Inflight Science A Guide to the World From Your Airplane Window

by Clegg, Brian

• ISBN13: 9781848312418
• ISBN10: 1848312415
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-31
• Publisher: Icon Books

Summary

"We should be grateful for this book from Brian Clegg . . . structured as a representative flight, from check-in to customs, in which at every turn he micro-analyses the technical and scientific aspects of the experience. . . . With this book in hand, we have all we need to set off on our next flight with our eyes open to the sheer wonder of what is involved." --Alain de Botton, author of A Week at the Airport,in the Mail on Sunday "An eye-spy book for adults . . . fitting into that publishing niche somewhere between hard science and Schott's Miscellanythat was so successfully exploited by books such as The Cloudspotter's Guide."--London TimesBook of the Week Every moment of your airplane journey is an opportunity to experience science in action-- Inflight Sciencewill be your guide. Brian Clegg explains the ever-changing view from your window seat and suggests entertaining experiments to calculate how far away you are from distant objects and the population of the towns you fly over. You'll learn why the coastline is infinite in length, the cause of thunderstorms, and the true impact of volcanic ash on aircraft engines. Fascinating facts to discover include: The jet stream winds are so fast that a plane travelling west to easy within them can fly beyond the speed of sound. There's absolutely no chance of you getting stuck on an airline vacuum toilet! The explanation for how an aircraft wing works was totally wrong for a long time. Packed full of amazing insights from physics, chemistry, engineering, geography, and more, Inflight Scienceis a voyage of scientific discovery perfect for any journey. Brian Cleggis the author of several popular science titles, including Before the Big Bangand the forthcoming How to Build a Time Machine(2011), both from St. Martin's Press.

Author Biography

Brian Clegg: Brian Clegg is the author of a number of popular science titles including The God Effect, Before the Big Bang and the forthcoming How to Build a Time Machine (2011), all from St. Martin's Press. He is a science writer living in Wiltshire, England, and runs www.popularscience.co.uk.

www.brianclegg.net

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. ix
About the author	p. x
At the Airport	p. 1
Terminal boredom	p. 1
An airport divided	p. 2
Bag check	p. 3
Testing the air	p. 6
A lesson in detection	p. 8
Body scan	p. 11
Who do you think you are?	p. 12
The science of superstition	p. 15
Taking to the Sky	p. 18
Aircraft basics	p. 18
Fuelling flight	p. 19
The greenhouse effect's good side	p. 22
Flying the green way	p. 24
Getting moving	p. 25
Big radar is watching you	p. 28
Something on the air tonight	p. 30
Sat nav on the flight deck	p. 32
The universal language	p. 34
The latest model on the runway	p. 35
How Newton's laws get you going	p. 38
Joining the jet set	p. 41
Rotation and climbing	p. 42
Under pressure	p. 43
Wing work	p. 44
Control surfaces in action	p. 48
Exploring the Landscape	p. 52
The mystery of the fields	p. 52
On the Nazca plains	p. 54
Chalk marks the spot	p. 57
The traces of the past	p. 61
Following the water course	p. 63
Fascinating fractals	p. 65
The making of meanders	p. 66
How does your town grow?	p. 69
The infinite coast	p. 72
Gravity always wins	p. 76
From river to sea	p. 78
Water, water everywhere	p. 80
Time and tide wait for no one	p. 82
On the crest of a wave	p. 85
What colour is the sea?	p. 88
Above the Clouds	p. 91
Into the clouds	p. 91
An adventure in cloud-spotting	p. 94
All the way to cloud 9	p. 95
No pot of gold for an endless rainbow	p. 100
Over icy seas	p. 102
Up into the sunlight	p. 103
Voyage to the heart of the Sun	p. 104
Why is the sky blue?	p. 106
Why does the Sun keep shining?	p. 108
Taking a trip through a quantum tunnel	p. 110
Crossing flight paths	p. 112
Leaving a trail in the sky	p. 114
Is there life out there?	p. 117
Going walkabout	p. 118
Travelling through bumpy air	p. 120
The flash of lightning	p. 122
A static charge	p. 123
Making lightning	p. 125
Electricity on the move	p. 126
There's safety in metal boxes	p. 128
Grounded by the ash	p. 129
Volcanic eruption	p. 130
In the radiation zone	p. 132
Fooled by a natural high	p. 135
A cosmic collision	p. 135
Cabin Life	p. 138
Pressure on the blood supply	p. 138
Catching up with jet lag	p. 138
Crossing the time zones	p. 139
What jet lag is (and isn't)	p. 141
Taming jet lag	p. 142
Resorting to medication	p. 143
Is there a jet lag north/south divide?	p. 145
A moving experience	p. 146
Relatively interesting	p. 148
Galileo's big idea	p. 149
In the jet stream	p. 152
The special one	p. 153
Anti-ageing flights	p. 155
A nice cup of tea	p. 156
Hearing food	p. 158
Technology in Flight	p. 159
Following your course on the map	p. 159
Projecting the world	p. 160
At the bleeding edge of technology	p. 161
Keeping the screen flat	p. 162
Bartholin's crystal wonder	p. 164
Giving light the liquid crystal twist	p. 166
Taking your hi-tech with you	p. 167
The view from the flight deck	p. 168
Following the guidance of inertia	p. 170
Tracking your way through the air	p. 172
Einstein's accelerating revelation	p. 173
The feeble force	p. 176
Gyroscopic gyrations	p. 177
Distant Views and Back to Earth	p. 179
Viewing the distant mountain peaks	p. 179
As old as the hills	p. 181
It's cold on them thar hills	p. 181
The icing on the mountain	p. 182
Around the bend with a siphon	p. 184
The vacuum solution	p. 187
Meeting the night sky	p. 189
A view of Venus	p. 189
The amazing Moon	p. 191
The changing face of the man in the Moon	p. 194
Welcome to the galaxy	p. 197
The street light fantasia	p. 198
The amazing eye	p. 198
Making up a picture of the world	p. 200
Eyes wide	p. 201
First touch on the runway	p. 202
Final steps	p. 204
Picture credits	p. 205
Index	p. 207
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