Summary of Mark Miodownik's Stuff Matters

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The author was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement by a man who said he had invented an electronic machine that sharpened blunt razor blades. The author was suspicious, but he was curious to hear the man’s story.
#2 The Stone Age was a time when metal was extremely rare and highly valued, since the only sources of it were copper and gold, which occur naturally in the Earth’s crust.
#3 The first people to discover how to make metals hard and soft were the ancient Romans. They discovered that if you put a piece of metal in a fire, it would get softer and stronger. This ability of metals to transform from a soft to a hard material must have seemed like magic to our ancient ancestors.
#4 The crystalline nature of metals is hidden from us because metal crystals are opaque. They look like crazy paving, and inside those crystals are squiggly lines - these are dislocations, which are defects in the metal crystals. They are useful because they allow the crystals to change shape.

Sujets

• modern
• Général

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 13 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669353027
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Mark Miodownik's Stuff Matters
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The author was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement by a man who said he had invented an electronic machine that sharpened blunt razor blades. The author was suspicious, but he was curious to hear the man’s story.

#2

The Stone Age was a time when metal was extremely rare and highly valued, since the only sources of it were copper and gold, which occur naturally in the Earth’s crust.

#3

The first people to discover how to make metals hard and soft were the ancient Romans. They discovered that if you put a piece of metal in a fire, it would get softer and stronger. This ability of metals to transform from a soft to a hard material must have seemed like magic to our ancient ancestors.

#4

The crystalline nature of metals is hidden from us because metal crystals are opaque. They look like crazy paving, and inside those crystals are squiggly lines - these are dislocations, which are defects in the metal crystals. They are useful because they allow the crystals to change shape.

#5

The discovery of metals was a major milestone in pre-history. It allowed humans to create tools that were much more advanced than those made of stone. The process of making copper tools began a spectacular growth in human technology.

#6

Alloys are created when two or more metals are combined with each other. They are typically stronger than their individual components, and this is because they have a different size and chemistry from the host metal’s atoms, which makes it harder for dislocations to move.

#7

The Romans had a difficult time making steel, and it was not until the twentieth century that the alloying process was fully explained. It was discovered that if iron became alloyed with too much carbon, it became extremely brittle and useless for tools and weapons.

#8

The Romans had a legion stationed in Scotland to protect the borders of the empire from the savage tribes who threatened it. They left behind nothing that could help their enemies, and they burned the fort to the ground. But they were not satisfied with this.

#9

The Japanese samurai swords were made from a special type of steel called tamahagane, which translates as jewel steel. It was made in a huge clay vessel four feet tall, four feet wide, and twelve feet long called a tatara. The vessel was fired by lighting a fire inside it.

#10

The Bessemer process was a method of steelmaking that involved blowing air through molten iron, which reacted with the carbon in the air to remove it as carbon dioxide gas. It was extremely violent, and it produced a lot of heat. It was successful, but it didn’t work for everyone.

#11

The history of shaving is a history of steel razors and surgical knives. They were expensive until 1903, when an American businessman called King Camp Gillette created a disposable razor.

#12

The first piece of stainless steel was made when Brearley accidentally got the ratios of two alloy ingredients right. The addition of chromium did not make the steel harder, but it did something else: it created a chemically protective layer that stuck to the steel and made it resistant to corrosion.

#13

The process of making stainless steel hard enough for cutlery also created the finest cutting blade the world has ever known. It has meant that we are one of the first generations who have not had to taste our cutlery.