Ex. 3 Match the synonyms to the words

The weightless environment on space stations (1)_____ of as much interest to materials scientists as to any others. Scientists are (2) _____________ in a variety of physical properties of materials, such as melting points, molding characteristics, and the combining or separating of raw materials into useful products. (3)____________ the first space stations, materials scientists performed simple experiments of very short duration aboard plummeting airplanes and from tall drop towers. Through these studies, scientists discovered that gravity plays a role in introducing (4)___________ in crystals, in the combination of materials, and in other processing activities requiring the application of heat. Until the advent of space stations, however, they were incapable of sustaining a weightless environment long enough to thoroughly (5)_____________ these phenomena.

The advent of space stations allowed the study of new alloys, protein crystals for drag research, and silicon crystals (6) _____use in electronics and semiconductors. Materials scientists theorized that improvements in processing in weightlessness could lead to the (7)_______________ of valuable drugs; high-strength, temperature-resistant ceramics and alloys; and faster computer chips.

One of the Mir components, the Kristall module, was (8)_____________ dedicated to experiments in materials processing. One objective was to use a sophisticated electrical furnace in a weightless environment for producing perfect crystals of gallium arsenide and zinc oxide¹ to create absolutely pure computer chips capable of (9)___________speeds and fewer errors. Although they failed to create absolutely pure chips, they were purer than those they could create within Earth's gravitational field.

(10)________ recently, fiber-optic cables are also being improved in weightlessness. Fiber-optic cables, vital for high-speed data transmission, microsurgery, certain lasers, optical power transmission, and fiber-optic gyroscopes2, are made of a complex blend of zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum, and sodium3. When this blend is performed in a weightless environment, materials (11) ___________ are finding them to be more than one hundred times more efficient than fibers created on Earth.

Ex. 6 Work in pairs: take turns to ask and answer the questions to the text “Creating Materials in a Weightless Environment“

1. What natural phenomenon were scientists interested in?

2. What kind of experiments did material scientists perform before the first space stations?

3. What did they discover through these studies?

4. When did it become possible to sustain weightlessness long enough?

5. What did the advent of space stations allow to study?

6. In which spheres of our life can improved materials be applied?

7. Are scientists able to remove impurities from most materials? If so, give an example.

Ex. 7 Test each other: Look at the words and word combinations below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

Ex. 8 Complete the Table (column “Application on Earth”) using the information from the text “Creating Materials in a Weightless Environment“

Ex. 9. Summarize the information on materials research in space using the text “Creating Materials in a Weightless Environment” and the table above:

e.g. Astronauts study the effects of weightlessness on new alloys, protein crystals for drag research and medicine.

Ex. 10 [7] (file 3) Listen to the explanation how to use modals of probability

*Note: you may take the exercise as a home assignment