Why The Wheel Is Round
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Author | : Steven Vogel |
Publisher | : University of Chicago Press |
Total Pages | : 340 |
Release | : 2018-10-22 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 022659968X |
There is no part of our bodies that fully rotates—be it a wrist or ankle or arm in a shoulder socket, we are made to twist only so far. And yet there is no more fundamental human invention than the wheel—a rotational mechanism that accomplishes what our physical form cannot. Throughout history, humans have developed technologies powered by human strength, complementing the physical abilities we have while overcoming our weaknesses. Providing a unique history of the wheel and other rotational devices—like cranks, cranes, carts, and capstans—Why the Wheel Is Round examines the contraptions and tricks we have devised in order to more efficiently move—and move through—the physical world. Steven Vogel combines his engineering expertise with his remarkable curiosity about how things work to explore how wheels and other mechanisms were, until very recently, powered by the push and pull of the muscles and skeletal systems of humans and other animals. Why the Wheel Is Round explores all manner of treadwheels, hand-spikes, gears, and more, as well as how these technologies diversified into such things as hand-held drills and hurdy-gurdies. Surprisingly, a number of these devices can be built out of everyday components and materials, and Vogel’s accessible and expansive book includes instructions and models so that inspired readers can even attempt to make their own muscle-powered technologies, like trebuchets and ballista. Appealing to anyone fascinated by the history of mechanics and technology as well as to hobbyists with home workshops, Why the Wheel Is Round offers a captivating exploration of our common technological heritage based on the simple concept of rotation. From our leg muscles powering the gears of a bicycle to our hands manipulating a mouse on a roller ball, it will be impossible to overlook the amazing feats of innovation behind our daily devices.
Author | : Richard W. Bulliet |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2016 |
Genre | : History |
ISBN | : 9780231173384 |
A visually rich, analytical history of the key cycles in a revolutionary technology.
Author | : Jessica Helfand |
Publisher | : Princeton Architectural Press |
Total Pages | : 164 |
Release | : 2006-05-04 |
Genre | : Architecture |
ISBN | : 9781568985961 |
A delightful look at the history of the information wheel
Author | : JOHN FOSTER. FRASER |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2018 |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : 9781033238820 |
Author | : Meindert DeJong |
Publisher | : Perfection Learning |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 1972-04 |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : 9780812427790 |
Six schoolchildren bring the storks back to their little Dutch village.
Author | : |
Publisher | : Xulon Press |
Total Pages | : 142 |
Release | : |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : 1613794355 |
Author | : Ethel Lina White |
Publisher | : DigiCat |
Total Pages | : 197 |
Release | : 2022-11-13 |
Genre | : Fiction |
ISBN | : |
The Wheel Spins is the novel about young and bright Iris Carr, who is on her way back to England after spending a holiday somewhere in the Balkans. After she is left alone by her friends, Iris catches the train for Trieste and finds company in Miss Froy, chatty elderly English woman. When she wakes up from a short nap, she discovers that her elderly travelling companion seems to have disappeared from the train. After her fellow passengers deny ever having seen the elderly lady, the young woman is on the verge of her nerves. She is helped by a young English traveler, and the two proceed to search the train for clues to the old woman's disappearance. Ethel Lina White (1876-1944) was a British crime writer, best known for her novel The Wheel Spins, on which the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Lady Vanishes, was based.
Author | : John Foster Fraser |
Publisher | : Рипол Классик |
Total Pages | : 577 |
Release | : 1925 |
Genre | : History |
ISBN | : 587913380X |
Author | : George Edward Bock |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 76 |
Release | : 1935 |
Genre | : Mechanical engineering |
ISBN | : |
Author | : Steven Vogel |
Publisher | : W. W. Norton & Company |
Total Pages | : 388 |
Release | : 2000-01-17 |
Genre | : Science |
ISBN | : 0393352951 |
"Full of ideas and well-explained principles that will bring new understanding of everyday things to both scientists and non-scientists alike."—R. McNeill Alexander, Nature 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