention of the telescope and the microscope. The needs of the mining industry in Germany, Hungary and Holland led to experiments on the vacuum, to the invention of the air-pump by Otto von Guericke and to Boyle's work on gases. The idea of the pump was the basis of Harvey's researches on the circulation of blood and of Newcomen's invention of the steam-engine in 1712.

Familiarity with machines of all kinds made people ready to accept the idea of a mechanistic universe which was so different from the medieval ideal of the universe. Another characteristic of the new movement was the attention it paid to exact measurement. This led to the invention of Galileo's thermometer, Torricelli's barometer, Gunter's slide rule, Gascoigne's micrometer and Huygens's pendulum clock. The most important characteristic of the new scientific outlook was the use of experiment. The Greek philosophers and the scholars of the Middle Ages did perform some experiments, but it was not their general practice. The 'new philosophy' of science was the result of a combination of this tradition and that of the manual worker.

outlook – наблюдение, мировоззрение; influence - влияние, воздействие; invention – изобретение; measurement – измерение; pendulum clock - маятниковыечасы

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COWBOYS

After the Civil War American cities grew rapidly.

Their increasing populations were hungry for fresh meat. Texas alone had almost five million cattle at this time. In the late 1860s the cattle were driven north. The cowboy became important in American history and literature. The early cowboy rode on horseback to tend cattle. Each day cowboys worked hard for only one dollar. They were parched in summer and lashed by winter winds. The early cowboys led a lonely life, because the ranch was located far from the town. With patient skill they drove their herds north to the railroads. Along the thousand miles Chisholm Trail, they traveled for two or three months. This famous trail ended in Kansas. At their destination the cowboys drove the cattle into pens or railroad cars. After their long drives the cowboys were busy with round-ups and other chores. In the 1880s, writers and artists immortalized the cowboys. By this time, however, the cowboy era was almost over.

The cowboy of today uses a truck or even a helicopter to tend cattle. A cowboy today uses machines to help with tasks. A modern cowboy has good roads, automobiles and trucks to travel to town. Nevertheless, the cowboy legend endures in song and story.

1.    Did the cowboy become important in American history and literature?

2.    What lifestyle did the early cowboys lead?

3.    What is the modern cowboy like?

3. Topic: “General Vehicle’s Mechanisms»

№ 16

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