Author: Sandy Isenstadt Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 026203817X Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 303
Book Description
How electric light created new spaces that transformed the built environment and the perception of modern architecture. In this book, Sandy Isenstadt examines electric light as a form of architecture—as a new, uniquely modern kind of building material. Electric light was more than just a novel way of brightening a room or illuminating a streetscape; it brought with it new ways of perceiving and experiencing space itself. If modernity can be characterized by rapid, incessant change, and modernism as the creative response to such change, Isenstadt argues, then electricity—instantaneous, malleable, ubiquitous, evanescent—is modernity's medium. Isenstadt shows how the introduction of electric lighting at the end of the nineteenth century created new architectural spaces that altered and sometimes eclipsed previously existing spaces. He constructs an architectural history of these new spaces through five examples, ranging from the tangible miracle of the light switch to the immaterial and borderless gloom of the wartime blackout. He describes what it means when an ordinary person can play God by flipping a switch; when the roving cone of automobile headlights places driver and passenger at the vertex of a luminous cavity; when lighting in factories is seen to enhance productivity; when Times Square became an emblem of illuminated commercial speech; and when the absence of electric light in a blackout produced a new type of space. In this book, the first sustained examination of the spatial effects of electric lighting, Isenstadt reconceives modernism in architecture to account for the new perceptual conditions and visual habits that followed widespread electrification.
Author: Wayne M. Saslow Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 008050521X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 809
Book Description
A very comprehensive introduction to electricity, magnetism and optics ranging from the interesting and useful history of the science, to connections with current real-world phenomena in science, engineering and biology, to common sense advice and insight on the intuitive understanding of electrical and magnetic phenomena. This is a fun book to read, heavy on relevance, with practical examples, such as sections on motors and generators, as well as `take-home experiments' to bring home the key concepts. Slightly more advanced than standard freshman texts for calculus-based engineering physics courses with the mathematics worked out clearly and concisely. Helpful diagrams accompany the discussion. The emphasis is on intuitive physics, graphical visualization, and mathematical implementation. - Electricity, Magnetism, and Light is an engaging introductory treatment of electromagnetism and optics for second semester physics and engineering majors. - Focuses on conceptual understanding, with an emphasis on relevance and historical development. - Mathematics is specific and avoids unnecessary technical development. - Emphasis on physical concepts, analyzing the electromagnetic aspects of many everyday phenomena, and guiding readers carefully through mathematical derivations. - Provides a wealth of interesting information, from the history of the science of electricity and magnetism, to connections with real world phenomena in science, engineering, and biology, to common sense advice and insight on the intuitive understanding of electrical and magnetic phenomena
Author: Kirsteen Rogers Publisher: Usborne Books ISBN: 9780794500801 Category : Electricity Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
-- Amazingly in-depth reference books covering physics, chemistry, biology, information technology, earth sciences and astronomy, with up-to-date information on brand-new fields -- Contain experiments, activities, A-Z dictionary, review questions and suggested Web sites for each topic
Author: Gavin Weightman Publisher: Atlantic Books ISBN: 0857893009 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 331
Book Description
In the early 1870's a nighttime view over Britain would have revealed towns lit by the warm glow of gas and oil lamps and a much darker countryside, the only light emanating from the fiery sparks of late running steam trains. However, by the end of this same decade,Victorian Britons would experience a new brilliance in their streets, town halls, and other public places. Electricity had come to town. In Children of Light, Gavin Weightman brings to life not just the most celebrated electrical pioneers, such as Thomas Edison, but also the men such as Rookes Crompton who lit Henley Regatta in 1879; Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, a direct descendant of one of the Venetian Doges, who built Britain's first major power station on the Thames at Deptford; and Anglo&–Irish aristocrat, Charles Parsons inventor of the steam turbine, which revolutionized the generating of electricity. Children of Light takes in the electrification of the tramways and the London Underground, the transformation of the home with "labor saving" devices, the vital modernizing of industry during two world wars, and the battles between environmentalists and the promoters of electric power, which began in earnest when the first pylons went up. As Children of Light shows, the electric revolution has brought us luxury that would have astonished the Victorians, but at a price we are still having to pay.
Author: Jason Makansi Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0470174307 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
A behind-the-scenes exposure why our electricity system is headed for a state of emergency-and what can be done to head it off Most people don't realize that skyrocketing global energy demand and economic growth severely affect the supply of electricity. Between production (power plants) and delivery is an antiquated, "third-world" transmission grid that is in desperate need of hardening against breakdowns, terrorist attacks, inadequate carrying capacity, and operational obsolescence. And while electricity doesn't hold the headlines or dramatic power of oil, the ability to ensure its uninterrupted supply at a reasonable price is even more essential to global survival and prosperity. Lights Out is today's most detailed, in-depth examination of this largely unreported looming energy crisis. Written by one of the world's top electricity industry experts, this powerful book covers numerous hot button economic and political issues-free markets versus regulation; energy independence versus foreign imports; nuclear power, global warming, and other environmental issues; and much more. Beyond just uncovering and illuminating the problems, however, it proposes a comprehensive road map of technical solutions and regulatory reform from both the production and demand sides of the equation-a framework for rethinking, rebuilding, and enhancing the entire electricity production and delivery infrastructure. Prescriptive and provocative, Lights Out will redefine the simmering debate on how the world can-and must-act now to head off a global catastrophe, one that could eventually wreak even more havoc than the ongoing oil crisis. Jason Makansi is the President of Pearl Street, Inc., a consulting firm; Principal of PS Liquidity Advisors, an advisory service for energy technology companies raising capital; and Executive Director of the Energy Storage Council, a public-policy advocacy organization. A prolific author, respected industry thought leader, and seasoned communicator, Mr. Makansi has been analyzing the technological, business, and regulatory issues in electricity production and delivery for over twenty-five years. He earned a BS in chemical engineering from Columbia University. His earlier books include An Investor’s Guide to the Electricity Economy, also published by John Wiley & Sons, and Managing Steam: An Engineering Guide to Commercial, Industrial, and Utility Systems.
Author: Molly Bang Publisher: ISBN: 9780439751162 Category : Electricity Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
The sun narrates an explanation of light and energy in which the generation of electricity can be traced back to it. Tiny yellow dots represent the sun's power as it streams from light, water, wind, and electricity. Endnotes are used to illuminate everything from dark matter to atoms to pollution.
Author: Paul Fleisher Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books ISBN: 0822507080 Category : Juvenile Nonfiction Languages : en Pages : 66
Book Description
Did you know that both electricity and light move in waves, like water does? What does electricity have to do with magnets? From Benjamin Franklin and Charles de Coulomb to Georg Ohm and James Joule, readers will be introduced to the basic principles of light, electricity, and magnetism in an illuminating way.
Author: Linda Simon Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ISBN: 9780156032445 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 372
Book Description
From the invention of the telegraph to the discovery of X rays, Simon has created a revealing portrait of an anxious age when Americans welcomed electricity into their bodies even as they kept it from their homes.
Author: Mike Winchell Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR) ISBN: 1250120160 Category : Young Adult Nonfiction Languages : en Pages : 271
Book Description
The spellbinding true account of the scientific competition to light the world with electricity. In the mid-to-late-nineteenth century, a burgeoning science called electricity promised to shine new light on a rousing nation. Inventive and ambitious minds were hard at work. Soon that spark was fanned, and a fiery war was under way to be the first to light—and run—the world with electricity. Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of direct current (DC), engaged in a brutal battle with Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, the inventors of alternating current (AC). There would be no ties in this race—only a winner and a loser. The prize: a nationwide monopoly in electric current. Brimming with action, suspense, and rich historical and biographical information about these brilliant inventors, here is the rousing account of one of the world’s defining scientific competitions. Christy Ottaviano Books
Author: Sandy Isenstadt
Author: Wayne M. Saslow
Author: Kirsteen Rogers
Author: Gavin Weightman
Author: Jason Makansi
Author: Molly Bang
Author: Paul Fleisher
Author: Brian Bowers
Author: Linda Simon
Author: Mike Winchell