EnglishClub

Pre-listening vocabulary

• imitate: to act like something or someone
• eardrum: the part of the ear that responds to sound waves
• groove: a narrow cut
• nursery rhyme: a simple song for children
• introduce: to present something new
• record: a disc that stores sound in small grooves
• cassette: a small device that uses magnetic tape to store sound

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:39 — 2.3MB)

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Gapfill exercise

In the 1850s, a man named Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville the phonautograph, a device that imitated a human eardrum. The phonautograph was the first device to record . However, it only stored of sound waves, and the technology to play these sound waves didn’t exist yet. The first person to record sound and replay it was Thomas Edison, in 1877. His invention, the phonograph, used a needle to carve grooves into a metal or wax cylinder. Edison’s first recording was the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” In 1887, German-American inventor Emile Berliner introduced the gramophone, which used flat records to store and play sound. These could be easily copied and . Record players remained common until the 1980s and 1990s, when cassettes and CDs became more choices.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville invented
   a. the phonograph
   b. the phonautograph
   c. the gramophone
   
2. The problem with the phonautograph was that
   a. its recordings could not be copied and sold
   b. the technology to play its recordings didn’t exist yet
   c. it used very expensive materials
   
3. The first sound that Edison recorded was
   a. a nursery rhyme
   b. a telephone call
   c. a scene from a play

Discussion/essay questions

1. Technology has progressed very quickly over the last few centuries. Some tools we use every day would be hard for people 100 years ago to imagine. What new technology do you think we will have 100 years in the future?

Transcript

In the 1850s, a man named Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville invented the phonautograph, a device that imitated a human eardrum. The phonautograph was the first device to record sound. However, it only stored drawings of sound waves, and the technology to play these sound waves didn’t exist yet. The first person to record sound and replay it was Thomas Edison, in 1877. His invention, the phonograph, used a needle to carve grooves into a metal or wax cylinder. Edison’s first recording was the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” In 1887, German-American inventor Emile Berliner introduced the gramophone, which used flat records to store and play sound. These could be easily copied and sold. Record players remained common until the 1980s and 1990s, when cassettes and CDs became more popular choices.

Answers to comprehension questions

1b 2b 3a

Pre-listening vocabulary

• observer: a person who is watching something
• wavelength: the distance between the peaks of a light or sound wave
• visible spectrum: all of the light waves that humans can see
• pitch: how high or low a sound is
• expand: to grow larger
• solar system: the planets that orbit the Sun

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:20 — )

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | More

Gapfill exercise

Redshift is an created by light waves. It causes the colour of an object to become redder as it moves from an observer. This is because red light has the longest wavelength of all the colours on the visible spectrum. Redshift is not something that humans often see, because an object must be very fast to visibly change colour. However, we can observe a similar effect with sound waves, when the pitch of a car horn changes as the car drives away. Redshift is important because it has helped astronomers make about the universe. In 1929, the redshift of caused astronomer Edwin Hubble to discover that the universe is expanding. Today, astronomers also use redshift to find the locations of planets outside of our solar system.

Comprehension questions

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Discussion/essay questions

1. Redshift is one example of how reality can depend on our interpretation. While an observer standing still might be able to see an object change colour, an observer moving at the same speed as the object would not. Can you think of some other situations where different people might interpret reality differently?

Transcript

Redshift is an effect created by light waves. It causes the colour of an object to become redder as it moves away from an observer. This is because red light has the longest wavelength of all the colours on the visible spectrum. Redshift is not something that humans often see, because an object must be travelling very fast to visibly change colour. However, we can observe a similar effect with sound waves, when the pitch of a car horn changes as the car drives away. Redshift is important because it has helped astronomers make observations about the universe. In 1929, the redshift of galaxies caused astronomer Edwin Hubble to discover that the universe is expanding. Today, astronomers also use redshift to find the locations of planets outside of our solar system.