How in the World?: A Fascinating Journey Through the World of Human Ingenuity

Pages 212-274s

• 1 How People can talk together across the world by telephone
• 2 Radio: sending sounds at the speed of light
• 3 Television: Live pictures sent on radio waves
• 4 Remote controls: Operating Switches from a distance
• 5 Video: recording pictures on magnetic tape
• 6 Tape Recording: storing sounds as magnetic patterns
• 7 How a needle makes sounds on a revolving record
• 8 sounds from two directions
• 9 Thomas Edison: the wizard who lit the world
• 10 Compact discs: playing music by laser beam
• 11 how a synthesiser makes electronic music
• 12 fibre optics: carring sounds on light beams
• 13 Holograms: three-dimensional pictures on a flat surface
• 14 Fax: sending photocopies by telephone
• 15 The bleep that means you are warned
• 16 How photocopiers print without ink
• 17 How a camera captures a fleeting moment
• 18 Producing potographs on the spot/ how a camera focuses automatically
• 19 The wizardry of a silicon chip
• 20 Computers: Machines with memories
• 21 How Calculators use logic to add up
• 22 How banks store cash safely
• 23 How plastic cards give you cash and credit
• 24 How supermarket checkouts read bar codes
• 25 How a Quartz watch tells the time
• 26 Atomic clocks as ultimate time keepers
• 27 The microscope that is used to explore inner space
• 28 How do Robots put their electronic brains to work?
• 29 How does a car engine make the wheels go round?
• 30 How do anti-lock brakes work?
• 31 How a seat belt protects it's wearer
• 32 Why racing cars have smooth tyres
• 33 Breath tests: detecting alcohol by color changes
• 34 How an aerosol sprays
• 35 Why selective weed killers do not destroy crops
• 36 The greefly pesticide designed to spare the bees
• 37 How can metals be made to remember shapes?
• 38 How does a digital clock turn on the oven?
• 39 How so hidden defences detect burglars?
• 40 How a sewing Machine uses two threads to make a stitch
• 41 Why do steel ships float?
• 42 How a submarine stays submerged for weeks at a time
• 43 How does a submarines crew navigate underwater?
• 44 Providing precious air high above the clouds
• 45 George Stephenson: the man who made the trains run
• 46 How does a giant airliner lift itself into the air?
• 47 Helicopters: aircraft with spinning wings
• 48 Hydrofoils: riding on underwater wings
• 49 Hovercraft: boaats that fly on a cushion of air