Ice : the nature, the history, and the uses of an astonishing substance Cover Image

Book

Ice : the nature, the history, and the uses of an astonishing substance / Mariana Gosnell.

Summary:

More brittle than glass, at times stronger than steel, at other times flowing like molasses, ice covers 10 percent of the earth's land and 7 percent of its oceans. Its ebbs and flows over time have helped form the world we live in. Gosnell examines ice in plants, icebergs, icicles, and hail; sea ice and permafrost; ice on Mars and in the rings of Saturn; and several new forms of ice developed in labs. She discusses the work of scientists who extract cylinders of Greenland ice to study the history of the earth's climate and try to predict its future, and writes of the many uses humans make of ice, including ice-skating, ice fishing, iceboating, and ice climbing; building ice roads and seeding clouds; making ice castles, ice cubes, and iced desserts.--From publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 0679426086
ISBN: 9780679426080
ISBN: 0226304965
ISBN: 9780226304960
Physical Description: x, 560 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Knopf, 2005.

Content descriptions

General Note:	"This is a Borzoi book"--Title page verso.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 523-535) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Lakes -- Rivers -- Great Lakes -- Loading -- Breakup -- Alps -- Surging glaciers -- West Antarctic ice sheet -- Coring -- On glaciers -- Icebergs I -- Icebergs II -- Sea ice I -- Sea ice II -- Ground ice I -- Ground ice II -- Plants -- Animals I -- Animals II -- Animals III -- Animals IV -- Human I -- Human II -- Games I -- Games II -- Uses I -- Uses II -- Uses III -- Other forms of ice -- Atmosphere I -- Atmosphere II -- Atmosphere III -- Space I -- Space II -- Ice ages -- Lake of the Woods.