Fifty Materials That Make the World PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Fifty Materials That Make the World PDF full book. Access full book title Fifty Materials That Make the World by Ian Baker. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Ian Baker
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319787667
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 261
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book introduces materials and how advances in materials result in advances in technology and our daily lives. Each chapter covers a particular material, how the material was discovered or invented, when it was first used, how this material has impacted the world, what makes the material important, how it is used today, and future applications. The list of materials covered in this book includes stone, wood, natural fibers, metals, clay, lead, iron, steel, silicon, glass, rubber, composites, polyethylene, rare earth magnet, and alloys.
Author: Ian Baker
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319787667
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 261
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book introduces materials and how advances in materials result in advances in technology and our daily lives. Each chapter covers a particular material, how the material was discovered or invented, when it was first used, how this material has impacted the world, what makes the material important, how it is used today, and future applications. The list of materials covered in this book includes stone, wood, natural fibers, metals, clay, lead, iron, steel, silicon, glass, rubber, composites, polyethylene, rare earth magnet, and alloys.
Author: Deborah Deliyannis
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501730282
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263
Get Book Here
Book Description
This important book [...] is a helpful guide to thinking with things and teaching with things. Each entry challenges the reader to approach objects as historical actors that can speak to the changes and continuities of life in the late antique and early medieval world.― Early Medieval Europe Lavishly illustrated and engagingly written, Fifty Early Medieval Things demonstrates how to read objects in ways that make the distant past understandable and approachable. Fifty Early Medieval Things introduces readers to the material culture of late antique and early medieval Europe, north Africa, and western Asia. Ranging from Iran to Ireland and from Sweden to Tunisia, Deborah Deliyannis, Hendrik Dey, and Paolo Squatriti present fifty objects—artifacts, structures, and archaeological features—created between the fourth and eleventh centuries, an ostensibly "Dark Age" whose cultural richness and complexity is often underappreciated. Each thing introduces important themes in the social, political, cultural, religious, and economic history of the postclassical era. Some of the things, like a simple ard (plow) unearthed in Germany, illustrate changing cultural and technological horizons in the immediate aftermath of Rome's collapse; others, like the Arabic coin found in a Viking burial mound, indicate the interconnectedness of cultures in this period. Objects such as the Book of Kells and the palace-city of Anjar in present-day Jordan represent significant artistic and cultural achievements; more quotidian items (a bone comb, an oil lamp, a handful of chestnuts) belong to the material culture of everyday life. In their thing-by-thing descriptions, the authors connect each object to both specific local conditions and to the broader influences that shaped the first millennium AD, and also explore their use in modern scholarly interpretations, with suggestions for further reading.
Author: Vaclav Smil
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119942535
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 263
Get Book Here
Book Description
How much further should the affluent world push its material consumption? Does relative dematerialization lead to absolute decline in demand for materials? These and many other questions are discussed and answered in Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Over the course of time, the modern world has become dependent on unprecedented flows of materials. Now even the most efficient production processes and the highest practical rates of recycling may not be enough to result in dematerialization rates that would be high enough to negate the rising demand for materials generated by continuing population growth and rising standards of living. This book explores the costs of this dependence and the potential for substantial dematerialization of modern economies. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization considers the principal materials used throughout history, from wood and stone, through to metals, alloys, plastics and silicon, describing their extraction and production as well as their dominant applications. The evolving productivities of material extraction, processing, synthesis, finishing and distribution, and the energy costs and environmental impact of rising material consumption are examined in detail. The book concludes with an outlook for the future, discussing the prospects for dematerialization and potential constrains on materials. This interdisciplinary text provides useful perspectives for readers with backgrounds including resource economics, environmental studies, energy analysis, mineral geology, industrial organization, manufacturing and material science.
Author: Robert Courland
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 163388869X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425
Get Book Here
Book Description
Concrete: We use it for our buildings, bridges, dams, and roads. We walk on it, drive on it, and many of us live and work within its walls. But very few of us know what it is. We take for granted this ubiquitous substance, which both literally and figuratively comprises much of modern civilization's constructed environment; yet the story of its creation and development features a cast of fascinating characters and remarkable historical episodes. Featuring a new epilogue on the Surfside condominium collapse and the current state of infrastructure in America, this book delves into this history, opening readers' eyes at every turn. In a lively narrative peppered with intriguing details, author Robert Courland describes how some of the most famous personalities of history became involved in the development and use of concrete-including King Herod the Great of Judea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, Thomas Edison (who once owned the largest concrete cement plant in the world), and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Courland points to recent archaeological evidence suggesting that the discovery of concrete directly led to the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of the earliest civilizations. Much later, the Romans reached extraordinarily high standards for concrete production, showcasing their achievement in iconic buildings like the Coliseum and the Pantheon. Amazingly, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the secrets of concrete manufacturing were lost for over a millennium. The author explains that when concrete was rediscovered in the late eighteenth century it was initially viewed as an interesting novelty or, at best, a specialized building material suitable only for a narrow range of applications. It was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that the use of concrete exploded. During this rapid expansion, industry lobbyists tried to disguise the fact that modern concrete had certain defects and critical shortcomings. It is now recognized that modern concrete, unlike its Roman predecessor, gradually disintegrates with age. Compounding this problem is another distressing fact: the manufacture of concrete cement is a major contributor to global warming. Concrete Planet is filled with incredible stories, fascinating characters, surprising facts, and an array of intriguing insights into the building material that forms the basis of the infrastructure on which we depend.
Author: Vince Beiser
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0399576444
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Get Book Here
Book Description
A finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award The gripping story of the most important overlooked commodity in the world--sand--and the crucial role it plays in our lives. After water and air, sand is the natural resource that we consume more than any other--even more than oil. Every concrete building and paved road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip, is made from sand. From Egypt's pyramids to the Hubble telescope, from the world's tallest skyscraper to the sidewalk below it, from Chartres' stained-glass windows to your iPhone, sand shelters us, empowers us, engages us, and inspires us. It's the ingredient that makes possible our cities, our science, our lives--and our future. And, incredibly, we're running out of it. The World in a Grain is the compelling true story of the hugely important and diminishing natural resource that grows more essential every day, and of the people who mine it, sell it, build with it--and sometimes, even kill for it. It's also a provocative examination of the serious human and environmental costs incurred by our dependence on sand, which has received little public attention. Not all sand is created equal: Some of the easiest sand to get to is the least useful. Award-winning journalist Vince Beiser delves deep into this world, taking readers on a journey across the globe, from the United States to remote corners of India, China, and Dubai to explain why sand is so crucial to modern life. Along the way, readers encounter world-changing innovators, island-building entrepreneurs, desert fighters, and murderous sand pirates. The result is an entertaining and eye-opening work, one that is both unexpected and involving, rippling with fascinating detail and filled with surprising characters.
Author: Genevieve Godin
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040108814
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 800
Get Book Here
Book Description
The Routledge Handbook of Archaeology and Plastics investigates the archaeology of the contemporary world through the lens of its most distinguishing and problematic material. Plastics are ubiquitous and have been so for nearly three generations since they became widely used in the early 1950s. Plastics will persist for millennia, their legacies as toxic heritage being felt deep into the future. In this book – comprising 32 original, at times disturbing, and critically engaged contributions – scholars from archaeology and other cognate disciplines explore plastics from a number of different angles and perspectives. Together these contributions highlight the dilemma that plastics present: their usefulness on the one hand, and the threats they present to environmental health on the other. The volume also explores the lessons that archaeologists can learn from plastics, about episodes of mass production, consumption and toxicity in the past, and also – importantly – about the future. This important and timely collection will therefore be of interest to all archaeologists irrespective of their period of study, or their geographical focus, and to students of archaeology and cultural heritage. It will also be relevant for researchers and students in other fields of study that focus on plastics and their environmental and social impacts. Ultimately, this book concerns the contemporary world and the impact of people upon it, through the archaeological lens.
Author: Vaclav Smil
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262518228
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Get Book Here
Book Description
A wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at global changes that may occur over the next fifty years—whether sudden and cataclysmic world-changing events or gradually unfolding trends. Fundamental change occurs most often in one of two ways: as a “fatal discontinuity,” a sudden catastrophic event that is potentially world changing, or as a persistent, gradual trend. Global catastrophes include volcanic eruptions, viral pandemics, wars, and large-scale terrorist attacks; trends are demographic, environmental, economic, and political shifts that unfold over time. In this provocative book, scientist Vaclav Smil takes a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary look at the catastrophes and trends the next fifty years may bring. Smil first looks at rare but cataclysmic events, both natural and human-produced, then at trends of global importance, including the transition from fossil fuels to other energy sources and growing economic and social inequality. He also considers environmental change—in some ways an amalgam of sudden discontinuities and gradual change—and assesses the often misunderstood complexities of global warming. Global Catastrophes and Trends does not come down on the side of either doom-and-gloom scenarios or techno-euphoria. Instead, Smil argues that understanding change will help us reverse negative trends and minimize the risk of catastrophe.
Author: Hosam Saleh
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 1838819568
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Get Book Here
Book Description
Concrete is a material used widely in building and construction applications worldwide; hence, it plays a significant role in the global construction sector. Cement is a major component of concrete and is used in construction applications, either on its own or as a composite with other materials, to improve workability, durability, strength, weight, and shrinkage. However, cement and concrete production and use have adverse environmental effects. Thus, great efforts have been made to produce eco-friendly concrete. This book examines several aspects of sustainable concrete technologies, including new forms of concrete as well as different approaches for creating sustainable cement.
Author: Pardeep Singh
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0323885810
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 581
Get Book Here
Book Description
Environmental Sustainability and Industries identifies and discusses critical areas related to environmentally conscious industrial development of products and services that may support more sustainable and equitable societies. This book addresses pollution prevention by referring to the use of processes, practices, and materials that reduce or eliminate the generation of pollutants at the source of production, more efficient use of raw materials, energy, water or other resources, or by conserving natural resources by maintaining clean production. It explains industrial energy efficiency as the most cost-effective use of energy in manufacturing processes, reducing its wastage as well as the total consumption of primary energy resources. Life cycle assessment is used as an analytical method to quantify environmental impacts, focusing on environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization, and including various sustainable manufacturing parameters in the context of industrial processes and proposes a classification of identified parameters to evaluate and optimize the manufacturing performances. The book also dives into industrial ecology, investigating how, where, and why environmental improvements can be made to develop a sustainable industry, meeting the needs of current generations without sacrificing the needs of the future ones. This book analyzes a company's environmental, social, and economic performance and their interrelationships, emphasizing the importance of identifying and understanding causal relationships between alternative approaches to action and their impact on financial and nonfinancial performance. It concludes with a view on the future of sustainable industrial systems stressing change as a joint effort of scientists, governments, people in business, and academicians. - Offers compiled information on the environmental sustainability for industry - Provides principles and advanced trends and approaches for environmental sustainability for the industrial sector - Discusses established and emerging technologies and processes for sustainable approaches for industry - Presents the development in the use of the assessment models as a tool to support the research and applications of different sustainable technologies and processes
Author: Rachel Ignotofsky
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0593377648
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 29
Get Book Here
Book Description
The groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky, comes to the youngest readers in board format! Highlighting notable women's contributions to STEM, this board book edition features simpler text and Rachel Ignotofsky's signature illustrations reimagined for young readers to introduce the perfect role models to grow up with while inspiring a love of science. The collection includes diverse women across various scientific fields, time periods, and geographic locations. The perfect gift for every curious budding scientist!
