Sand and silicon : science that changed the world / Denis McWhan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McWhan, Denis.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sand.

Silicon--Industrial applications--History.

Silicon.

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 142 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Summary:

"This is a story about sand and how science and silicon changed our lives. Over the last century, science taught us how to take this most common material and create the products on which we depend. It allows us to determine the atomic structure of materials and to grow novel, new materials atomic layer by atomic layer. The principles of thermodynamics are used to transform sand into ultra-pure silicon. Quantum mechanics gave birth to the electronic age and the computer chip in which dopants are precisely place in ultra-pure silicon. The absorption and emission and reflection of quanta of light, photons, underlies solar cells, light emitting diodes, radiation detectors, and optical fibers. This book follows the history of these scientific discoveries and relates them to the products made from sand" --Back cover.

Contents:

Submarines, clocks, and sensors

The architecture of sand

How pure is pure

Impurities are key

The sun shines bright

How small is small

Through the looking glass

Sand is everywhere.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [133]-138) and index.

ISBN:

9780199640270

0199640270

OCLC:

757147148