The Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to the Age of SiliconDemonstrates the way in which the discovery, application, and adaptation of materials has shaped the course of human history and the routines of our daily existence |
Contents
The Ages of Stone and Clay | 13 |
A Primer | 38 |
Gold Silver and the Rise of Empires | 68 |
The Age of Iron | 82 |
A Quick History of Glass | 98 |
Building for the Ages | 124 |
Stoking the Furnace of Capitalism | 147 |
The Birth of Modern Metals | 176 |
Master of Them All | 203 |
The Superlative Substance | 238 |
The Age of Silicon | 265 |
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Common terms and phrases
aircraft alloys aluminum ancient archaeologists artisans Bessemer bitumen bonds bricks British brittle bronze building called carbon carbon atoms cast iron Çatal Hüyük Cellulose nitrate century B.C.E. ceramic charcoal chemical chip clay coal Common Common Era composite containing cooled copper crack crystal cupel deformation developed diamond discovered dislocations early East electrical electrons Europe fashioned fibers fire furnaces glass glassworkers gold and silver graphite Greek heating Henry Bessemer human industry innovations ions Kevlar king layer lead liquid load martensite melting point Mesopotamia metal millennium B.C.E. minerals mines molecules molten needed nineteenth century oxide oxygen oxygen atoms particles percent piston plastic platinum polyethylene polymer pounds produced properties reacts role Roman Rome rubber shape silica silicon smelters smelting sodium steam engine steel stone strength substances sulfur Sumer Sumerian tetrahedra thin thousand tion tons tools and weapons trade transformed transistors weight wood yield stress Young's modulus