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The four-volume “Science of Everyday Things” set illustrates the importance of scientific and mathematical principles through their use in everyday life. Each volume focuses on a specific scientific discipline — biology, chemistry, earth sciences and physics — offering an in-depth understanding of each discipline and its theories, creating a sense of real-life relevance for students and those not scientifically-inclined, and including interesting facts and details relating to each principle. The fascinating entries offer explanations of concepts using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, and present theories in their everyday applications. Some examples of the entries covered include how osmosis is used in dehydrating fruit; Charles' law and the chemical reaction that sets off an airbag; and how algorithms are used to figure out the NCAA playoff tournaments.
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In biology the term behavior refers to the means by which living things respond to their environments. At first glance, this might seem to encompass only animal behavior, but, in fact, plants display observable behavior patterns as well. One of the principal manifestations of plant behavior is tropism, a response to a stimulus that acts in a particular direction, thus encouraging growth either toward or away from that stimulus. Behavior in plants is primarily a matter of response to stimuli, which may be any one of a variety of influences that derive either from inside or outside the organism....
