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nothing could move from its place without some force
               applied to it. ‘What was this force?’ he wondered.                             What did Isaac
               Isaac was an intelligent man with a questioning mind.  ?                       Newton notice
                                                                                              as he sipped his
               He thought very deeply about the matter and figured                            tea?
               that there was a force deep within the Earth that
               made the objects stay on it. Isaac thus discovered the force of
               gravity. This was a very important discovery in the field of science.


               Let us now read about another scientist who is remembered the
               world over. His name is Alfred Nobel. He was born in Sweden and
               grew up excelling in studies. He showed a deep interest in
               developing explosives and later invented dynamite. Again, this
               was a very important invention. It was extensively used in the                          gravity
               mining and building of roads. Unfortunately, it was also misused
               and caused destruction and death.

                                 However, an incident changed Alfred’s life forever.
                                 His brother died, and newspapers wrongly printed the
                                 news as Alfred’s death, with the headlines saying that
                                 the ‘Merchant of Death’ had passed away. He was                       dynamite
                                 devastated at the thought that his invention was being
                  devastated     used to kill people. He decided to put his entire fortune
                                 into a trust that was used to fund international prizes for
               peace. These became the famous ‘Nobel’ prizes.                                           fortune

               Have you ever thought of how our lives would be without electricity? Let’s read about
               the great mind behind the invention of the electric bulb. Thomas Alva Edison was
               possibly America’s greatest inventor. He invented nearly a thousand things and, most
               importantly, the light bulb.

               When Edison displayed his electrical bulb for the first time, one of the guests remarked
               that the idea was good, but he doubted whether anyone would want to light up their
               homes with such bulbs. How wrong he was!

               There is an interesting story surrounding Edison. Many people used to visit Edison’s
               office every day to meet him and take his advice. One day, a gentleman remarked
               that his office door was very heavy and difficult to push open. He advised Edison to
               replace the door with a lighter one. Edison answered that he had fixed a small pump
               to the door. It pumped a gallon of water into the overhead tank every time the door
               was pushed open. This was an extremely creative way of generating free power,
               wasn’t it?

               Another great inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone. Can you
               imagine what it would be like if there were no phones or mobile phones? The first
               words were spoken on the phone in the year 1876 by Alexander to his assistant Thomas







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      English_G5_TB_Book.indb   126                                                                             11/23/2017   4:41:36 PM
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