Waubonsee Community College

From Stars to Stalagmites, How Everything Connects

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

From Stars to Stalagmites

dictionariesbibliography

794328433

How Everything Connects

Feynman once selected, as the single most important statement in science, that everything is made of atoms. It follows that the properties of everything depend on how these atoms are joined together, giving rise to the vast field we know of today as chemistry. In this unique book specifically written to bridge the gap between chemistry and the layman, Braterman has put together a series of linked essays on chemistry related themes that are particularly engaging. The book begins with the age of the earth, and concludes with the life cycle of stars. In between, there are atoms old and new, the o

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The Age of the Earth -- An Age-Old Question Who thought what and when, and why; Pre-Scientific Theories; in the Beginning; The Transition to Modern Thinking; The Beginnings of Geological Dating; Radioactive Dating; the Gap Widens; Views Reconciled -- Sources of the Missing Energy; Plate Tectonics and Continental Uplift; To Sum Up; 2. Atoms Old and New From Democritus to Rutherford; Atomic Theory in Ancient Times; The Transition to Modern Thinking; The Scientific Revolution and the Revival of Corpuscular Theory -- 1600-1700Early Modern Theory -- 1780-1840Evidence from the Behaviour of Gases (To Around 1860); Structural Chemistry, 1870 On; Einstein and Lucretius; The Modern Era; To Sum Up; 3. The Banker Who Lost His Head Lavoisier, gunpowder, revolution, and the birth of modern chemistry; A Civil Servant Scientist; Reform, Revolution, and the Terror; Guinea Pig, Mesmerism, and Placebo; Chemistry, Elements, and The Elements of Chemistry; In The Rearview Mirror; To Sum Up; 4. From Particles to Molecules, with A Note On Homoeopathy Dalton, Avogadro, Cannizzaro; why did it take so long for the penny to drop?Obscure but FamousThe Development of Dalton's Thinking; Dalton's Atomic Theory; A Note On Homoeopathy; To Sum Up; 5. The Discovery of the Noble Gases -- What's so New About Neon? A tiny difference in density leads to a whole new group of elements; Hidden in Plain Sight; An Extraterrestrial Element; "That's Funny ... "; An Answer, but More Questions; Six for the Price of One; Implications; To Sum Up; 6. Science, War, and Morality; The Tragedy of Fritz Haber Ammonia, explosives, fertiliser, gas warfare, and the most unintended of consequences; Early Life and CareerSimple Reaction, Complex Problem, Major ImportanceHeterogeneous Catalysts and How They Work; The Engineering Challenge; Haber's Expanding Role; Consequences; Chemical Weapons Today; Fertilisers, Population, and the Haber Process; Further Prospects; Conclusions; To Sum Up; 7. The Ozone Hole Story -- A Mystery with Three Suspects Volcano, refrigerator, or jet plane?; The Victim; The Crime; The Investigation; Suspect #1: Nitrogen Oxides; Suspect #2: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), e.g. CF2Cl2; Suspect #3: Volcanic Emissions; Political Pressures. Whistle-Blowers Vindicated; Passing SentenceConnections and RamificationsTo Sum Up; 8. Rain Gauge, Thermometer, Calendar, Warning What a stalagmite tells us about climate past; what history tells us about climate future; The Stalagmite's Story; The Tree Ring's Tale,5 and Other Stories; Elsewhere on the Planet; To Sum Up; 9. Making Metal Iron from the sky. Philistines and Phoenicians. Domestic uses of arsenic. Eros in Piccadilly. The jet age; The Gold Standard; From Stone to Bronze, From Bronze to Iron; The Poisonous Metals; Arsenic, Mercury, Lead; Getting More Reactive; Zinc, Magnesium, Sodium; Special Tricks