Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People - Brossura

Vogel, Steven

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0393319903 ISBN 13: 9780393319903

Casa editrice: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2000

Riassunto

A clever and enlightening look into the mechanical workings of nature--as opposed to those of human-made machines and materials--introduces readers to the field of biomechanics and explains how physical law and historical accident became our world's supreme architects. Reprint.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Steven Vogel is James B. Duke Professor of Biology at Duke University. He is the author of Cats' Paws and Catapults.

Product Description:

Nature and humans build their devices with the same earthly materials and use them in the same air and water, pulled by the same gravity. Why, then, do their designs diverge so sharply? Humans, for instance, love right angles, while nature's angles are rarely right and usually rounded. Our technology goes around on wheels and on rotating pulleys, gears, shafts, and cams yet in nature only the tiny propellers of bacteria spin as true wheels. Our hinges turn because hard parts slide around each other, whereas nature's hinges (a rabbit's ear, for example) more often swing by bending flexible materials. In this marvelously surprising, witty book, Steven Vogel compares these two mechanical worlds, introduces the reader to his field of biomechanics, and explains how the nexus of physical law, size, and convenience of construction determine the designs of both people and nature."This elegant comparison of human and biological technology will forever change the way you look at each." Michael LaBarbera, American Scientist

Su questa edizione

• Editore: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0393319903
• ISBN 13: 9780393319903
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 382
• Disegnatore: Davis Kathryn K.