Why Things Break 英文原版
作者： Mark
出版社：Random House US 2004年09月
简介：
Did you know-- - It took more than an iceberg to sink theTitanic.- The Challenger disaster was predicted.- Unbreakable glassdinnerware had its origin in railroad lanterns.- A football teamcannot lose momentum. - Mercury thermometers are prohibited onairplanes for a crucial reason.- Kryptonite bicycle locks areeasily broken. "Things fall apart" is more than a poeticinsight--it is a fundamental property of the physical world. "WhyThings Break" explores the fascinating question of what holdsthings together (for a while), what breaks them apart, and why theanswers have a direct bearing on our everyday lives. When MarkEberhart was growing up in the 1960s, he learned that splitting anatom leads to a terrible explosion--which prompted him to worrythat when he cut into a stick of butter, he would inadvertentlyunleash a nuclear cataclysm. Years later, as a chemistry professor,he remembered this childhood fear when he began to ponder the factthat we know more about how to split an atom than we do about how apane of glass breaks. In "Why Things Break," Eberhart leads us on aremarkable and entertaining exploration of all the cracks, clefts,fissures, and faults examined in the field of materials science andthe many astonishing discoveries that have been made abouteverything from the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger tothe crashing of your hard drive. Understanding why things break iscrucial to modern life on every level, from personal safety tomacroeconomics, but as Eberhart reveals here, it is also an area ofcutting-edge science that is as provocative as it is illuminating."An engaging personal account not just of the physics and chemistryof materials but of the ethics, economics, and politics ofinnovation, with delightful bonuses on topics from the origins of'ghostly' noises in old houses to the amazing coevolution of armorand armor-piercing projectiles. If it ain't broke, Mark Eberhartcan tell you why--and explain equally well why a shatterproof worldremains beyond our reach."--Edward Tenner, author of "Our OwnDevices" and "Why Things Bite Back" "I don't remember a book thathas taught me so much, nor previously encountering a teacher likethe marvelous Mark Eberhart, who in "Why Things Break" providesenlightening and thoroughly captivating scientific explanations ofsubjects ranging from the structural failures leading to thesinking of the Titanic to everyday, no-less-fascinating topics suchas the reason why, even at the same temperature, winter days alwaysseem so much colder in Boston than in Denver."--Richard Restak,M.D., author of "Mozart's Brain" and" The Fighter Pilot" "Eberhartbrings his insights to the reader by weaving personalanecdotes--from his childhood fear that cutting a stick of butterwould release the energy of the atoms within to his arrival inBoston for an interview with MIT without a suitable wintercoat--into a fascinating discussion of the forces that hold atomsand molecules together. A lively, unvarnished look at chemistry onthe cutting edge." --Kirkus Reviews
