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The Devil's Element

2023-03-07 Science
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Release : 2023-03-07
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 662/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Devil's Element by : Dan Egan

Download or read book The Devil's Element written by Dan Egan. This book was released on 2023-03-07. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times best-selling author on the source of great bounty—and now great peril—all over the world. Phosphorus has played a critical role in some of the most lethal substances on earth: firebombs, rat poison, nerve gas. But it’s also the key component of one of the most vital: fertilizer, which has sustained life for billions of people. In this major work of explanatory science and environmental journalism, Pulitzer Prize finalist Dan Egan investigates the past, present, and future of what has been called “the oil of our time.” He describes the race to mine it from the fabled guano islands to the far Pacific to the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. He reports on how our overreliance on phosphorus is today causing toxic “dead zones” in waterways from the Florida Everglades to the Mississippi River Basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. And he explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide—which risks rising conflict and even war.

The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance

2023-03-07 Science
Download The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance PDF Online Free

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Release : 2023-03-07
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 670/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance by : Dan Egan

Download or read book The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance written by Dan Egan. This book was released on 2023-03-07. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Yorker Best Book of the Year "Lively…and thought-provoking.” —Robert W. Howarth, Science The New York Times best-selling author on the source of great bounty—and now great peril—all over the world. Phosphorus has played a critical role in some of the most lethal substances on earth: firebombs, rat poison, nerve gas. But it’s also the key component of one of the most vital: fertilizer, which has sustained life for billions of people. In this major work of explanatory science and environmental journalism, Pulitzer Prize finalist Dan Egan investigates the past, present, and future of what has been called “the oil of our time.” The story of phosphorus spans the globe and vast tracts of human history. First discovered in a seventeenth-century alchemy lab in Hamburg, it soon became a highly sought-after resource. The race to mine phosphorus took people from the battlefields of Waterloo, which were looted for the bones of fallen soldiers, to the fabled guano islands off Peru, the Bone Valley of Florida, and the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. Over the past century, phosphorus has made farming vastly more productive, feeding the enormous increase in the human population. Yet, as Egan harrowingly reports, our overreliance on this vital crop nutrient is today causing toxic algae blooms and “dead zones” in waterways from the coasts of Florida to the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. Egan also explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide—which risks rising conflict and even war. With The Devil’s Element, Egan has written an essential and eye-opening account that urges us to pay attention to one of the most perilous but little-known environmental issues of our time.

A History of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, from Prehistory to the End of the Classical Period

2024-05-01 Science
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Release : 2024-05-01
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 507/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis A History of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, from Prehistory to the End of the Classical Period by : Robert W. Boyle

Download or read book A History of Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, from Prehistory to the End of the Classical Period written by Robert W. Boyle. This book was released on 2024-05-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Mendeleev outlined the modern periodic table in 1869, many new uses have been found for the 92 naturally occurring elements. This book travels back in time to describe the utilization of materials familiar (gold, copper, iron) and arcane (arsenic, boron, red ochre) and their practical history (mining, metallurgy and crafts), with evidence from archaeology and geology. Together with the technological developments, author Robert Boyle portrays the advances in our understanding of materials science which led to modern geological and environmental sciences. It is a source book valuable to students of history and archaeology, mining and metallurgy, as well as to geologists, mineralogists and geochemists everywhere.

The Shocking History of Phosphorus

2001 Phosphorus
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Release : 2001
Genre : Phosphorus
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Book Rating : 057/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Shocking History of Phosphorus by : John Emsley

Download or read book The Shocking History of Phosphorus written by John Emsley. This book was released on 2001. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over 300 years, the chemical element phosphorus maimed, killed, polluted and burned - yet doctors prescribed it and whole industries were dedicated to its manufacture. This is a history of phosphorus, from its genesis through to its modern-day use in pesticides and household chemicals.

The 13th Element

2002 Science
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Release : 2002
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 316/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The 13th Element by : John Emsley

Download or read book The 13th Element written by John Emsley. This book was released on 2002. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible ""glowing"" history of the ""Devil's element ""phosphorus Discovered by alchemists, prescribed by apothecaries, exploited by ninth-century industrialists, and abused by twentieth-century combatants, the chemical element phosphorus has fascinated us for more than three centuries. It may even be the cause of will-o'-the wisps and spontaneous human combustion! Now John Emsley has written an enthralling account of this eerily luminescent element. Shining with wonderful nuggets-from murders-by-phosphorus to a match factory strike; from the firebombing of Hamburg to the deadly compounds derived from phosphorus today-The 13th Element weaves together a rich tableau of brilliant and oddball characters, social upheavals, and bizarre events.

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