Stuff: The Fortunes, Foibles, and Fiascos of Those Who Sought to Understand Matter by George Graybill

From Archimedes’s bathtub to Schrödinger’s cat, the reader follows the dramatic and humorous events in the history of the ongoing struggle to understand the basic nature of matter and, in the process, painlessly absorbs all the major concepts of middle school physical science. The structure of the book takes advantage of the fact that basic concepts about the nature of matter were discovered in roughly the same sequence they are taught. The book begins with the ancient Greeks, who first talked about atoms from a viewpoint that was more philosophical than scientific. The story of the next 2,000 years highlights the events and characters in the history of the study of matter. The book ends on the note that all the knowledge we have gained has led us back to asking philosophical questions such as, “Why does matter exist?” The tone is one of whimsy, weirdness, and irreverence. Although historical events are embellished or even completely fabricated for comic effect, it is always clear that the science is accurate. I see the book as a supplement to a middle school physical science class. It should appeal to students who can’t get enough of science and to those looking for something less boring than their textbook.

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Excerpts

• We may have been a little too hard on the alchemists. Some of their beliefs are held by many people today. Consider these alchemical ideas expressed in modern language: • The surrounding environment affects our health. • Everything is connected to everything else. • All religions are based on the same truth. Whether or not you agree with the statements, you have to admit that quite a few people would accept them as the truth. But do you believe in magic? Consider this: Chlorine is a poisonous green gas that will kill you if you breathe it. Sodium is a metal that can blow your head off if you drop it into water. When these elements are combined, they form the harmless compound we call table salt, which you put on your food. When you drop salt in water it disappears. Sounds like magic. Is it?

• Schrödinger didn’t like much of the Copenhagen interpretation. To point out what he thought were the ridiculous parts, he proposed this thought experiment: Imagine that a cat is sealed in a steel box. Inside the box is a device that can release a deadly gas that will kill the cat. Whether or not the device is triggered depends on an atomic scale event in which a particle is in a superimposed state. One state releases a particle that triggers the device that releases the lethal gas, and the other state does not. According to the Copenhagen interpretation, the cat is both dead and alive until the box is opened. Einstein thought this was pretty funny and said that Erwin was one of the few quantum scientists who had a grip on reality. 

About the author

George Graybill was raised on a chicken farm in a remote Pennsylvania village. After abandoning the chickens, he worked as a professional student, oceanographer, bum, toymaker, carpenter, custom furniture maker, research chemist, chemistry teacher, and science writer in that order. He is open to suggestions for another gig. He has many other writing credits, but they are not worth looking up.


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