Do you ever think about what your things are made of? How about why you don’t taste the metal of your spoon when you eat soup or why melted sand turns translucent? The infrastructure of our modern world is made up of materials such as concrete, glass, and metals. Atoms make up the foundation of materials and there are different reactions when dealing with differing chemical structures. Nylon stockings, vinyl records, silicone rubber used in construction…So many substances that make our lives better or safer in some way, some with strange side effects, remain mysterious to us. Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society at University College London and the Director of the UCL Institute of Making succeeds in Stuff Matters to tell of the inner workings of our stuff and he does so in a way that makes you want to keep reading. Materials scientists emphasize how the history of a material influences its structure, properties and performance in order to advance research in fields such as nanotechnology, biomaterials, and metallurgy. Miodownik was chosen by The Times as one of the top 100 most influential scientists in the UK. He does a good job of not only explaining how certain materials were discovered and manufactured, but also how and why they matter.
Our lives would be different without discoveries that made certain important products possible. Film would have been impossible without celluloid, a combustible plastic. Without that discovery, we might live in a world without photographs or movies. Metal cutlery has a transparent layer of chromium oxide so your tongue never actually touches the metal and your saliva cannot react with it. Porcelain gets its toughness and translucency from a mixture of white clay, feldspar and quartz combined at high temperatures. The Chinese created beautiful porcelains with their secret methods but disliked the aesthetics of glass, which most likely led to their shortcomings in the scientific revolution. Most characteristics of any given glass, such as colors or hardness, are attributable to metallic oxides. Borosilicate glass (made with boron) has been a primary choice for research and industry because of its low thermal expansion, high surface strength, and its high resistance to acids, salt solutions, and organic substances.
The research is based in materials science— a field of chemistry, physics, and engineering. The topics are especially relevant because they pertain to items we use in our everyday lives, making it a very interesting read. And though hard science is used, Miodownik uses accessible prose so that the concepts are easily understood even by the layman. The book is separated into eleven chapters, one being just on chocolate and its complexities. You can even read why chocolate is better than kissing. If you are looking for interesting nonfiction that will make you smarter about the world you live in, you should check this book out. I recommend it to anyone who is naturally curious.
“These days the type of milk added to chocolate varies widely throughout the world, and this is the main reason that milk chocolate tastes different from country to country. In the USA the milk used has had some of its fat removed by enzymes, giving the chocolate a cheesy, almost rancid flavor. In the UK sugar is added to liquid milk, and it is this solution, reduced to a concentrate, that is added to the chocolate, creating a milder caramel flavor. In Europe powdered milk is still used, giving the chocolate a fresh dairy flavor with a powdery texture. These different tastes do not travel well. Despite globalization, the preferred taste of milk chocolate, once acquired, remains surprisingly regional.”
― Mark Miodownik, Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World