Table Of Content

an encyclopedia on every page an encyclopedia on every page CONTENTS 10 The Universe 12 The planets 14 The Moon 16 Space exploration 18 Stargazing 20 Northern skies 22 Southern skies 24 Physics 26 Electricity 28 Chemistry 30 The elements 32 Biology 34 The human body 36 Skeleton 38 Muscles 40 The brain 42 Computers 44 Inventions 46 Numbers 48 Geometry 50 Cars 52 Tractors 54 Trucks and diggers 56 Trains 58 Motorbikes 60 Aircraft 62 The story of flight 64 Bicycles DK LONDON Project editor Lizzie Davey Senior art editor Mabel Chan Editors Ann Baggaley, Vanessa Daubney, Sarah Macleod, Catherine Saunders, Rona Skene, Sarah Tomley Designers Laura Brim, Alison Gardner, Mik Gates, Tessa Jordens, Steve Woosnam-Savage Managing editor Paula Regan Managing art editor Owen Peyton Jones Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT Producer, pre-production Nikoleta Parasaki Producer Mary Slater Publisher Andrew Macintyre Associate publishing director Liz Wheeler Art director Karen Self Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf Consultants Alexandra Black, Kim Bryan, Giles Chapman, Sheila Dickle, Robert Dinwiddie, Richard Gilbert, Sawako Irie, Philip Parker, Penny Preston, Carole Stott, Tony Streeter, Marcus Weeks, Philip Whiteman, Chris Woodford, John Woodward DK DELHI Project editor Rupa Rao Project art editor Mahipal Singh Editors Deeksha Saikia, Sonam Mathur, Agnibesh Das Art editors Amit Varma, Vikas Chauhan, Ranjita Bhattacharji Senior DTP designers Shanker Prasad, Harish Aggarwal DTP designers Nityanand Kumar, Rajesh Singh Adhikari Picture researcher Nishwan Rasool Jacket designers Suhita Dharamjit, Dhirendra Singh Managing jackets editor Saloni Talwar Managing editor Kingshuk Ghoshal Managing art editor Govind Mittal Pre-production manager Balwant Singh Production manager Pankaj Sharma First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Dorling Kindersley Limited, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL Copyright © 2015 Dorling Kindersley Limited, London A Penguin Random House Company 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 001 – 197156 – Oct/15 All rights reserved. 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, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-2411-8698-5 Printed and bound in Hong Kong by Hung Hing Printing Group Discover more at Science and technology Nature 68 Tree of life 70 How life began 72 Fossils 74 Plant-eating dinosaurs 76 Meat-eating dinosaurs 78 Prehistoric animals 80 Plants 82 Flowers 84 Trees 86 Mushrooms 88 Spiders and scorpions 90 Crustaceans 92 Insects 94 Butterflies and moths 96 Slugs and snails 98 Fish 100 Sharks 102 Seashells 104 Amphibians 106 Turtles and tortoises 108 Lizards 110 Snakes 112 Crocodiles and alligators 114 Eggs 116 Birds 118 Birds of prey 120 Feathers 122 Animal journeys 124 Rodents 126 Monkeys and apes 128 Wild cats 130 Whales and dolphins 132 Animal skeletons 134 Dogs 136 Cats 138 Horses 140 Farm animals 142 Forest 144 Rainforest 146 Savanna 148 Deserts 150 Polar habitats 152 Ocean 154 Coral reef 158 Earth 160 Volcanoes 162 Earthquakes 164 Shaping the land 166 Rocks and minerals 168 Gems 170 Water on Earth 172 Climate and weather 174 Extreme weather 176 Environment in danger 178 Our physical world 180 Our political world 182 Asia 184 North America 186 South America 188 Europe 190 Africa 192 Oceania 194 Antarctica 196 Flags 198 Where food comes from 202 World religions 204 World celebrations 206 World languages 208 The story of art 210 Musical instruments 212 How music works 214 Dance 216 Ballet 218 Great buildings 220 Great books 222 Great thinkers 224 Food around the world 226 Fruit 228 Vegetables 230 Cheese 232 Bread 234 Pasta 236 Fish for food 238 Meat 240 Men’s fashion 242 Women’s fashion Geography Culture 246 Ball sports 248 Football 250 American football 252 Baseball 254 Basketball 256 Racket sports 258 Tennis 260 Athletics 262 Winter sports 264 Cycling 266 Water sports 268 Sailing 270 Fishing 272 Combat sports 274 Knots 276 Games 278 Magic 280 Horse riding 284 The first humans 286 Early civilizations 288 Ancient Egypt 290 Ancient Greece 292 Greek myths 294 Ancient Rome 296 The Vikings 298 Ancient Americas 300 The Ottoman Empire 302 The Mughal Empire 304 Imperial Japan 306 Imperial China 308 Medieval Europe 310 Castles 312 The Renaissance 314 Exploration 316 Revolutions 318 US Presidents 320 US Civil War 322 European empires 324 British monarchs 326 The Industrial Revolution 328 World War I 330 World War II 332 The Cold War 334 Spies 336 Index Sports and hobbies History Science and technology The Universe The Universe is everything that exists – all of space, matter, energy, and time. It is a huge wide-open space with billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, and yet it is at least 99.99 per cent empty space. It has been expanding constantly since its beginning 13.8 billion years ago, when it exploded into life with the “Big Bang”. THE BIG BANG Before the Big Bang, the entire Universe was inside a bubble that was smaller than a piece of dust. It was extremely hot and dense, and it suddenly exploded. In less than a second, the Universe became bigger than a galaxy. It carried on growing and cooling, and pure energy became matter. During the billions of years that followed, stars, planets, and galaxies formed to create the Universe as we know it. UNIVERSE The Universe is ever-expanding. It is full of dark energy, dark matter, and other matter such as superclusters of galaxies. SUPERCLUSTER Superclusters are one of the largest known structures in the Universe, made up of galaxy clusters. STAR TYPES Most of the stars, including our Sun, are found along a part of the graph called the Main Sequence. As they age, these become giants or supergiants, and then dwarfs or supernovas. LOCAL GROUP The Local Group is a cluster of about 50 galaxies inside the Virgo Supercluster that includes the Milky Way. GALAXIES Galaxies are huge groups of stars, and they can be seen in the night sky using a telescope. They come in lots of different shapes, and most of them are thought to have a massive black hole at their centre. TARANTULA NEBULA EAGLE NEBULA ROSETTE NEBULA N90 NEBULAE Nebulae are the “nurseries” of the Universe – they are huge clouds of gas and dust in which stars form. They may be trillions of kilometres wide and many have amazing shapes and colours. SPIRAL ELLIPTICAL IRREGULAR BARRED SPIRAL MAIN SEQUENCE STARS COOLER HOTTER BRIGHTER DIMMER STARS Stars are classified into different types depending on their temperature and brightness. Scientists use the Hertzsprung- Russell graph (shown below) to compare the size, temperature, and brightness of individual stars. Red supergiant Red giant Red dwarf White giant Yellow giant Blue supergiant GALAXY WITH FIVE FULL OUR GALAXY – THE MILKY WAY – IS A BARRED SPIRAL The Universe begins, 13.8 billion years ago Energy turns into matter OR PART ARMS 10 MOONS A moon is a rocky body that orbits a planet. Some planets have many moons but Earth has only one. Moons are also known as natural satellites. 23% DARK MATTER This invisible matter has a strong gravitational pull 72% DARK ENERGY An unknowable energy force that accounts for most of the Universe WHAT MAKES UP THE UNIVERSE? The Universe contains matter and energy. Matter is generally physical “stuff” that can be seen, like the planets, but galaxies also contain invisible matter called “dark matter”. This does not give off light or heat and so can be detected only by the effects of its gravity on visible objects. Between and beyond both types of matter is “dark energy”, a mysterious thing that scientists know almost nothing about. 5% MATTER THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE The Universe is so vast that it is hard to appreciate its size. This series of pictures “zooms in” on the Universe, to show how our Solar System and planet relate to the rest of the Universe. Space is so huge that astronomers use the speed of light to measure distances. One light year is the distance light travels in a year, which is nearly 10 trillion km (6 trillion miles). MILKY WAY GALAXY The Milky Way has a spiral shape and holds around 200 billion stars within its gravitational pull. STELLAR NEIGHBOURHOOD Our Solar System is on one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms, 27,000 light years from the galaxy’s centre. SOLAR SYSTEM The Sun sits at the centre of our Solar System, and eight major planets orbit it. EARTH AND MOON Earth is one of the planets orbiting the Sun, and the Moon orbits Earth. BLACK HOLES A black hole is a region of space where matter has collapsed in on itself. This means there is nothing to be seen, but astronomers know black holes exist because they have such a strong gravitational pull that nothing can escape them – not even light. ASTEROIDS Asteroids are small rocky bodies that orbit the Sun. There are millions of them in space, and they are mainly made of materials that were left over from the formation of planets. COMETS Comets are small, icy worlds that orbit the Sun. They are made of frozen gases, rock, and dust. As they orbit the Sun, jets of gas and dust vaporize behind them to create long “tails” visible in space. EARTH’S MOON PLANETS Planets are large, spherical objects that orbit a star. In our Solar System, there are eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Planets that occur outside our Solar System are known as exoplanets. ARTIST’S IDEA OF A BLACK HOLE COMET PLUTO EROS, A NAMED ASTEROID DWARF PLANETS Large planets have enough self-gravity to make them form into a round shape as they move through space. Smaller planets that cannot do this, but do orbit the Sun, are called “dwarf planets”. Pluto is one of the largest dwarf planets in our solar system. Atoms form Rate of expansion increases First galaxies Stars form EARTH 11 The planets Around 4.6 billion years ago, a great cloud of dust and gas formed into the Sun. The parts that were not used began to form into clumps, which grew into planets orbiting the Sun. The four planets closest to the Sun formed from rock and metal. The four bigger outer planets formed from gases. THE SUN The Sun is the hottest and largest object in our Solar System. Its fiery surface bathes the planets around it in light, and its gravity shapes their orbits. The Sun is now about halfway through its life. In about 5 billion years it will turn into a red giant, before puffing its outer layers into space, leaving behind only a ghostly cloud called a planetary nebula. MERCURY Mercury is the nearest planet to the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System – it is about as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. Mercury is a rocky world that has no atmosphere or water. DISTANCE FROM THE SUN The distances between the planets are huge, becoming bigger as we move out through the Solar System. If the Sun were the size of a grapefruit, Neptune would be 14.5 km (9 miles) away. VENUS Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is about the same size as Earth and made from similar materials, but its atmosphere is made of carbon dioxide – the gas that we breathe out. JUPITER Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System – it could hold around 1,300 Earths. It is a giant ball of gas ringed by colourful bands of chemical gases that race around it as fierce winds. SATURN The second-largest planet in the Solar System, Saturn is not dense – it would float in a planetary-sized bathtub. It is surrounded by a system of rings that extend thousands of kilometres from the planet but are only 9 m (30 ft) thick. FIT INSIDE IT ONE MILLION TIMES THE SUN IS SO HUGE THAT EARTH COULD RINGS OF SATURN Saturn’s rings are made up of ice crystals and rock. MAAT MONS Venus has more than 1,600 volcanoes, the highest of which is Maat Mons. BRAHMS CRATER Mercury is covered in craters made by debris crashing into its surface. GREAT RED SPOT This is a giant storm several times bigger than Earth, which has been raging for 300 years. MERCURY ROCKY PLANET DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 69.8 million km (43.3 million miles) DIAMETER: 4,879 km (3,030 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 87.97 Earth days NUMBER OF MOONS: 0 VENUS ROCKY PLANET DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 108.9 million km (67.6 million miles) DIAMETER: 12,104 km (7,520 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 224.7 Earth days NUMBER OF MOONS: 0 JUPITER GAS GIANT DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 816 million km (507 million miles) DIAMETER: 142,984 km (88,845 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 11.86 Earth years NUMBER OF MOONS: 67+ SUN SATURN MARS JUPITER EARTH VENUS MERCURY 500 million km (311 million miles) 1,000 million km (621 million miles) 2,000 million km (1,243 million miles) SATURN GAS GIANT DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 1.5 billion km (932 million miles) DIAMETER: 120,536 km (74,900 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 29.46 Earth years NUMBER OF MOONS: 62+ 12 PLANETS AROUND THE SUN Sun Jupiter Saturn Mercury Earth Mars Venus Neptune Uranus ORBITS All of the planets orbit the Sun anticlockwise, in an elliptical, or oval pattern. This means they are closer to the Sun at some points in their orbits than others. They are trapped by the Sun’s gravity and will stay in the same plane of orbit for ever. PLANET SIZES The four rocky planets nearest to the Sun are much smaller than the gas giants. The Sun dwarfs them all, but is itself much smaller than other stars in the Universe. EARTH Earth moves around the Sun at 30 km per second (18.6 miles per second) and takes 365 days to orbit it completely. It is the only planet known to have life on it. MARS The planet Mars is red, because its surface is covered in iron-rich dust and rock. It is about half the size of Earth and has both the highest mountain and the deepest valley of any planet in the Solar System. URANUS Methane in Uranus’s atmosphere gives it a rich blue colour. This planet is often called the ”ice giant“ because 80 per cent of it is made up of frozen methane, water, and ammonia. NEPTUNE Neptune is the furthest planet from the Sun, so it gets little sunlight to warm its atmosphere. Its vivid blue colour is due to methane and an unknown compound. Neptune has the fastest winds in the Solar System. HIMALAYAS This mountain range was formed on Earth around 70 million years ago. OLYMPUS MONS This mountain on Mars is about three times as tall as Earth’s Mount Everest. It is also volcanic. RINGS Uranus has very faint rings compared to the other gas giants. MARS MERCURY VENUS EARTH NEPTUNE URANUS THE SUN SATURN JUPITER GREAT DARK SPOT This storm, which has now dispersed, was large enough to contain Earth, and moved at 1,200 km/h (750 mph). EARTH ROCKY PLANET DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 152.6 million km (94.5 million miles) DIAMETER: 12,756 km (7,926 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 365.26 Earth days NUMBER OF MOONS: 1 MARS ROCKY PLANET DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 816 million km (507 million miles) DIAMETER: 6,780 km (4,213 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 687 Earth days NUMBER OF MOONS: 2 URANUS GAS GIANT DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 3 billion km (1.86 billion miles) DIAMETER: 51,118 km (31,760 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 84.3 Earth years NUMBER OF MOONS: 27 NEPTUNE GAS GIANT DISTANCE FROM THE SUN: 4.5 billion km (2.8 billion miles) DIAMETER: 49,528 km (30,775 miles) TIME TAKEN TO ORBIT THE SUN: 168.4 Earth years NUMBER OF MOONS: 14 NEPTUNE URANUS 3,000 million km (1,864 million miles) 4,500 million km (2,796 million miles) 13