Sixth Form Recommended Reading

CHEMISTRY

“All that glitters may not be gold but at least it contains free electrons ” John Desmond Bernal

The Gecko’s Foot by Peter Forbes

Bio-inspiration is a form of engineering but not in the conventional sense. Extending beyond our established and preconceived notions, scientists, architects and engineers are looking at imitating nature by manufacturing 'wet' materials such as spider silk or the surface of the gecko's foot. The amazing power of the gecko's foot has long been known – gecko’s can climb a vertical glass wall and even walk upside down on the ceiling.

Recently the secret of how they do this was discovered by a team of scientists in Oregon who established that it does not involve suction, capillary action or anything else the lay person might imagine. Instead, each foot has half a million bristles and each bristle ramifies into hundreds of finer spatula-shaped projections. The fine scale of the gecko's foot is beyond the capacity of conventional micro engineering, but a team of nanotechnologists have already made a good initial approximation and this book delves into the technology behind the discovery and the ramifications for future scientific development.

The Water Book by Alok Jha

Water is the most every day of substances. It pours from our taps and falls from the sky. We drink it, wash with it, and couldn't live without it. Yet, on closer examination it is also a very strange substance (it is one of only a very small number of molecules which expand when cooled). Look closer again and water reveals itself as a key to a scientific story on the biggest of canvases. Water is crucial to our survival - life depends on it - but it was also fundamental in the origins of life on Earth.

The millions of gallons of water which make up our rivers, lakes and oceans, originated in outer space. How it arrived here and how those molecules of water were formed, is a story which takes us back to the beginning of the universe. Explore that story in The Water Book .