Meteorites - as well as shooting stars and meteors - result from a collision of a solid body from space with our Earth, but only meteorites are able to penetrate the Earth's protective shield, the atmosphere, and fall to the Earth's surface. Before the return of lunar samples, they were the only materials from beyond the Earth which we could take in hand and study.This book gives a concise and up-to-date description of meteorites - fall phenomena, chemical and mineral composition, c...

The story of matter and the history of the cosmos from the perspective of a single oxygen atom, told with the insight and wit of one of the most dynamic physicists and writers working today.Through this astonishing work, he manages to stoke wonder at the powers and unlikely events that conspired to create our solar system, our ecosystem, and us.

Best-selling guide for over 20 years and an essential companion for students taking chemistry courses of any level, this laminated six page guide is a must-have for reference throughout science courses as a serious study tool and quick refresher for the core concepts, terms, equations and periodic elements. Author and Harvard PhD, Mark D. Jackson, a scientist and university chemistry professor expertly streamlined the complicated subject of chemistry selecting the need-to-know answers for ...

A science book for the general reader that is informative enough to be a popular textbook and yet well-written enough to appeal to general readers. “Hazen and Trefil [are] unpretentious—good, down-to-earth, we-can-explain-anything science teachers, the kind you wish you had but never did.”—The New York Times Book ReviewKnowledge of the basic ideas and principles of science is fundamental to cultural literacy. But most books on science are ...

A classic introduction to the story of Earth's origin and evolution—revised and expanded for the twenty-first centurySince its first publication more than twenty-five years ago, How to Build a Habitable Planet has established a legendary reputation as an accessible yet scientifically impeccable introduction to the origin and evolution of Earth, from the Big Bang through the rise of human civilization. This classic account of how our habitable planet was as...

The Precambrian is the oldest era of Earth's history, and, of its origins (4 billion and 500 million years ago), the appearance of the first invertebrates with exoskeletons (542 million years ago). In this long period of time, the planet, newly formed, was affected by cosmic events and geological shocking that border on the limits of imagination.

The oceans exert a vital moderating influence on the Earth's climate system. They provide inertia to the global climate, essentially acting as the pacemaker of climate variability and change, and they provide heat to high latitudes, keeping them habitable. Climate and the Oceans offers a short, self-contained introduction to the subject. This illustrated primer begins by briefly describing the world's climate system and ocean circulation and goes on to explain the important ways t...

An essential primer on atmospheric processes and their important role in the climate systemThe atmosphere is critical to climate change. It can amplify shifts in the climate system, and also mitigate them. This primer offers a short, reader-friendly introduction to these atmospheric processes and how they work, written by a leading expert on the subject.Giving readers an overview of key atmospheric processes, David Randall looks at how our climate system re...

In this book we explore the world of atoms: what atoms are, what they are made of, and why atoms are timeless, never aging or wearing down. Almost all atoms will exist until the end of time. We’ll discover why a few rare atoms are radioactive, decaying in predictable ways, and why these radioactive atoms exist in all living things, including us. We’ll examine how we can date the past -- paintings, human artifacts, fossils, and even the Earth and the Sun — using atoms tha...

This book is the first of its kind devoted to the key role played by light and electromagnetic radiation in the universe. Readers are introduced to philosophical hypotheses such as the economy, symmetry and the universality of natural laws, and are then guided to practical consequences such as the rules of geometrical optics and even Einstein's well-known but mysterious relationship, E = mc2. Most chapters feature a pen picture of the life and character of a relevant scientific figure. The...

This book is about how big is the universe and how small are quarks, and what are the sizes of dozens of things between these two extremes. It describes the sizes of atoms and planets, quarks and galaxies, cells and sequoias. It is a romp through forty-five orders of magnitude from the smallest sub-nuclear particles we have measured, to the edge of the observed universe. It also looks at time, from the epic age of the cosmos to the fleeting lifetimes of ethereal particles. It is a narrativ...

Adopted as the official book of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009, this stunningly illustrated history of telescopic discovery spans the range from the first telescopes via the Hubble Space Telescope to next generation platforms, and how they have changed and continue to change our view of the universe, our place in it and where it all came from. EYES ON THE SKIES features numerous full-page photographs and is printed in high-quality color throughout.Also includes the o...