{"product_id":"hidden-wonders-isbn-9780262539890","title":"Hidden Wonders","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe hidden elegance in everyday objects and physical mechanisms, from crumpled paper to sandcastles.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHidden Wonders\u003c\/i\u003e focuses on the objects that populate our everyday life--crumpled paper, woven fabric, a sand pile--but looks at them with a physicist's eye, revealing a hidden elegance in mundane physical mechanisms. In six chapters--Builders, Creating Shapes, Building with Threads, From Sand to Glass, Matter in Motion, and Fractures--the authors present brief stories, set in locales ranging from the Eiffel Tower to a sandcastle, that illustrate the little wonders hidden in the ordinary. A simple experiment that readers can perform at home concludes each story. More than 200 illustrations bring the stories to life.Preface   ...................................................................................   vi\u003cbr\u003e I. BUILDERS   ...........................................................1\u003cbr\u003e The Elegance of Small and Slender Things................................2\u003cbr\u003e Azay-le-Rideau or Roofs of   Beauty........................................... 10\u003cbr\u003e The Eiffel   Tower.........................................................................   18\u003cbr\u003e Inner Balance..............................................................................26\u003cbr\u003e Surface Tension   ..........................................................................34\u003cbr\u003e II. CREATING SHAPES.............................43\u003cbr\u003e And We Think of Bubbles as Fragile!.......................................44\u003cbr\u003e The Tragedy of Foam   .................................................................52\u003cbr\u003e Necklaces and   Catenaries..........................................................60\u003cbr\u003e Elegant Stone Arches.................................................................68\u003cbr\u003e Shells and Mille-Feuilles   ........................................................ 76\u003cbr\u003e III. BUILDING WITH THREAD ........85\u003cbr\u003e An Eight-Legged Builder..........................................................86\u003cbr\u003e Wet   Hair.....................................................................................94\u003cbr\u003e Birds as Architects   ...................................................................104\u003cbr\u003e An Impressive Bridge of   Grasses..............................................114\u003cbr\u003e Folders and Tailors: Masters of Volume..................................   122\u003cbr\u003e Weaving and Braiding   ............................................................. 132\u003cbr\u003e Folding and Crumpling Paper Balls........................................   142\u003cbr\u003e IV. FROM SAND TO GLASS............... 153\u003cbr\u003e Seeing a World in a Grain of Sand..........................................   154\u003cbr\u003e The Secret of Sandcastles.........................................................   162\u003cbr\u003e Earthen   Architecture...............................................................   172\u003cbr\u003e Liquid Stone: Concrete   ............................................................ 180\u003cbr\u003e The Saga of Fusing Granular Matter.......................................   188\u003cbr\u003e States of Glass   ..........................................................................   196\u003cbr\u003e V. MATTER IN MOTION......................... 205\u003cbr\u003e Beams Bend but Do Not Break...............................................206\u003cbr\u003e Vaulting into the   Air................................................................ 216\u003cbr\u003e The Choreography of Pine Cones.............................................   224\u003cbr\u003e Flying Seeds.............................................................................   232\u003cbr\u003e Quaking   Bows..........................................................................   242\u003cbr\u003e Uppity Grains of Sand .............................................................   252\u003cbr\u003e VI. FRACTURES .............................................261\u003cbr\u003e Prehistoric Gems   .....................................................................   262\u003cbr\u003e Pointed Tears ...........................................................................   270\u003cbr\u003e The Geometry of Lettuce   ....................................................... 278\u003cbr\u003e Eloquent Craquelures   ..............................................................286\u003cbr\u003e Walking on Eggs ....................................................................294\u003cbr\u003e Glass Teardrops   .......................................................................302\u003cbr\u003e Glossary   ....................................................................................   310\u003cbr\u003e Reading   List.............................................................................   312\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments....................................................................   313\"\u003ci\u003eHidden Wonders\u003c\/i\u003e fills a major gap in popular science books. Guyon and co-authors convey to their readers a modern and interdisciplinary approach to physics in a style rarely seen in the genre — with special homage to recent developments in soft-matter physics and engineering sciences. Their effort is much needed, and we scientists should look to inspire the next generation, because there are still plenty of mysteries and wonders to be discovered.\" \u003cb\u003e— Marcelo A. Dias, Nature Physics\u003c\/b\u003eÉtienne Guyon is Emeritus Professor at ESPCI (Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution), a fellow of the American Physical society and of the Institute of Physics, Honorary Director of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, and coauthor of \u003ci\u003eBuilt on Sand: The Science of Granular Materials\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press). José Bico is Associate Professor at ESPCI-PSL (Paris Science Lettres Université). Etienne Reyssat and Benoît Roman are CNRS researchers. All authors work at PMMH (Physics and Mechanics of Heterogenous Media) lab of ESPCI-PSL in Sorbonne Université.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300032794853,"sku":"NP9780262539890","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262539890.jpg?v=1767729020","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/hidden-wonders-isbn-9780262539890","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}