Driving Force

by Livingston, James D.

• ISBN13: 9780674216457
• ISBN10: 0674216458
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-04-25
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Driving Force unfolds the long and colorful history of magnets: how they guided (or misguided) Columbus; mesmerized eighteenth-century Paris but failed to fool Benjamin Franklin; lifted AC power over its rival, DC, despite all the animals, one human among them, executed along the way; led Einstein to the theory of relativity; helped defeat Hitler's U-boats; inspired writers from Plato to Dave Barry. In a way that will delight and instruct even the nonmathematical among us, James Livingston shows us how scientists today are creating magnets and superconductors that can levitate high-speed trains, produce images of our internal organs, steer high-energy particles in giant accelerators, and--last but not least--heat our morning coffee. From the "new" science of materials to everyday technology, Driving Force makes the workings of magnets a matter of practical wonder. The book will inform and entertain technical and nontechnical readers alike and will give them a clearer sense of the force behind so much of the working world.

Table of Contents

Preface

A Magical Force

Einstein and Me

Paper Clips and Refrigerators

James Bond and Jaws

Hidden Magnets

Facts about the Force

Romancing the Stones

"A Perverse Willfulness"

Loving Stones

Inside the Loving Stones

Romancing from Afar

Looking for Lodestones

A Magnetic Love Song

Magnus Magnes

The Great Magnet

Reading the Rocks

Undercurrents

Cosmic Currents

Biocompasses

Supermagnets

A New Science

The Elements of Things

Improving on Lodestones

Better and Bitter

Electromagnets

Microthings and Megathings

Superconducting Magnets

Amps, Volts, and Ohms

The Big Chill

Superconductors and Ohmless Electromagnets

Big and Little Science

The Woodstock of Physics

Inside Magnets and Superconductors

In a Spin

The Magnetic Domain

Harder and Softer

Hard Superconductors

Attractors, Movers, and Shakers

Using the Force

Attractors

Movers

Shakers, Woofers, and Tweeters

AC, RF TV, and EAS

AC/DC

Catching the Waves

Catching the Crooks

Improving on Iron

Thanks for the Memories

Remembering Things Passed

Bugs and Bits

A Future in Films

Up with Magnets!

Fighting Gravity with Levity

Maglev

Bearing Up

Flying Trains

Magnets at War

Hitler's Secret Weapon

Hunting for Red October

Magnetrons and Radar

Calutrons and Little Boy

Magnets at Play

Child's Play

Magnets in Fiction

Magnets of Magic

Supersenses

Mesmerism and Magnetic Therapy

Healing with Magnets

Animal Magnetism

Mineral Magnetism

Medicine and MRI

Magnets in Medicine

Personal Images

Nuclear Magnets

Magnetic Resonance

The Imaging Technology

Magnets for MRI

Biomagnetism

Living Magnets

The Magnetic Mind

Killer Gauss?

The Birds and Bees

Source of the Force

Clark Kent and Superman

Alice and the Red Queen

Dave Barry and Virtual Effluvium

Pulling It Together

Magical Mystery Tour

Wonders of the World Sources and Suggested Readings

Acknowledgments

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.