Materials: a very short introduction

The study of materials is a major field of research that supports and drives innovation in technology. Using modern scientific techniques, materials scientists and engineers explore and manipulate materials, and create new ones with remarkable strength and extraordinary optical and electrical properties. In this Very Short Introduction, Christopher Hall looks at a wide range of materials, from steel, wood, and rubber, to gold, silicon, and graphene, describing how materials are used, how their properties arise from their internal structure, and how useful and novel things are made from them. He concludes by looking at how the global scale of materials consumption now threatens the goal of sustainability. Contents Gold, sand, and string -- Close inspection -- Tough but slippery -- Electric blue -- Making stuff and making things -- Such quantities of sand -- Appendix 1. A very short guide to quantities and units -- Appendix 2. Abbreviations for some common polymers -- Appendix 3. Nobel Prizes for materials