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CHAPTER 1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES Learning objectives are stated at the beginning of each chapter. These learning objectives serve as a preview of the information you are expected to learn in the chapter. The comprehensive check questions are based on the objectives. By successfully completing the NRTC, you indicate that you have met the objectives and have learned the information. The learning objectives are listed below. Upon completing this chapter, you will be able to:
INTRODUCTION The origin of the modern technical and electronic Navy stretches back to the beginning of naval history, when the first navies were no more than small fleets of wooden ships, using wind-filled sails and manned oars. The need for technicians then was restricted to a navigator and semiskilled seamen who could handle the sails. As time passed, larger ships that carried more sail were built. These ships, encouraging exploration and commerce, helped to establish world trade routes. Soon strong navies were needed to guard these sea lanes. Countries established their own navies to protect their citizens, commercial ships, and shipping lanes against pirates and warring nations. With the addition of mounted armament, gunners joined the ship's company of skilled or semiskilled technicians. The advent of the steam engine signaled the rise of an energy source
more practical than either wind and sails or manpower. With this technological
advancement, the need for competent operators and technicians increased. During the years after World War I, the Navy became more electricity and electronic minded. It was recognized that a better system of communications was needed aboard each ship, and between the ships, planes, submarines, and shore installations; and that weaponry advances were needed to keep pace with worldwide developments in that field. This growing technology carried with it the awareness that an equally skilled force of technicians was needed for maintenance and service duties. World War II proved that all of the expense of providing equipment for the fleet and of training personnel to handle that equipment paid great dividends. The U. S. Navy had the modern equipment and highly trained personnel needed to defeat the powerful fleets of the enemy. Today there is scarcely anyone on board a Navy ship who does not use electrical or electronic equipment. This equipment is needed in systems of electric lighting and power, intercommunications, radio, radar, sonar, loran, remote metering, weapon aiming, and certain types of mines and torpedoes. The Navy needs trained operators and technicians in this challenging field of electronics and electricity. It is to achieve this end that this module, and others like it, are published. MATTER, ENERGY, AND ELECTRICITY If there are roots to western science, they no doubt lie under the rubble that was once ancient Greece. With the exception of the Greeks, ancient people had little interest in the structure of materials. They accepted a solid as being just that a continuous, uninterrupted substance. One Greek school of thought believed that if a piece of matter, such as copper, were subdivided, it could be done indefinitely and still only that material would be found. Others reasoned that there must be a limit to the number of subdivisions that could be made and have the material still retain its original characteristics. They held fast to the idea that there must be a basic particle upon which all substances are built. Recent experiments have revealed that there are, indeed, several basic particles, or building blocks within all substances. The following paragraphs explain how substances are classified as elements and compounds, and are made up of molecules and atoms. This, then, will be a learning experience about protons, electrons, valence, energy levels, and the physics of electricity. |
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