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How Big is Big and How Small is Small: The Sizes of Everything and Why (Record no. 2408)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field 02018pam a2200181a 44500
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION
fixed length control field 160218b xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020 ## - INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER
International Standard Book Number 9780199681198
082 ## - DEWEY DECIMAL CLASSIFICATION NUMBER
Classification number 530.81
100 ## - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Smith, Timothy Paul
9 (RLIN) 366106
245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT
Title How Big is Big and How Small is Small: The Sizes of Everything and Why
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Place of publication, distribution, etc. United Kingdom;
Name of publisher, distributor, etc. Oxford University Press;
Date of publication, distribution, etc. 24 Oct 2013
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent 272 Pages;
Other physical details Hardback
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc. This book is about how big is the universe and how small are quarks, and what are the sizes of dozens of things between these two extremes. It describes the sizes of atoms and planets, quarks and galaxies, cells and sequoias. It is a romp through forty-five orders of magnitude from the smallest sub-nuclear particles we have measured, to the edge of the observed universe. It also looks at time, from the epic age of the cosmos to the fleeting lifetimes of ethereal particles. It is a narrative that trips its way from stellar magnitudes to the clocks on GPS satellites, from the nearly logarithmic scales of a piano keyboard through a system of numbers invented by Archimedes and on to the measurement of the size of an atom. Why do some things happen at certain scales? Why are cells a hundred thousandths of a meter across? Why are stars never smaller than about 100 million meters in diameter? Why are trees limited to about 120 meters in height? Why are planets spherical, but asteroids not? Often the size of an object is determined by something simple but quite unexpected. The size of a cell and a star depend in part on the ratio of surface area to volume. The divide between the size of a spherical planet and an irregular asteroid is the balance point between the gravitational forces and the chemical forces in nature. Most importantly, with a very few basic principles, it all makes sense. The world really is a most reasonable place.
650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name entry element Cosmology & the universe
9 (RLIN) 366107
650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name entry element Philosophy of science
9 (RLIN) 366108
650 ## - SUBJECT ADDED ENTRY--TOPICAL TERM
Topical term or geographic name entry element Popular science
9 (RLIN) 366109
942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA)
Suppress in OPAC 0
Holdings
Withdrawn status Lost status Source of classification or shelving scheme Damaged status Not for loan Home library Current library Shelving location Date acquired Total Checkouts Total Renewals Full call number Barcode Date last seen Date last checked out Price effective from Koha item type
    Dewey Decimal Classification     Karachi Karachi Science 02/07/2016 12 11 530.81 PKLC009887 17/11/2022 12/03/2021 02/07/2016 Book Child
    Dewey Decimal Classification     Lahore Lahore Science 07/05/2016 1 3 530.81 PKLC001741 07/04/2018 06/01/2018 07/05/2016 Book Adult and Young Adult 15-17