Spin - by Bill Gruber (Paperback)

About the Book

""Everywhere, things spin-wheels turn, motors hum, tornadoes roar. This book explains the history and basic physics of spinning objects, from yo-yos, drills, propellers, and washing machines, to ballet dancers, dust devils, and bacteria. The book gives instructive, entertaining accounts of everyday sights: Does a curve ball really curve? Why do figure skaters tuck in their arms? Can you make a disposable pen fly? How does a falling cat always land on its feet? Answers to these questions (and many others) tell the amazing story of things that spin."-Provided by publisher"--

Book Synopsis

Everywhere, things spin--wheels turn, motors hum, tornadoes roar. This book explains the history and basic physics of spinning objects, from yo-yos, drills, propellers, and washing machines, to ballet dancers, dust devils, and bacteria.

The book gives instructive, entertaining accounts of everyday sights: Does a curve ball really curve? Why do figure skaters tuck in their arms? Can you make a disposable pen fly? How does a falling cat always land on its feet? Answers to these questions (and many others) tell the amazing story of things that spin.

Review Quotes

"Spin is a masterful example of the genre of popular science that applies philosophy, physics, and a touch of the poet to a topic that otherwise might elude us all. William Gruber sees his subject everywhere, and, through examples from salad spinners to the solar system, he helps us see it, too, and to wonder along with him: Why is everything awhirl?"-Richard Panek, author of The Trouble with Gravity: Solving the Mystery Beneath Our Feet

"As a child, Bill Gruber was given a toy gyroscope that was set spinning by pulling on a string. Decades later, he has written an ode to all things that spin, rotate, and revolve. From the theory of the Frisbee, to the origins of the roulette wheel, to the reason that galaxies rotate, his engaging and accessible writing takes you on a guided tour of the culture and the science that make the world go round."-Sidney Perkowitz, author, Empire of Light, Universal Foam, and Science Sketches

"Gruber explores how the sometimes counterintuitive physics of spin created a wide variety of toys, sports, useful labor-saving devices, and deadly accurate weaponry. Just as the axle and wheel revolutionized transportation on land, the propeller harnessed rotary motion to conquer the skies and sea. ... No math is necessary to follow along with the physics, and detailed explanations with familiar examples (baseballs in flight, for example) make the concepts concrete before exploring more esoteric examples such as electromagnetism and aerodynamics. ... An accessible and rewarding exploration of the physics of circular motion in everyday life.-Library Journal

About the Author

Bill Gruber is an emeritus professor at Emory University. The author of numerous academic books and articles, he lives in Moscow, Idaho.