Industrial and Medical Hazards of Static Electricity

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 411.

Task 8

Task 7

Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Task 6

Read the following text and note down three expressions used by the writer to show causality. Label cause (C) and effect (E) in each case to show which comes first in the sentence.

Pulmonary Tuberculosis is caused by infection of the lungs with the tubercle bacillus. Pulmonary lesions are due almost entirely to the human form of the tubercle bacillus, as distinct from the bovine type, which is mainly responsible for glandular and bovine tuberculosis. The bacilli lodge in the lungs and set up a chronic inflammation of a specific type. They produce areas of infiltration which have a characteristic tubercle formation; hence the name for the organism.

In the text in Task 6 there are also some cause effect relationships which are not clearly marked by cause effect expressions. Find these relationships and rewrite the sentences which contain them so that the cause and effect are clearly marked.

Cause and effect are obviously closely related. The following sentences contain the same expression, yet one focuses on cause while the other focuses on effect.

1. Because of his depression, he overate. 2. He overate because of his depression.

(effect of) (cause) (cause of) (effect)

When you write about cause effect, you can decide for yourself whether the cause or the effect is most important to you, and that is what you will focus on. There are many ways of expressing causal relations in English. The simplest way of showing cause is:

because + clause (contains verb).

e.g. The war started bepause the economic situation was desperate.

because of / on account of + phrase (no verb)

e.g. The war started because of / on account of the desperate economic situation.

In speech because is the most common way of expressing causal relationships. However, writers use a wide variety of expressions for these relationships.

Hospitals have to be particularly careful to avoid accidents of all kinds, and fire is a very serious danger in hospitals. The following text explains some ways in which fires in operating theatres can be avoided. Read the text, paying special attention to expressions showing cause effect relationships, then work with a partner to answer (a) and (b) below.

Although static electricity is of practical importance nowadays in only a few specialized applications, it can produce hazards in industry and in hospitals. If the charge built up to any great proportions, it would spark over to an uncharged conductor, and might set alight flammable materials in the process. A very dry atmosphere will help the build-up of charge and this is one of the reasons why a reasonably high relative humidity of around 65% should be maintained throughout any factory and hospital. In oper­ating theatres the rubbing of overshoes on a composition floor or of gowns against a plastic table top can cause large charges to accumulate. Sparking here could cause the ignition of some of the volatile gases used in operational procedures, which would have serious results. The presence of an electric field may also cause the malfunction of delicate apparatus. The floors of an operating theatre should always be metallic, and there should be conducting paths from the top of the operating table to the floor. Casters on instrument tables must have conducting rubber tyres.

a) Underline the expressions which show cause effect relationships. Clearly label each cause (C)
and effect (E).

b) Indicate the degree of certainty which the writer gives to these relationships, i.e. are the effects
certain/probable/possible?