At the start of the 18th century there were no maps, anywhere in the world. No one knew, with any certainty, the shape of the earth or what lay beneath its surface. Was it hollow or solid? Were the Andes the highest mountains on the Earth or was it the peak of Tenerife? Was the Earth a perfect sphere or slightly squashed as Sir Isaac Newton prophesized? In Weighing the World, master-surveyor and bestselling author Edwin Danson presents the stories of the scientists and scholars who cut their way through jungles, crossed the artic tundra, and braved the world's highest mountains to discover the truth about our Earth. Danson also recounts the extraordinary experiment, conducted on a desolate Scottish peak by Astromer Royal Neville Maskelyne, to understand the so-called "attraction of mountains," the curious capability mountians have to bend gravity, without which it would be impossible to accurately map Earth's surface. A spell-binding scientific adventure story, Weighing the World will intrigue anyone curious about the shape of our planet and how we have come to know it.

The book about John Michell (1724-93) has two parts. The first and longest part is biographical, an account of Michell’s home setting (Nottinghamshire in England), the clerical world in which he grew up (Church of England), the university (Cambridge) where he studied and taught, and the scientific activities he made the center of his life. The second part is a complete edition of his known letters. Half of his letters have not been previously published; the other half are brought together in one place for the first time. The letters touch on all aspects of his career, and because they are in his words, they help bring the subject to life. His publications were not many, a slim book on magnets and magnetism, one paper on geology, two papers on astronomy, and a few brief papers on other topics, but they were enough to leave a mark on several sciences. He has been called a geologist, an astronomer, and a physicist, which he was, though we best remember him as a natural philosopher, as one who investigated physical nature broadly. His scientific contribution is not easy to summarize. Arguably he had the broadest competence of any British natural philosopher of the eighteenth century: equally skilled in experiment and observation, mathematical theory, and instruments, his field of inquiry was the universe. From the structure of the heavens through the structure of the Earth to the forces of the elementary particles of matter, he carried out original and far-reaching researches on the workings of nature.

Have you ever wondered... How many sheets of paper can be produced from a single tree? Why do FM radio stations end in an odd number? What causes a sonic boom? Where is the world's fastest computer located? If you've ever scratched your head and thought, why?," you'll love How Much Does the Earth Weigh? With more than 100 of the most popular questions culled from the intriguing "Question of the Day" segment of HowStuffWorks.com, this fun book answers questions you never even thought to ask. Written in Marshall Brain's award-winning style, this book explains in language you can understand the complexities behind some of the world's imponderables. You'll never look at a light socket, gas pump, or Web page the same way again!

How economic analysis can help us design economic policies to address the looming challenges of global warming As scientific and observational evidence on global warming piles up every day, questions of economic policy in this central environmental topic have taken center stage. But as author and prominent Yale economist William Nordhaus observes, the issues involved in understanding global warming and slowing its harmful effects are complex and cross disciplinary boundaries. For example, ecologists see global warming as a threat to ecosystems, utilities as a debit to their balance sheets, and farmers as a hazard to their livelihoods. In this important work, William Nordhaus integrates the entire spectrum of economic and scientific research to weigh the costs of reducing emissions against the benefits of reducing the long-run damages from global warming. The book offers one of the most extensive analyses of the economic and environmental dynamics of greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change and provides the tools to evaluate alternative approaches to slowing global warming. The author emphasizes the need to establish effective mechanisms, such as carbon taxes, to harness markets and harmonize the efforts of different countries. This book not only will shape discussion of one the world's most pressing problems but will provide the rationales and methods for achieving widespread agreement on our next best move in alleviating global warming.

Mass spectrometry is one of the most rapidly growing fields in science. In this book we will learn why and how this technology is changing our view and understanding of the world around us. We'll see how mass spectrometry is being used to convict criminals and to detect explosives. We'll see how it is leading us to the discovery of new drugs and telling us what becomes of these drugs in the body before toxic side effects could ever appear. We'll talk about the curious mission of the Curiosity Rover and how this new science even effects when we change our motor oil. We'll look at where the technology came from as well as where it appears to be heading by describing some of the cutting edge research and techniques that are opening up our understanding of our world -- and even our minds.

Make math fun with Weigh It! Fun photographs, colorful graphics, and simple text are used to teach young readers basic math concepts. From Scales to Metric System to Standard System this book will help kids develop the skills they need. A simple activity at the end of the book encourages kids to put weight to use! Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards. Sandcastle is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.