Industrial gases are inextricably woven into the fabric of modern manufacturing. From the primary extraction of raw materials, through their intermediate processing to manufacture metals, chemicals and ceramics, to the fabrication of sophisticated industrial, consumer and food products, gases are used across the whole spectrum of industry. The isolation, manufature and supply of these gases is a major industry in itself; the 300 million tones of gas used each year generates sales in excess of $20 billion. In terms of tonnage, nitrogen has become the most used industrial gas, finding...

How do you make a clock out of an ice cube? Send messages using bubbles? Make money using a tube that waltzes? This collection of curious and offbeat science experiments provides the answers to these and 36 other questions. Accomplished physicist and science writer Neil A. Downie covers a range of phenomena, from the rocking and rolling that drives a waltzing tube; to the fluid mechanics of a coffee-cup rev counter and biceps made from balloons; to the simple chemistry of red-hot batteries and wet solar cells. For each experiment, he provides historical anecdotes about the relevant phenomena,...

Industrial gases are inextricably woven into the fabric of modern manufacturing. From the primary extraction of raw materials, through their intermediate processing to manufacture metals, chemicals and ceramics, to the fabrication of sophisticated industrial, consumer and food products, gases are used across the whole spectrum of industry. The isolation, manufature and supply of these gases is a major industry in itself; the 300 million tones of gas used each year generates sales in excess of $20 billion. In terms of tonnage, nitrogen has become the most used industrial gas, finding...