Why You Can Never Get to the End of the Rainbow

by Fentress, Stephen; Glass, Don

• ISBN13: 9780253325914
• ISBN10: 0253325919
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-05-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

The short essays help remove some of the mystery of science, giving readers clear and concise information in language that is easy to understand. And they are fun to read.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Benjamin Franklin and the Swatches on the Snow	1	(1)
Once You've Had It, You Can't Catch It Again	1	(1)
Why Is the Sky Blue?	2	(1)
Static Electricity	3	(1)
Why One Rotten Apple Can Spoil the Barrel	4	(1)
Superconductors	5	(1)
Does Smoking Cause Lung Cancer?	6	(1)
What Is a Gene?	6	(1)
Why Do Cats' Eyes Glow at Night?	7	(2)
Paul Ehrlich, Dyes, and Drugs	9	(1)
Why You Can Never Get to the End of the Rainbow	10	(1)
The Difference between a Square and a Diamond	10	(1)
Sounds over a Lake at Evening	11	(1)
Do the Best Dogs Come from the Pound?	12	(1)
Flip a Coin, Beat the Odds	13	(1)
Stroboscopic Stagecoach Wheels	13	(1)
Why Are Bells Made of Metal?	14	(1)
Why Rivers Don't Flow in a Straight Line	15	(1)
What's Your Average Speed?	16	(1)
The Basic Unit of Life	17	(1)
How Aspirin Got Its Name	18	(1)
Cold Water at the Bottom of a Lake	19	(1)
Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men?	19	(1)
A Thirty Percent Chance of Rain	20	(1)
Limeys	21	(1)
How Does Lung Cancer Start?	22	(1)
The Light of Spring	23	(1)
Vitamines and Vitamins	24	(1)
Colors and Their Opposites	24	(1)
How Does the World Look to a Bee?	25	(1)
Death of the Dinosaurs: A Quick Review	26	(1)
Why Do We Put Cut Flowers in Water?	27	(1)
Life without Zero	28	(1)
Prostaglandins	29	(1)
Sweetened Condensed Milk	29	(1)
What the Weather Report Doesn't Tell You	30	(1)
Why Mowing the Lawn Doesn't Kill the Grass	31	(1)
A Mirror Riddle	32	(1)
Galileo's Job Application	33	(1)
The Consequences of Smallness	34	(1)
Ozone and Ice	35	(1)
Benjamin Franklin's Madeira Wine Surprise	36	(1)
Viruses Attack Bacteria	36	(1)
The Birth of the Atomic Age	37	(1)
Honest Answers to Personal Questions	38	(1)
Risk Assessment	39	(1)
Broken Symmetry: Cosmetic or Cosmic?	40	(1)
Antimatter	41	(1)
The Secret of Clear Ice Cubes	42	(1)
Broken Cups and Atoms	42	(1)
Trapdoor Codes	43	(1)
Late-Night Radio	44	(1)
Does Nature Abhor a Vacuum?	45	(1)
How Does Water Get to the Top of a Tree?	46	(1)
Adding and Subtracting Colors	47	(1)
What Could Change Earth's Climate?	48	(1)
Polarized Light and a Quiet Lake	48	(1)
Are Forest Fires Always Bad?	49	(1)
Death of the Dinosaurs Revisited	50	(1)
Breaking a Coffee Cup	51	(1)
How Bacteria Resist Antibiotics	52	(1)
Cool Wind before a Thunderstorm	53	(1)
Lightning	53	(1)
Thunder	54	(1)
Heat Lightning	55	(1)
How Many Girls, How Many Boys?	56	(1)
Modern Biology in a Monastery Garden	57	(1)
See Yourself as Others See You	58	(1)
Neutrinos and the End of the Universe	58	(1)
Cooking an Egg	59	(1)
How a Field Can Become a Forest	60	(1)
The Most Important Fly in the History of Science	61	(1)
How Plants Fight	62	(1)
How Fast Are the Clouds Moving?	63	(1)
Sort Nuts by Shaking the Can	64	(1)
Everybody Talks about Genes---But What Do They Do?	65	(1)
Looking High and Low at Leaves	66	(1)
A Taste Test	66	(1)
Why a Rubber Band Snaps Back	67	(1)
Breaking the Tension	68	(1)
How Cockroaches Get Away	69	(1)
The Moon Illusion	70	(1)
Polarizing Sunglasses	71	(1)
Pros and Cons of the Mercator Projection	72	(1)
A Surprise at a Shadow's Edge	72	(1)
Algae as a Thermostat	73	(1)
Balance a Yardstick without Looking	74	(1)
A Rock in a Rowboat	75	(1)
Whiter and Brighter Than New	76	(1)
Hormone Insecticides	77	(1)
An Inverted Image	78	(1)
A New Person from a Nose?	78	(1)
The Mysterious Number Pi	79	(1)
Springs in the Cafeteria	80	(1)
Firefly Signals	81	(1)
Mirages	82	(1)
Seeing Yellow	83	(1)
Why Cotton Wrinkles	84	(1)
DNA Caught in the Act	85	(1)
Newton's Rainbow	86	(1)
The Elastic Ruler	86	(1)
Uncorking a Mystery	87	(1)
Psychological Accounting	88	(1)
Color Is in the Eye of the Beholder	89	(1)
Wine and Life	90	(1)
The Sweet Spot on a Baseball Bat	91	(1)
Make an Image without a Lens	92	(1)
Chimes, for Your Ears Only	93	(1)
It's Not Just the Heat; It's the Humidity	93	(1)
Fluorescent Lamps	94	(1)
The Truth about Bleach	95	(1)
Carbon Dating	96	(1)
Soap Bubbles and Butterfly Wings	97	(1)
Tracing the Roots of Energy	98	(1)
Why Fan Blades Stay Dirty	99	(1)
Brown Apples and Brown Tea	100	(1)
Optics and Glue	101	(1)
Light Takes Time	102	(1)
Read Fine Print through a Pinhole	103	(1)
Get Your Bearings with Two Thumbtacks	103	(1)
A Globe as a Sundial	104	(1)
An Ink Ring in a Glass of Water	105	(1)
Why After-Dinner Mints Taste Cool	106	(1)
A Leaf Falls	107	(1)
A Dot, a Line, a Crease, a Beautiful Curve	108	(1)
Directing a Living Cell	109	(1)
Dancing Pollen Grains	110	(1)
Wet Weather Means Brighter Colors	110	(1)
The Spinning Earth and the Weather	111	(1)
Infection: A Struggle between Two Organisms	112	(1)
Why Doesn't a Pregnant Woman Reject Her Fetus?	113	(1)
The Floating Cork Trick	114	(1)
A Thousandth of a Second	115	(1)
Touching and Being Touched	116	(1)
On a Clear Day, How Far Can You See?	117	(1)
Edison and the Bulge-heads	118	(1)
The Shape of Sound	119	(1)
The Wrong Formula for Water	120	(1)
Discovering Viruses	121	(1)
Cells Get Old and Die	122	(1)
Sorting Out Musical Pitches	122	(2)
The Echo of a Train	124	(1)
Microbursts and Airplane Crashes	124	(1)
What's inside an Atom?	125	(1)
Dew-bows	126	(1)
Halogen Lamps	127	(1)
When Pop Bottles Don't Blow Up ... and When They Do	128	(1)
It's Not What You Hear---It's When You Hear It	129	(1)
Weightless Water	130	(1)
Warmth from a Cold Lamp	131	(1)
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall	132	(1)
Artificial Flavoring Means Fewer ``Chemicals''	132	(1)
Catch a Falling Dollar	133	(1)
Cosmic Rays	134	(1)
Chocolate Bloom	135	(1)
Getting Robbed in the Camera Obscura	136	(1)
CFCs and CO2	137	(1)
The Shapes of Snow	138	(1)
Skidding Downhill	139	(1)
Infrared	140	(1)
Dark Meat and Light Meat	141	(1)
Sperm Meets Egg: What Really Happens	142	(1)
Do You Really Have a One-Track Mind?	143	(1)
The Season of Static Electricity	143	(1)
What Soap Does to Water	144	(1)
Roll Over, George Washington	145	(1)
Don't Believe Your Fingers	146	(1)
The Curve of a Meandering River	147	(1)
Curved Space in a Christmas Ornament	147	(1)
Guests in Every Cell	148	(1)
The Glory	149	(1)
The Waterfall Effect	150	(1)
White Sky, Gray Snow	151	(1)
Why Chickens Don't Have Webbed Feet	152	(1)
Can You Draw a Penny from Memory?	153	(1)
Clouds in a Jar	154	(1)
Ultraviolet	155	(1)
Reproduction and Sex: What's the Difference?	155	(1)
A Comb, a Sock, and a Faucet	156	(1)
Our Most Distant Relatives	157	(1)
Cheap Imitation Ivory	158	(1)
Freezing Hot Water Pipes	159	(1)
The Rising Water Mystery	160	(1)
Would You Drink This?	161	(1)
Is It Ever Too Cold to Snow?	162	(1)
Is It Ever Too Warm to Snow?	162	(1)
Alcohol Content	163	(1)
Summer Antifreeze and Candy	164