000			01584nam a2200181 4500
008			220115b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780393319903 (pbk.)
082			_a571.4 _bVOG
100			_aVogel, Steven. _9370
245			_aCats' paws and catapults : _bmechanical worlds of nature and people
260			_aNew York _bW. W. Norton Company _c1998
300			_a382p.,
500			_ahttps://wwnorton.co.uk/books/9780393319903-cats-paws-and-catapults
520			_aNature and humans build their devices with the same earthly materials and use them in the same air and water, pulled by the same gravity. Why, then, do their designs diverge so sharply? Humans, for instance, love right angles, while nature's angles are rarely right and usually rounded. Our technology goes around on wheels—and on rotating pulleys, gears, shafts, and cams—yet in nature only the tiny propellers of bacteria spin as true wheels. Our hinges turn because hard parts slide around each other, whereas nature's hinges (a rabbit's ear, for example) more often swing by bending flexible materials. In this marvelously surprising, witty book, Steven Vogel compares these two mechanical worlds, introduces the reader to his field of biomechanics, and explains how the nexus of physical law, size, and convenience of construction determine the designs of both people and nature. "This elegant comparison of human and biological technology will forever change the way you look at each."—Michael LaBarbera, American Scientist
650			_aBiomechanics _9371
650			_aMechanics _9372
942			_cBK
999			_c7658 _d7658