Cover image for The book of potentially catastrophic science
Title:
The book of potentially catastrophic science
Alternate title:
Potentially catastrophic science
Summary:
It’s never been more important to engage a child's scientific curiosity, and Sean Connolly knows just how to do it―with lively, hands-on, seemingly "dangerous" experiments that pop, ooze, crash, and teach! Now, the author of The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science, takes it one step further: He leads kids through the history of science, and then creates amazing yet simple experiments that demonstrate key scientific principles. Tame fire just like a Neanderthal with the Fahrenheit 451 experiment. Round up all your friends and track the spread of "disease" using body glitter with an experiment inspired by Edward Jenner, the vaccination pioneer who's credited with saving more lives than any other person in history. Rediscover the wheel and axle with the ancient Sumerians, and perform an astounding experiment demonstrating the theory of angular momentum. Build a simple telescope―just like Galileo's―and find the four moons he discovered orbiting Jupiter (an act that helped land him in prison). Take a less potentially catastrophic approach to electricity than Ben Franklin did with the Lightning Mouth experiment. Re-create the Hadron Collider in a microwave with marshmallows, calculator, and a ruler―it won't jeopardize Earth with a simulated Big Bang, but will demonstrate the speed of light. And it's tasty! By letting kids stand on the shoulders of Aristotle, Newton, Einstein, the Wright brothers, Marie Curie, Darwin, Watson and Crick, and more, The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science is an uncommonly engaging guide to science, and the great stories of the men and women behind the science.
General Note:
"50 experiments for daring young scientists"--Cover.
Contents:
2 million years B.C. : The first Stone Age tools -- 1 million-1.6 million years B.C. : Humans master fire -- C. 8000 B.C. : The bow and arrow -- 3500 B.C. : The Sumerian wheel -- 330 B.C. : Aristotle proclaims : Earth is NOT flat -- A.D. 132 : Zhang Heng's seismometer -- C. A.D. 850 : The Chinese alchemist's gunpowder -- 1504 : Regiomontanus's lunar eclipse -- 1616 : Galileo's telescope -- 1665 : Isaac Newton's falling apple -- 1752 : Ben Franklin's electric kite -- 1771 : Galvani's circuit and Volta's battery -- 1783 : The Montgolfiers' hot-air balloon -- 1796 : Edward Jenner's miracle vaccine -- 1797 : Garnerin's parachute -- 1825 : George Stephenson's steam train -- 1854 : Otis's elevator safety brake -- 1859 : Darwin revolutionary evolutionary book -- 1895 : Röntgen identifies X-rays -- 1898 : Marie Curie discovers radioactive isotope -- 1903 : The Wright brothers' flying machine -- 1905 : Einstein's atom -- 1926 : Robert Goddard's rocket ship -- 1936 : Igor Sikorsky's helicopter -- 1942 : Fermi's chain reaction -- 1947 : Chuck Yeager's sonic boom -- 1947 : John Stapp rides on a rocket sled -- 1953 : Watson and Crick's DNA -- 1960 : Theodore Maiman's laser beam -- 1961 : Yuri Gagarin goes into orbit -- 1962 : Rachel Carson's Silent Spring -- 1967 : Christiaan Barnard's human heart transplant -- 1999 : Dieter Issler's avalanche -- 2008 : The Large Hadron Collider.
Physical Description:
xiii, 305 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
Publisher:
Workman Pub.,
Publication Date:
2010
ISBN:
9780761156871

9780761162520
Publication Information:
New York, NY : Workman Pub., ©2010.
Call Number:
J 507.8 CONNOLLY
Holds: Copies: