Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.60 (888 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0192803174 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-04-21 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Very Good for Someone who Reads One Science Book a Year Phillip Ball writes well, capably cuts through the complex stuff to get to the heart of the matter, and tells good stories. If you read one science book a year, or you want to give a gift to your Aunt Minnie who always wanted to find out why chemicals aren't all bad, this is the book for you.I downrated this book because it doesn't really do what it says it is going to. A Customer said too dry. Most readers with an interest inscience will be familiar with theground covered here. Unfortunatelythe style tends to be too often dryand flat - almost like a textbook.. too dry A Customer Most readers with an interest inscience will be familiar with theground covered here. Unfortunatelythe style tends to be too often dryand flat - almost like a textbook.
If atoms are letters, writes Philip Ball, then molecules are words. The author describes the remarkable molecular structure of spider's silk--a material that is pound for pound much stronger than steel--and shows how the Kevlar fibers in bulletproof vests were invented by imitating the alignment of molecules found in the spider's amazing thread. The book takes us on a tour of a world few of us knew existed. Today we can invent molecules that can cure viral infections, store information, or help hold bridges together. We also learn about the protein molecules that create movement, without which bacteria would be immobile, cells could not divide, there would be no reproduction and therefore no life. And through these words, scientists have uncovered many fascinating stories of the physical world. But more importantly, Ball provides a fresh perspective on the future of molecular science, revealing how researchers are promising to reinvent chemistry as the central creative science of the 21st century.. In Stories of the Invisible, Ball has compiled a cornucopia of tales spun by these intriguing, invisible words
It has been the task of modern chemistry to dissect matter, to tease out underlying structures and commonalities--and, Ball adds, to learn how to make of its constituent elements things that do things, "such as cure viral infections or store information or hold bridges together." How chemistry has done so, making body armor of spider silk and modeling computer networks on "molecular logic," drives Ball's discursive, entertaining, and eminently practical survey. "Molecules," Philip Ball writes, "are the smallest units of meaning in chemistry," the words, if you will, made up of atomic letters. Consider a sheep, Ball offers, a congeries of "millions of little bits of sheepness." That animal is a blend of molecules, tens of thousands of varieties of t