Janice VanCleave's Science Through the Ages

130 Pages·2002·2.37 MB·English

by  Janice VanCleave

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J V C ’
ANICE AN LEAVE S
Science
Through
the Ages
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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J V C ’
ANICE AN LEAVE S
Science
Through
the Ages
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Dedication
It is my pleasure to dedicate this book to Dr. Tineke Sexton. Dr. Sexton is a teacher of biology and
microbiology at Houston Community College Northwest—Houston, Texas. This special person has
patiently provided me with answers to my many questions about biology and science in general.
This valuable information has made this book even more understandable and fun.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2002 by Janice VanCleave. All rights reserved
Illustrations copyright © 2002 by Laurel Aiello. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
Design and production by Navta Associates, Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without
either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission
should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012, [phone], fax
[phone], email: [email protected].
The publisher and the author have made every reasonable effort to ensure that the experiments and activities in this book are safe when con-
ducted as instructed but assume no responsibility for any damage caused or sustained while performing the experiments or activities in the
book. Parents, guardians, and/or teachers should supervise young readers who undertake the experiments and activities in this book.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For
more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
VanCleave, Janice Pratt.
[Science through the ages]
Janice VanCleave’s science through the ages.
p. cm.
Includes index.
Summary: Surveys the development of science and technology through the ages, discussing astronomy,
biology, chemistry, earth sciences, physics, and more.
ISBN 0-471-33097-3 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
1. Science—History—Juvenile literature. 2. Technology—History—Juvenile literature.
[1. Science—History. 2. Technology—History.] I. Title: Science through the ages. II. Title.
Q126.4.V36 2001
509—dc21 2001046737
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Acknowledgments v CHEMISTRY 59
Introduction 1
16. Chemical Reactions 60
17. Alchemy 63
PAST TO PRESENT 3
18. Oxidation 66
1. History of Science 4 19. Soap 69
2. Stone Age 8 20. Dyes 72
3. Bronze Age 11
4. Iron Age 14 EARTH SCIENCE 77
5. Industrial Age 17
21. Atmosphere 78
22. Earth’s Shape 82
ASTRONOMY 21
23. Thermometer 85
6. The Universe 22 24. Compasses 89
7. Calendars 26 25. Air Pressure 92
8. Telescopes 30
9. Planetary Motion 33 PHYSICS 95
10. Gravity 37
26. Rubber 96
27. Buoyancy 99
BIOLOGY 41
28. Magnets 102
11. Plants 42 29. Energy 105
12. Anatomy 45 30. Flight 108
13. Circulatory System 49
14. Preserving Food 52 Glossary 112
15. Stethoscope 56 Index 119
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Acknowledgments
I wish to express my appreciation to these sci- and Planetary Observers where he is acting
ence specialists for their valuable assistance by Assistant Coordinator for Transit Timings of
providing information and/or assisting me in the Jupiter Section. Paul is the author of the
finding it. “Stargazer” column in the Waco Tribune-
Dr. Bonnie J. Buratti, Principal Scientist at Herald.
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Dr. Glenn S. Orton, a Senior Research
Institute of Technology. Dr. Buratti conducts Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of
research for NASA and serves on the Science California Institute of Technology. Glenn is an
teams of NASA Missions to the planets. Dr. astronomer and space scientist who specializes
Paul Weissman, Senior Research Scientist at in investigating the structure and composition
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California of planetary atmospheres. He is best known for
Institute of Technology. Dr. Weissman does his research on Jupiter and Saturn. I have
observational and theoretical studies of comets enjoyed exchanging ideas with Glenn about
and asteroids, with the objective of trying to astronomy facts and experiments for modeling
understand the origin of the solar system. He astronomy experiments.
also assists with the development of spacecraft Dr. Ben Doughty, head of the department of
missions to comets and asteroids. Larry physics at Texas A & M University—
Wagner, a retired Electrical Systems Designer Commerce, in Commerce, Texas. Ben has
and amateur achaeologist. A member and past helped me to better understand the fun of
vice-president of the Milwaukee chapter of the learning about physics. Robert Fanick, a
Archaeological Institute of America. Mr. chemist at Southwest Research Institute in San
Wagner studies have included on site digs as Antonio, Texas, and Virginia Malone, a science
well as “behind the scenes” visits to the assessment consultant.
Smithsonian and the Field Museum in Chicago. A special note of gratitude to these educa-
Members of the Central Texas Astronomical tors who assisted by pretesting the activities
Society, including Johnny Barton, Dick and/or by providing scientific information:
Campbell, John W. McAnally, and Paul Derrick. Holly Harris, China Spring Middle School,
Johnny is an officer of the club and has been an China Spring, Texas; Anne Skrabanek, home-
active amateur astronomer for more than schooling consultant, Perry, Texas; Connie
twenty years. Dick is an amateur astronomer Chatmas, Sue Dunham, and Stella Cathey, con-
who is interested in science education. John is sultants, Marlin, Texas.
also on the staff of The Association of Lunar
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Introduction
This book presents fun science facts and proj- materials and follow all procedures carefully.
ects that relate to the history of science. In the The format for each chapter is as follows:
30 chapters, you’ll find discovery experiments
• Did You Know? A fun fact that identi-
and investigations about the different ages of
fies the focus of the chapter. This state-
time, and the different science fields, including
ment is followed by an explanation of the
astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science,
science behind the fact.
and physics. Some of the chapters look at the
invention and development of special scientific • Fun Time! A discovery experiment
instruments, such as telescopes. Others related to the fun fact. Each experiment
explore the historical development of a scien- includes a complete list of easy-to-find
tific topic, such as meteorology. But while the Materials,a step-by-step Procedure,a
book is divided into sections, the sections and section identifying the expected Results,
the investigations in them can be performed in and a Why?section that explains why
any order. the experiment works.
Each chapter explains science terms in sim-
• More Fun with . . . ! An additional fun
ple language that can be easily understood.
activity relating to the topic.
The information provided is designed to teach
• Book List A list of other books about
facts, concepts, and problem-solving strategies.
the topic, both fiction and nonfiction.
The scientific concepts are explained in basic
terms with little complexity and can be applied
to many similar situations. The main objective
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
of the book is to present the fun of science. You
FOR THE EXPERIMENTS
are encouraged to learn through exploration
and literature connections.
1. Read each experiment completely before
starting.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
2. Collect supplies. You will have less frustra-
You can start at the beginning of any section of tion and more fun if all the materials neces-
the book, or you can just flip through the chap- sary for the experiment are ready before
ters for a topic that sounds interesting. Before you start. You lose your train of thought
you do any of the chapter investigations, read when you have to stop and search for sup-
them through completely. Once you’ve decided plies. Ask an adult for advice before substi-
on an investigation to try, collect all the needed tuting any materials.
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3. Do not rush. Follow each step very care- 4. Observe. If your results are not the same as
fully; never skip steps, and do not add your those described in the experiment, care-
own. Safety is of the utmost importance, fully reread the instructions and start over
and by reading each experiment before from step 1.
starting, then following the instructions
exactly, you can feel confident that no unex-
pected results will occur.
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