Text 13

Plastics in the chemical age

The plastics industry is typical of the industries that have developed in recent years as a result of chemical research. The chemist is a key man in the plastics industry, and it is from chemical laboratories that new plastics are appearing almost day by day.

Little more than twenty years ago, plastic were still widely regarded as cheap substitutes for traditional materials such as wood and porcelain. Today, plastics have established themselves as wonderful new materials in their own right. They have ousted older materials because they can do a better job, often at lower cost.

We find new plastics encroaching in the fields where metals have reigned supreme. The development of new techniques, such as lamination, has shown how modern plastics may be used for many engineering and structural applications. We can make gears and bearings for heavy machinery from laminated plastics. We can build car bodies, and the hulls of boats, we can pump our water supplier through the plastic pipes, and support larger buildings on plastic beams.

In time we shall have seagoing ships with plastics used for almost everything from crockery on the tables to the hull itself. We shall fly at supersonic speeds in plastic aircraft, and motor in cars with plastic bodies. House and public buildings will be constructed from plastics panels supported by plastic beams. We shall find plastic spaceships carrying us to the moon.

As the demand for the plastics grows, the need for chemical raw materials will increase. Plastics are largely organic chemicals, in which the " backbone " of the molecule consists of carbon atoms. They are made from simpler organic chemical in which the molecules contain fewer carbon atoms, which are manipulated by the plastic chemist into thread - like structure.

Today, we draw our supplies of simple organic chemicals very largely from coal and petroleum. These are the chemical residues of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago, and they contain a variety of different organic substances. We obtain simple chemical raw materials from coal by heating it in retorts, and from petroleum by refining and processing techniques. Coal and petroleum are capital assets; the world has a limited supply, and we can not replace the materials we use. As the demand for organic chemicals increases, the stocks of coal and petroleum will diminish; and some day, they will be gone.

Before this happens, we shall have to seek new sources of organic chemical raw materials, and we shall find them in the carbon dioxide of the air. This is the gas from which the growing plant builds up the sugar and other substances as organic raw materials, without waiting for nature to turn them into coal and oil.

It seems likely that alcohol will become the most important chemical raw material of all as supplies of coal and petroleum dwindle. We can make alcohol by fermentation of the sugar produced by fast growing plants, and it will provide us with the raw materials for plastics and other synthetic chemical industries. The tropical countries of the world will use their vast areas of land for the cultivation of sugar producing crops.

It is probable, too, that we shall in time discover the secrets of photosynthesis, by which the plant uses the sunshine to convert carbon dioxide into sugars and we shall use some synthetic process of this sort to turn carbon dioxide from the air into simple organic chemicals without depending entirely upon the growing plant to do it for us.

The twentieth century is the time when man began to understand how to make all the new synthetic materials from simple chemicals; materials, such as fibres and rubbers, synthetic drugs and dyes, insecticide and weed killers, hormones and vitamins - and, of course plastic.

Exercise

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What have plastics ousted today?

2. What can we made from laminated plastics?

3. What ships will carry us to the moon?

4. What does the backbone of the molecule in plastic consist of?

5. What do we draw our supplies of?( today)

6. What do we obtain simple chemical raw materials from?

7. Why do we have to seek for new sources of organic chemical raw materials?

8. Where shall we find them?

9. What will become the most important chemical raw materials?

II. Read and translate the following derivatives:

industry, industrial

type, typical

wood, wooden

laminate, laminated

apply, application

machine, machinery

increase, decrease vary, variety

place, replace

oxide, dioxide

synthetic, synthesis, synthesize

discover, discovery

fibre, fibrous

rub, rubber, rubbery

III. Translate into Vietnamese paying attention to the words in bold type:

a)

1. Plastics can do a better job, often at lower cost.

2. The development of lamination has shown how modern plastics may be used for many engineering and structural applications.

3. We are able to build car bodies and the hulls of boats from plastics.

4. We shall have to seek new sources of organic chemical raw materials.

5. The twentieth century is the time when one has to understand how to make all the new synthetic materials from simple chemicals.

b)

6. In some time we shall have seagoing ships with plastics used for almost everything from the crockery on the table to the hull itself.

7. We used plastics as cheap substitutes for traditional materials such as wood and porcelain.

8. House constructed with the use of plastic parts are rather cheap.

9. House and public buildings will be constructed from plastic panels supported by plastic beams.

10. He supported himself by working at a chemical plant.

11. We can make alcohol by fermentation of the sugar produced by fast - growing plants.

12. We produced a great variety of alcohol fast - growing plants.

IV. Translate into Vietnamese paying attention to the infinitives:

1. This is the gas from which the growing plant builds up sugar and other substances as organic raw materials, without waiting for nature to turn them into coal and oil.

2. In some time we shall discover the secrets of photosynthesis, by which the plant uses sunshine to convert carbon dioxide into sugars.

3. We shall use some synthetic process to turn carbon dioxide from the air into simple organic chemicals.

4. The twentieth century is the time when man began to understand how to make all the new synthetic materials from simple chemicals.

5. To make use of isotope instruments to supervise a number of chemical processes which formerly had been difficult to check properly is very important for chemical industry today.

6. Polymerization of monomer chloride proceeds more easily, than that of ethylene, an effect to be associated with the polar nature of the vinyl chloride molecule.

V. Write a summary of the text and retell the text.

VI. Translate into English:

1. ViÖc chÕ ho¸ c¸c chÊt dÎo d¹ng líp ®• chØ ra r»ng chóng cã thÓ ®­îc sö dông trong nhiÒu ngµnh kü thuËt vµ trong x©y dùng.

2. Ng­êi ta cho r»ng trong t­¬ng lai kh«ng xa chóng ta cã thÓ lµm m¸y bay b»ng ch¸t dÎo.

3. Ngµy nay, nguyªn liÖu ®Ó s¶n xuÊt ch¸t dÎo lµ nh÷ng chÊt h÷u c¬ th«ng th­êng lÊy tõ chÊt dÎo.

4. V× chóng ta cã tr÷ l­îng than vµ dÇu má h÷u h¹n nªn chóng ta cÇn ph¶i t×m kiÕm nh÷ng nguån h÷u c¬ míi, .....

5. Cã thÓ lµ r­îu sÏ trë thµnh mét trong nh÷ng nguån nguyªn liÖu ho¸ häc quan träng nhÊt.

6. Cã thÓ lµ chóng ta sÏ ph¸t hiÖn ®­îc nh÷n bÝ mËt cña sù quang hîp ®Ó biÕn CO2 thµnh ®­êng nhê ¸nh s¸ng mÆt trêi.