Made to measure : new materials for the 21st century
Ball, Philip, 1962-2003
Book
Total copies: 1
This text describes how scientists are inventing thousands of materials, ranging from synthetic skin, blood and bone, to substances that repair themselves and adapt to their environment. Made to Measure introduces a general audience to one of today's most exciting areas of scientific research: materials science. Philip Ball describes how scientists are currently inventing thousands of new materials, ranging from synthetic skin, blood, and bone to substances that repair themselves and adapt to their environment, that swell and flex like muscles, that repel any ink or paint, and that capture and store the energy of the Sun. He shows how all this is being accomplished precisely because, for the first time in history, materials are being "made to measure": designed for particular applications, rather than discovered in nature or by haphazard experimentation. Now scientists literally put new materials together on the drawing board in the same way that a blueprint is specified for a house or an electronic circuit. But the designers are working not with skylights and alcoves, not with transistors and capacitors, but with molecules and atoms. This book is written in the same engaging manner as Ball's popular book on chemistry, Designing the Molecular World, and it links insights from chemistry, biology, and physics with those from engineering as it outlines the various areas in which new materials will transform our lives in the twenty-first century. The chapters provide vignettes from a broad range of selected areas of materials science and can be read as separate essays. The subjects include photonic materials, materials for information storage, smart materials, biomaterials, biomedical materials, materials for clean energy, porous materials, diamond and hard materials, new polymers, and surfaces and interfaces.
Main title:
Made to measure : new materials for the 21st century / Philip Ball.
Author:
Imprint:
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1999.
Collation:
[vii], 458 p., [8]p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 24 cm.
Notes:
Originally published: 1997.Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Acknowledgments Ch. 1Light Talk: Photonic Materials Ch. 2Total Recall: Materials for Information Storage Ch. 3Clever Stuff: Smart Materials Ch. 4Only Natural: Biomaterials Ch. 5Spare Parts: Biomedical Materials Ch. 6Full Power: Materials for Clean Energy Ch. 7Tunnel Vision: Porous Materials Ch. 8Hard Work: Diamond and Hard Materials Ch. 9Chain Reactions: The New Polymers Ch. 10Face Value: Surfaces and Interfaces Bibliography Figure Credits Index
ISBN:
9780691009759 (pbk)
Dewey class:
620.11
LC class:
TA403
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
348720