Nature's Clocks

How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything

By: Doug Macdougall

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Paperback | 20 October 2009 | Edition Number 1

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288 Pages

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22.86 x 15.47 x 1.68

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"Radioactivity is like a clock that never needs adjusting," writes Doug Macdougall. "It would be hard to design a more reliable timekeeper." In Nature's Clocks, Macdougall tells how scientists who were seeking to understand the past arrived at the ingenious techniques they now use to determine the age of objects and organisms. By examining radiocarbon (C-14) dating--the best known of these methods--and several other techniques that geologists use to decode the distant past, Macdougall unwraps the last century's advances, explaining how they reveal the age of our fossil ancestors such as "Lucy," the timing of the dinosaurs' extinction, and the precise ages of tiny mineral grains that date from the beginning of the earth's history. In lively and accessible prose, he describes how the science of geochronology has developed and flourished. Relating these advances through the stories of the scientists themselves--James Hutton, William Smith, Arthur Holmes, Ernest Rutherford, Willard Libby, and Clair Patterson--Macdougall shows how they used ingenuity and inspiration to construct one of modern science's most significant accomplishments: a timescale for the earth's evolution and human prehistory.

Industry Reviews

"Rich in historical tidbits." New Scientist "A helpful handbook on how we are now able to travel to the distant past." Publishers Weekly "The heart of the book reveals ingenious science." Library Journal "For time-conscious readers, Nature's Clocks provides satisfaction beyond measure." Washington Post Book World "Guaranteed to improve one's understanding." Natl Cntr For Science Education

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List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
No Vestige of a Beginning	p. 1
Mysterious Rays	p. 21
Wild Bill's Quest	p. 45
Changing Perceptions	p. 72
Getting the Lead Out	p. 101
Dating the Boundaries	p. 131
Clocking Evolution	p. 159
Ghostly Forests and Mediterranean Volcanoes	p. 190
More and More from Less and Less	p. 219
The Geological Time Scale	p. 239
Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements	p. 241
Additional Notes	p. 245
Glossary	p. 251
Resources and Further Reading	p. 257
Index	p. 265
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Nature's Clocks

How Scientists Measure the Age of Almost Everything

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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