Product Description

Not only is matter constantly changing - or 'morphing' - but it was created at the beginning of the universe and will cease to exist only when our universe does. In ATOM, Krauss describes the journey of a single oxygen atom throughout our universe. Starting with its emergence at the Big Bang, Krauss will show how atoms were then forged in the nuclear furnaces of stars. From there, the reader will follow the atom as it travels across the Milky Way, and finally arrives on Earth, where it finds itself located in a drop of water, perhaps in the next glass of water you will drink. Along the way, Krauss supplies provocative reflections on the bigger questions, such as the origins of DNA (on a comet?) and the place of atoms in our everyday life. A clever combination of cutting-edge science and everyday phenomena, ATOM allows us to see both in a new light - through a glass, but not darkly!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #430345 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The history of the cosmos might seem an impossibly big subject for a single book. But in Atom: an Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth...and Beyond, bestselling American science-writer Lawrence M. Krauss manages to do just that. By centering his story around the long life of a single atom of oxygen located in a drop of water, Krauss expertly guides us from the beginning to the end of the cosmos.

Not so long ago the words "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end..." were accepted as a God-given truth, describing the world that we experience. But no longer, as Krauss reminds us, modern science predicts that there will be an end to our little patch in the cosmos: "eventually...after a host of civilisations have come and gone, one day a single proton in our oxygen atom will go poof. Then perhaps a billion billion billion years later, the second proton will die. The process will continue until our atom, and all atoms in the universe, are no longer. The lives of our atoms will have finally ended." However, as Krauss puts it "a lot can happen before the galactic fuel gauge reads Empty," our oxygen atom will have had a very long, eventful and very interesting life. On the way it gets caught up in the origin of the Earth, its life and ourselves, it is a fascinating story told by a very literate scientist. Lawrence M Krauss is a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and knows what he is writing about. He has also written five other books about physics and the universe and knows how to put across difficult concepts and the mindboggling problems of scale in the universe (all those -illions). Whenever possible he reminds us of commonly observable features which allow the general reader to glimpse the awesome nature of the atom. With index and a general guide to further reading, an ideal introduction for the general reader. --Douglas Palmer

Review
'ATOM' has a truly astounding breadth...Krauss present(s) the ideas with great clarity. With a little effort, readers will reap big rewards here.' NEW SCIENTIST 'A reader of this book will travel with the atom, and learn a great deal of modern particle physics, astrophysics and molecular biology.' TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT 'It's mind-boggling stuff, told with humour and a rich tapestry of literary associations. Even the least scientifically inclined will be able to comprehend the events that shaped the universe and which conspired to create our own solar system.' FOCUS 'The history of the cosmos might seem an impossibly big subject for a single book. But in Atom: an Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth...and Beyond, bestselling American science-writer Lawrence M. Krauss manages to do just that. By centering his story around the long life of a single atom of oxygen located in a drop of water, Krauss expertly guides us from the beginning to the end of the cosmos. Not so long ago the words "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end..." were accepted as a God-given truth, describing the world that we experience. But no longer, as Krauss reminds us, modern science predicts that there will be an end to our little patch in the cosmos: "eventually...after a host of civilisations have come and gone, one day a single proton in our oxygen atom will go poof. Then perhaps a billion billion billion years later, the second proton will die. The process will continue until our atom, and all atoms in the universe, are no longer. The lives of our atoms will have finally ended." However, as Krauss puts it "a lot can happen before the galactic fuel gauge reads Empty," our oxygen atom will have had a very long, eventful and very interesting life. On the way it gets caught up in the origin of the Earth, its life and ourselves, it is a fascinating story told by a very literate scientist. Lawrence M Krauss is a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and knows what he is writing about. He has also written five other books about physics and the universe and knows how to put across difficult concepts and the mindboggling problems of scale in the universe (all those -illions). Whenever possible he reminds us of commonly observable features which allow the general reader to glimpse the awesome nature of the atom. With index and a general guide to further reading, an ideal introduction for the general reader.' - Douglas Palmer, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW

About the Author
Lawrence Krauss is the bestselling author of THE PHYSICS OF STAR TREK, FEAR OF PHYSICS: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED. He chairs the Department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.

Customer Reviews

Stars are the cosmic incubators for all natural elements
This book requires basic knowledge of physics and chemistry. Chapters 1 - 7 introduce cosmology; Chapters 8 - 9 describes evolution of stars, and physical and chemical process for the production of chemical elements; Chapters 10 - 13 addresses the evolution of life on hospitable planets such as earth. Chapters 8, 9 and 11 provide significant amount of information, while some chapters are too descriptive and boring.

When the universe was at its infancy, it consisted of clouds of hydrogen and helium molecules that started to collapse over millions of years (mass accretion) under gravity. Progressively the temperature increased due to compression and the molecules started to dissociate into atoms and finally to ions at high pressure and temperatures. At 15 million degrees, about one in a 100 million protons gain sufficient energy to collide and fuse with each other to produce deuterium nuclei, further nuclear reactions generated helium-3 nucleus. Collision of two helium-3 nuclei results in helium-4 and two protons, generating intense radiation (energy) and pressure (centrifugal force) to counter the gravitational (centripetal) force. Thus thermonuclear reactions produce heat and light of a star over billions of years of its existence which affects geological process and biological evolution in orbiting planets. If a star is massive, gravitational collapse continues and the temperature at inner core rises to 100 million degrees when two helium-4 nuclei fuse to form berylluim-8 nuclei; at higher core temperatures collision of helium-4 with beryllium-8 results in carbon-12. After millions of years of burning helium, the inner core continues to fall as the compression continues to raise core temperature and this promotes carbon-12 and helium-4 nuclear fusion producing oxygen-16 nucleus. When helium nuclei are completely exhausted; the star would have produced significant quantities of carbon and oxygen nuclei. This result in two shells; an inner core of carbon and oxygen followed by an outer shell of burning helium, which is surrounded by a shell of burning hydrogen. When helium is exhausted, the inner core is compressed further raising temperature, then two carbon nuclei fuse to produce a plethora of nuclei from oxygen to sodium and magnesium. When carbon burning is completely exhausted, the core compresses further raising temperature and pressure to promote fusion of oxygen nuclei to produce silicon, neon, and then sulfur. As the temperatures rises to one billion degrees, fusion of silicon nuclei results in iron-56 nucleus; beyond this point no further elements are generated, since heavier nuclei bind less tightly. At this stage when the temperature is 5 billion degrees, the density reaches 10,000 tons per cubic centimeter. The core starts to lose energy in the form escaping neutrinos, and fusion of protons and electrons results in increasing amounts of neutrons. As the core energy decreases, the gravitational force of matter dominates. At a density of 100 million tons per cubic centimeter, the core predominantly contains neutrons and at this point laws of quantum mechanics precludes neutrons squeezed any further thus forming a neutron star. Eventually the star collapses in a gigantic explosion called supernova. At this point the temperature is very high and during this hot expanding neutron-rich environment capture of neutrons by various elements quickly produces all natural elements up to uranium. These are expelled into the interstellar medium to great distances in spacetime, eventually cooling the debris. During cooling process; the nuclei capture electrons to become atoms and elements such as iron, silicon, aluminum and carbon will condense into microscopic solid grains at appropriate temperatures. Low molecular weight compounds such as carbon monoxide, iron oxides, silicates and water are formed at right temperatures and pressure. Photochemical reactions in presence of iron and aluminum produce carbon dioxide, methanol, ethanol, formaldehyde, and glycine (amino acid) etc. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen continue to form more complex organic and biomolecules, the source material for life. Oxygen remains adhered to grains of aluminum oxide. As the stellar dust and gas collapse inward toward a central plane of rotating material which will fragment to form planetismals (planetary nebula) around a star. Much of water was provided by comets (from Oort clouds outside the solar system) hitting earth over millions of years. The planet turned from state of high levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen to a more tolerable levels, and habitable temperatures which lead to the raise in oxygen concentration. It is a concerted effort of sun and the Jupiter; geological process followed by biological evolution created the blue planet. This book contains an exhaustive amount of scientific material that could serve as a reference material, and it is highly recommended.