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Mega Molecules

Tales of Adhesives, Bread, Diamonds, Eggs, Fibers, Foams, Gelatin, Leather, Meat, Plastics, Resists, Rubber, ... and Cabbages and Kings

  • Textbook
  • © 1987

Overview

Authors:
  1. Hans-Georg Elias

    1. Midland, USA

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Table of contents (20 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XIII
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Genuine Plastics and Other Natural Products

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 1-5

  3. In the Beginning was the Deed

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 6-13

  4. How Big is Big?

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 14-25

  5. False Doctrines

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 26-39

  6. The Mysterious Crazy Glue

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 40-58

  7. Corn Syrup and Hi-Tech

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 59-68

  8. Engine Oils and Vanilla Sauces

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 69-81

  9. Screwing Up Things

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 82-101

  10. Spiders, Weavers, and Webs

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 102-118

  11. How to Iron Correctly

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 119-126

  12. From Cheap Substitutes to High Performance Materials

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 127-138

  13. Everything Flows

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 139-154

  14. In and Out

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 155-172

  15. Charges and Currents

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 173-183

  16. Erratum To: False Doctrines

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 184-184

  17. Erratum To: Screwing Up Things

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 185-185

  18. Erratum To: How to Iron Correctly

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 186-186

  19. Erratum To: Everything Flows

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 187-187

  20. Erratum To: In and Out

    • Hans-Georg Elias
    Pages 188-188
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Keywords

About this book

All life is based on big molecules, scientifically called "mac­ romolecules". Humans, animals, and plants cease to exist without these structural, reserve, and transport molecules. No life can be propagated without macromolecular DNA and RNA. Without macromolecules, we would only dine on water, sugars, fats, vitamins and salts but had to relinquish meat, eggs, cereals, vegetables, and fruits. We would not live in houses since wood and many stones consist of macromole­ cules. Without macromolecules, no clothes since all fibers are made from macromolecules. No present-day car could run: All tires are based on macromolecules. Without macromole­ cules no photographic films, no electronics ... If macromolecules are so important then why is commonly so little known about their roles and why are they so little mentioned in school, if at all? As often in human history, tra­ dition is important and science makes no exception. Chemis­ try was established as the chemistry of low molecular weight compounds since these were most easy to investigate, charac­ terize, and convert. A beautiful tower of thought was erected by the chemical sciences long before the idea of giant mole­ cules, macromolecules, took hold. There was no space for newcomers in this tower. Even today one can learn about chemistry without hearing a word about macromolecules.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Midland, USA

    Hans-Georg Elias

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Mega Molecules

  • Book Subtitle: Tales of Adhesives, Bread, Diamonds, Eggs, Fibers, Foams, Gelatin, Leather, Meat, Plastics, Resists, Rubber, ... and Cabbages and Kings

  • Authors: Hans-Georg Elias

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71900-4

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1987

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-540-17541-4Published: 25 May 1987

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-71900-4Published: 29 June 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 202

  • Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Inorganic Chemistry, Polymer Sciences, Biochemistry, general

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