Mark Miodownik

A world-leading materials scientist presents an engrossing collection of stories that explain the science and history of materials, from the plastic in our appliances to the elastic in our underpants, revealing the miracles of engineering that seep into our everyday lives. 25,000 first printing.

Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World

Stuff Matters

The Delightful and Dangerous Substances That Flow Through Our Lives

Liquid Rules

Üstüne Dünya Kurdugumuz Malzemelerin Olaganüstü Öyküleri

Esyanin Tabiati

Liquid

Sometimes explosive, often delightful, occasionally poisonous, but always fascinating: the secret lives of liquids, from one of our best-known scientists A series of glasses of transparent liquids is in front of you: but which will quench your thirst and which will kill you? And why? Why does one liquid make us drunk, and another power a jumbo jet? From the bestselling author of Stuff Matters comes a fascinating tour of the world of these surprising or sinister substances - the droplets, heartbeats and ocean waves we all encounter every day. Structured around a plane journey which sees encounters with water, wine, oil and more, Miodownik shows that liquids are agents of death and destruction as well as substances of wonder and fascination, and - just as in Stuff Matters - his unique brand of scientific storytelling brings them and their mysterious properties alive in a captivating new way.

It's a Gas

Você já se perguntou como é feito o concreto? Ou por que o chocolate fica com manchas brancas na superfície se é aquecido e depois resfriado? Ou o que faz o diamante e o grafite, ambos feitos de carbono, serem tão diferentes? Mark Miodownik responde a todas essas perguntas - e tantas outras - relatando suas experiências pessoais com cada um dos materiais. Miodownik ensina química o suficiente para explicar como são feitas as coisas mais importantes do mundo, mas fala de ciência de um modo acessível para todos.

As curiosas histórias dos maravilhosos materiais que formam o mundo dos humanos

De que são feitas as coisas

Жидкости

Kuriose Fakten über alles, was durch unser Leben sickert, tröpfelt, rinnt und fließt

Fabelhafte Flüssigkeiten

A Vida Secreta dos Materiais

* * * Winner of the 2014 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books * * * Stuff Matters by Mark Miodnownik is a unique and inspiring exploration of human creativity. 'Enthralling. A mission to re-acquaint us with the wonders of the fabric that sustains our lives' Guardian Everything is made of something... From the everyday objects in our homes to the most extraordinary new materials that will shape our future, Stuff Matters reveals the miracles of craft, design, engineering and ingenuity that surround us every day. From the tea-cup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, from the ancient technologies of fabrics and ceramic to today's self-healing metals and bionic implants, this is a book to inspire amazement and delight at mankind's material creativity. 'A certain sort of madness may be necessary to pull off what he has attempted here, which is a wholesale animation of the inanimate: Miodownik achieves precisely what he sets out to' The Times 'Insightful, fascinating. The futuristic materials will elicit gasps. Makes even the most everyday substance seem exciting' Sunday Times 'Wonderful. Miodownik writes well enough to make even concrete sparkle' Financial Times 'I stayed up all night reading this book' Oliver Sacks 'Expert, deftly written, immensely enjoyable' Observer Mark Miodownik is Professor of Materials and Society at UCL, scientist-in-residence on Dara O Briain's Science Club (BBC2) and presenter of several documentaries, including The Genius of Invention (BBC2). In 2010, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, broadcast on BBC4. He is Director of the UCL Institute of Making, which is home to a materials library containing some of the most wondrous matter on earth, and has collaborated to make interactive events with many museums, such as Tate Modern, the Hayward Gallery and Wellcome Collection. In 2014 Stuff Matters won the Royal Society Winton Prize.

The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World

La sostanza delle cose. Storie incredibili dei materiali meravigliosi di cui è fatto il mondo

Vincitore del Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, Regno Unito 2014. Vincitore dei Communication Awards, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Stati Uniti 2015. «Sono rimasto sveglio tutta la notte a leggere questo libro. Miodownik scrive con enorme competenza e grande entusiasmo, trasmettendo al lettore il suo amore per questi temi.» Oliver Sacks L’acciaio è «indomito», la carta «fidata», il cioccolato naturalmente è «delizioso», la plastica «immaginifica» e la grafite è semplicemente «indistruttibile». Poi c’è la schiuma («meravigliosa»), il vetro (ovviamente «invisibile»), la porcellana («raffinata»), e certo non può mancare il comune, onnipresente, «fondamentale» cemento. Sono le sostanze di cui è fatto il nostro mondo. Basta gettare l’occhio intorno a noi e ne vediamo a centinaia, eppure sappiamo così poco di loro. Invece, quando Mark Miodownik si guarda intorno vede ben più in là delle apparenze superficiali delle cose ed è capace di raccontarci per ognuno di questi materiali una quantità incredibile di storie affascinanti, da restare a bocca aperta per lo stupore. Ogni sostanza diventa un mondo. In questo libro compaiono cose antichissime come il ferro accanto a sostanze futuristiche come i biomateriali o l’aerogel, tutte presentate nella loro caleidoscopica varietà di forme e di funzioni, colori e proprietà, ognuna con un suo messaggio nascosto e un’avvincente storia da narrare. I materiali hanno contribuito a rivoluzionare il nostro stile di vita, fanno parte del nostro mondo e senza di loro non saremmo ciò che siamo. Prendete la fotografia che apre questo libro, a p. 13: l’autore siede sul terrazzo di casa sorseggiando un tè. Togliete dalla scena il cemento, il vetro, i tessuti, il metallo e gli altri materiali, e non resterà altro che un uomo nudo a mezz’aria, tremolante per il freddo. Il mondo materiale non è una semplice ostentazione della nostra tecnologia e della nostra cultura: è parte di noi. L’abbiamo inventato, l’abbiamo costruito, e lui in cambio fa di noi ciò che siamo.

Storie incredibili dei materiali meravigliosi di cui è fatto il mondo

La sostanza delle cose

Stuff Matters tells the stories and explains the science behind some of the most fascinating and important inventions of our species: the materials of the man-made world. Many of these inventions are so familiar that we barely notice them - fibres for clothes, metals for tools, ceramics for storage, paper for communication, chocolate for pleasure - and yet they have transformed mankind. Others, such as aerogel, the lightest solid known to man, are utterly strange and literally transparent. From the towering skyscrapers of our cities to the most ordinary objects in our homes, from the tea cup to the jet engine, the silicon chip to the paper clip, world-leading materials scientist Mark Miodownik reveals the miracles of engineering and ingenuity that permeate every aspect of our lives. Along the way, he introduces metals that can heal themselves and implants that become living bone - radical new materials that will shape our future - as well as showing how every material, in its own way, has a profound effect on who we are.

Sometimes explosive, often delightful, occasionally poisonous, but always fascinating, discover the secret lives of liquids, with New York Times bestselling author Mark Miodownik. A series of glasses of transparent liquids is in front of you: but which will quench your thirst and which will kill you? And why? Why does one liquid make us drunk, and another power a jumbo jet? From the bestselling author of Stuff Matters comes a fascinating tour of the world of these surprising or sinister substances - the droplets, heart beats and ocean waves we all encounter every day. Structured around a plane journey which sees encounters with water, wine, oil and more, Miodownik shows that liquids are agents of death and destruction as well as substances of wonder and fascination, and - just as in his bestseller Stuff Matters - his unique brand of scientific storytelling brings them and their mysterious properties alive in a captivating new way.

Sometimes explosive, often delicious, occasionally poisonous, and always fascinating: the New York Times bestselling author of Stuff Matters offers an "entertaining discussion of the various ways our lives are enriched by fluids” (The Wall Street Journal). We know that we need water to survive, and that, for some of us, a cup of coffee or a glass of wine can feel just as vital. But do we really understand how much we rely on liquids, or their destructive power? Set on one of the author's transatlantic flights, Liquid Rules offers readers a tour of these formless substances, told through the language of molecules, droplets, heartbeats, and ocean waves. We encounter fluids within the plane—from hand soap to liquid crystal display screens—and without: in the volcanoes of Iceland, the frozen expanse of Greenland, and the marvelous California coastline. We come to see liquids with wonder and fascination, and to understand their potential for death and destruction. Just as in his bestselling, award-winning Stuff Matters, Mark Miodownik’s unique brand of scientific storytelling brings his subject to life in ways that will inform and amuse science buffs and lay readers alike.

Mark Miodownik

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