首页
登录
职称英语
A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to lifeThe control of fire
A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to lifeThe control of fire
游客
2024-01-09
21
管理
问题
A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to life
The control of fire was the first and perhaps greatest of humanity’s steps towards a life-enhancing technology
To early man, fire was a divine gift randomly delivered in the form of lightning, forest fire or burning lava. Unable to make flame for themselves, the earliest peoples probably stored fire by keeping slowburning logs alight or by carrying charcoal in pots.
How and where man learnt how to produce flame at will is unknown. It was probably a secondary invention, accidentally made during tool-making operations with wood or stone. Studies of primitive societies suggest that the earliest method of making fire was through friction. European peasants would insert a wooden drill in a round hole and rotate it briskly between their palms. This process could be speeded up by wrapping a cord around the drill and pulling on each end.
The Ancient Greeks used lenses or concave mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays and burning glasses were also used by Mexican Aztecs and the Chinese.
Percussion methods of firelighting date back to Paleolithic times, when some Stone Age tool-makers discovered that chipping flints produced sparks. The technique became more efficient after the discovery of iron, about 5000 years ago. In Arctic North America, the Eskimos produced a slow-burning spark by striking quartz against iron pyrites, a compound that contains sulphur. The Chinese lit their fires by striking porcelain with bamboo. In Europe, the combination of steel, flint and tinder remained the main method of fire-lighting until the mid-19th century.
Fire-lighting was revolutionised by the discovery of phosphorus, isolated in 1669 by a German alchemist trying to transmute silver into gold. Impressed by the element’s combustibility, several 17th century chemists used it to manufacture firelighting devices, but the results were dangerously inflammable. With phosphorus costing the equivalent of several hundred pounds per ounce, the first matches were expensive.
The quest for a practical match really began after 1781 when a group of French chemists came up with the Phosphoric Candle or Ethereal Match, a sealed glass tube containing a twist of paper tipped with phosphorus. When the tube was broken, air rushed in, causing the phosphorus to self-combust. An even more hazardous device, popular in America, was the Instantaneous Light Box—a bottle filled with sulphuric acid into which splints treated with chemicals were dipped.
The first matches resembling those used today were made in 1827 by John Walker, an English pharmacist who borrowed the formula from a military rocket-maker called Congreve. Costing a shilling a box, Congreves were splints coated with sulphur and tipped with potassium chlorate. To light them, the user drew them quickly through folded glass paper.
Walker never patented his invention, and three years later it was copied by a Samuel Jones, who marketed his product as Lucifers. About the same time, a French chemistry student called Charles Sauria produced the first ’strike-anywhere’ match by substituting white phosphorus for the potassium chlorate in the Walker formula. However, since white phosphorus is a deadly poison, from 1845 matchmakers exposed to its fumes succumbed to necrosis, a disease that eats away jaw-bones. It wasn’t until 1906 that the substance was eventually banned.
That was 62 years after a Swedish chemist called Pasch had discovered non-toxic red or amorphous phosphorus, a development exploited commercially by Pasch’s compatriot J E Lundstrom in 1885. Lundstrom’s safety matches were safe because the red phosphorus was non-toxic; it was painted on to the striking surface instead of the match tip, which contained potassium chlorate with a relatively high ignition temperature of 182 degrees centigrade.
America lagged behing Europe in match technology and safety standards. It wasn’t until 1900 that the Diamond Match Company bought a French patent for safety matches—but the formula did not work properly in the different climatic conditions prevailing in America and it was another 11 years before scientists finally adapted the French patent for the US.
The Americans, however, can claim several ’firsts’ in match technology and marketing. In 1892 the Diamond Match Company pioneered book matches. The innovation didn’t catch on until after 1896, when a brewery had the novel idea of advertising its product in match books. Today book matches are the most widely used type in the US, with 90 percent handed out free by hotels, restaurants and others.
Other American innovations include an an-tiafterglow solution to prevent the match from smouldering after it has been blown out; and the waterproof match, which lights after eight hours in water.
Questions 1-8
Complete the summary below. Choose your answers from the box at the bottom of the page and write them in boxes 1 - 8 on your answer sheet.
NB There are more words than spaces so you will not use them all. You may use any of the words more than once.
EARLY FIRE-LIGHTING METHODS
Primitive societies saw fire as a ______(Example)______ .gift. Answer heavenly They tried to【R1】______ burning logs or charcoal【R2】______ that they could create fire themselves. It is suspected that the first man-made flames were produced by【R3】______
The very first fire-lighting methods involved the creation of【R4】______by, for example, rapidly【R5】______a wooden stick in a round hole. The use of【R6】______or persistent chipping was also widespread in Europe and among other peoples such as the Chinese and【R7】______ European practice of this method continued until the 1850s【R8】______the discovery of phosphorus some years earlier.
List of Words
Mexicans random rotating
despite preserve realising
sunlight lacking heavenly
percussion chance friction
unaware without make
heating Eskimos surprised
until smoke [br] 【R6】
选项
答案
percussion
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3346007.html
相关试题推荐
A、ThehistoryofwildfiresinNorthAmericademonstratesthatcontrolledblazes
AUDACIOUS:A、controlledB、apparentC、shyD、dumbE、elegantC
Throughitsstateassociations,theAmericanMedicalAssociationcontrolledwho
Joepubliclyadvocates(i)______andself-controlbut,oddlyenough,seemstoadm
Consideringthatmanywomenhadlittlecontrolovertheirownlivesinmedieval
Undercontrolledconditions,orangetreesthatwereraisedfromseedlingsan
Somepeoplethinkthatscientificresearchshouldbecontrolledandcarried
Thegovernmentshouldcontroltheamountofviolenceinfilmsandontelevis
Aspark,aflint:HowfireleapttolifeThecontroloffire
Aspark,aflint:HowfireleapttolifeThecontroloffire
随机试题
[originaltext]PresidentBushgavethenationseveralcluesSaturdayaboutth
珠蛋白生成障碍性贫血的主要诊断依据是A.网织红细胞增高 B.血红蛋白电泳异常
急性再生障碍性贫血的骨髓增生程度大多呈A.增生活跃B.明显活跃C.极度减低D.增
吡喹酮首选用于()A.阿米巴病 B.蛔虫 C.丝虫 D.日本血吸虫
人不可以“一心二用”,同时完成两种活动是不可能的。
某互联网公司采用虚拟企业组织模式进行运营。这种企业组织模式的主要优势有()。A
相火旺之遗精,调护的重点是 A.少食醇酒辛辣 B.避免过劳 C
人在每一瞬间,将心理活动选择了某些对象而忽略了另一些对象。这一特点指的是注意的(
期货交易所的所得收益不能用于()。A.装修期货交易大厅 B.引进先进的期货交
设备基础常见质量通病有()。A.基础上平面标高高于设计或规范要求,使二次灌浆层
最新回复
(
0
)