Catastrophe!: Great Engineering Failure-And Success (Scientific American Mysteries of Science) - Softcover

Bortz, Fred

Softcover

ISBN 10: 071676539X ISBN 13: 9780716765394

Publisher: W H Freeman & Co, 1995

Synopsis

Describes engineering disasters, such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the space shuttle Challenger, and Three Mile Island, and explains what was learned from each incident

About this title

Reviews

Grade 5-9?Bortz considers six spectacular engineering debacles?the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt skywalks in 1980 and of "Galloping Gertie," the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, in 1940; the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 in Florida in 1972; the U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986; nuclear power-plant accidents (Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl); and "The Great Northeast Blackout" of 1965. In the introduction, the author establishes what these catastrophes have in common?human neglect to attend to what Murphy's Law really means: "If you want things to go right, pay attention to everything that can go wrong." He covers what happened, the reasons, and the successes possible as scientists and engineers have studied and learned from these mistakes. The lively text and the high-quality black-and-white photographs vividly set the scene and report the details. The clear explanations of the science behind each event is enhanced by diagrams. This fascinating, thought-provoking book on the role of failure in successful design reads like an adventure story from the first to the last page.?Carolyn Angus, The Claremont Graduate School, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 071676539X
• ISBN 13: 9780716765394
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Tong Gary
• Number of pages: 80