The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature

Ball, Philip

ISBN 10: 0198502443 / ISBN 13: 9780198502449

Edité par Oxford University Press, 1999

A propos de cet article

N° de réf. du vendeur b-735-01-jn

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature
• Éditeur: Oxford University Press
• Date de parution: 1999
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0198502443
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780198502449
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• État de l'article: Fine
• État de la jaquette: Fine

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

This text explains how nature's patterns - the markings on animals, windblown ripples of sand, the forms of water in motion - are woven by self-organization, through simple, local interactions between their component parts. The products of self-organization are universal patterns: spirals, spots and stripes, branches and honeycombs.

Présentation de l'éditeur

Why do similar patterns and forms appear in nature in settings that seem to bear no relation to one another? The windblown ripples of desert sand follow a sinuous course that resemles the stripes of a zebra or a marine fish. In the trellis-like shells of microscopic sea creatures we see the same angles and intersections as for bubble walls in a foam. The forks of lightning mirror the branches of a river or a tree. l This book explains why these are no coincidences. Nature commonly weaves its tapestry by self-organization, employing no master plan or blueprint but by simple, local interactions between its component parts - be they grains of sand, diffusing molecules or living cells - give rise to spontaneous patters that are at the same time complex and beautiful. Many of these patterns are universal: spirals, spots, and stripes, branches, honeycombs. Philip Ball conducts a profusely illustrated tour of this gallery, and reveals the secrets of how nature's patterns are made.