The world is made up of structures too small to see with the naked eye, too
small to see even with an electron microscope. Einstein established the reality
of atoms and molecules in the early 1900s. How can we see a world measured in
fractions of nanometers? (Most atoms are less than one nanometer, less than
one-billionth of a meter, in diameter.) This beautiful and fascinating book
gives us a tour of the invisible nanoscale world. It offers many vivid color
illustrations of atomic structures, each accompanied by a short, engagingly
written essay. The structures advance from the simple (air, ice) to the complex
(supercapacitator, rare earth magnet). Each subject was chosen not in search of
comprehensiveness but because it illustrates how atomic structure creates a
property (such as hardness, color, or toxicity), or because it has a great
story, or simply because it is beautiful. Thus we learn how diamonds ride
volcanoes to the earth´s surface (if they came up more slowly, they´d be
graphite, as in pencils); what form of carbon is named after Buckminster
Fuller; who won in the x-ray vs. mineralogy professor smackdown; how a fuel
cell works; when we use spinodal decomposition in our daily lives (it involves
hot water and a package of Jell-O), and much more. The amazing color
illustrations by Stephen Deffeyes are based on data from x-ray diffraction (a
method used in crystallography). They are not just pretty pictures but
visualizations of scientific data derived directly from those data. Together
with Kenneth Deffeyes´s witty commentary, they offer a vivid demonstration of
the diversity and beauty found at the nanometer scale.
