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This book explores a collection of natural surfaces, their scientific characteristics and their unique engineering potential - demonstrating that engineering applications can be found in unexpected places. The surfaces covered range from botanical ones, like rice and lotus leaves, to insect surfaces, like butterfly and dragonfly wings. The variety of surfaces and numerous engineering potentials described show how biomimicry can be utilized to solve countless real-world problems.
List of contents
Blood Clots and Vascular Networks: Self-Healing Materials.- Shark Skin: Taking a Bite Out of Bacteria.- Mother-of-Pearl: An Engineering Gem.- Diatoms: Glass Ornaments of the Earth's Waters.- Lotus Leaves: Humble Beauties.- Dragonfly Wings: Special Structures for Aerial Acrobatics.- Moth Eyes: A New Vision for Light-Harnessing Efficiency.- Botanical Leaves: Groovy Terrain.- Snake Skin: Small Scales With a Large Scale Impact.- Gecko Pads: A Force to Be Reckoned With.- Butterfly Wings: Nature's Fluttering Kaleidoscope.- Frog Skin: A Giant Leap for Engineering Applications.- Spider Silk: A Sticky Situation.
About the author
Michelle Lee is at the McCormick School of Engineering of Northwestern University.
Summary
This book explores a collection of natural surfaces, their scientific characteristics and their unique engineering potential – demonstrating that engineering applications can be found in unexpected places. The surfaces covered range from botanical ones, like rice and lotus leaves, to insect surfaces, like butterfly and dragonfly wings. The variety of surfaces and numerous engineering potentials described show how biomimicry can be utilized to solve countless real‐world problems.
Additional text
From the book reviews:
“This is a fascinating collection of 13 popular science–level, short articles on naturally occurring surfaces, some of their outstanding properties, and possible applications in engineered surfaces. … Each chapter contains a description of the natural surface, the fundamental engineering principles underlying its function, potential engineering applications, and a bibliography. The brief, uniformly presented chapters, with a well-balanced layout of text, images, and basic equations, can be read easily. … Summing Up: Highly recommended. All students and general readers.” (J. Lambropoulos, Choice, Vol. 52 (5), January, 2015)
Report
From the book reviews:
"This is a fascinating collection of 13 popular science-level, short articles on naturally occurring surfaces, some of their outstanding properties, and possible applications in engineered surfaces. ... Each chapter contains a description of the natural surface, the fundamental engineering principles underlying its function, potential engineering applications, and a bibliography. The brief, uniformly presented chapters, with a well-balanced layout of text, images, and basic equations, can be read easily. ... Summing Up: Highly recommended. All students and general readers." (J. Lambropoulos, Choice, Vol. 52 (5), January, 2015)
