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Cover image for Electric universe : the shocking true story of electricity
Format:
Book
Title:
Electric universe : the shocking true story of electricity
ISBN:
9781400045501
Edition:
1st ed.
Publication Information:
New York : Crown Publishers, ©2005.
Physical Description:
308 pages ; 20 cm
Contents:
pt. I. Wires -- 1. The frontiersman and the dandy : Albany, 1830, and Washington, D.C., 1836 -- 2. Aleck and Mabel : Boston, 1875 -- 3. Thomas and J.J. : New York, 1878 -- pt. II. Waves -- 4. Faraday's God : London, 1831 -- 5. Atlantic storms : HMS Agamemnon, 1858, and Scotland, 1861 -- pt. III. Wave machines -- 6. A solitary man : Karlsruhe, Germany, 1877 -- 7. Power in the air : Suffolk coast, 1939, and Bruneval, France, 1942 -- 8. Power unleashed : Hamburg, 1943 -- pt. IV. A computer built of rock -- 9. Turing : Cambridge, 1936, and Bletchley Park, 1942 -- 10. Turing's legacy : New Jersey, 1947 -- pt. V. The brain and beyond -- 11. Wet electricity : Plymouth, England, 1947 -- 12. Electric moods : Indianapolis, 1972, and today -- What happened next -- Mr. Amp, Mr. Volt, and Mr. Watt.
Summary:
In his bestselling E=mc2, David Bodanis led us, with astonishing ease, through the world's most famous equation. Now, in Electric Universe, he illuminates the wondrous yet invisible force that permeates our universe and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets. For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psycho pharmaceuticals. A superb storyteller, Bodanis weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through lucid accounts of scientific breakthroughs. The great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine what we know as the computer was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to cure his homosexuality. From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body, Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer. A popular history of the science of electricity follows the work of the scientists and pioneers who investigated its unique properties and secrets, including Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, and Samuel Morse, and discusses the influence of their scientific breakthroughs on our ability to harness its power. By the author of E=mc2. 75,000 first printing.

Electric Universe is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer. A popular history of the science of electricity follows the work of the scientists and pioneers who investigated its unique properties and secrets, including Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, and Samuel Morse and discusses the influence of their scientific breakthroughs on ou.
Program Information:
Accelerated Reader Grades 9-12 9.4 11 Quiz 113517 English non-fiction.
Holds: