The new everyday science explained / by Curt Suplee.

1. Matter and Motion -- It's all downhill from here -- Orders of magnitude -- Getting started -- Newton I. Inertia -- Newton II. F=MA -- Newton III. Equal and opposite -- Neither created nor destroyed -- Can't stop on a dime -- Friction as friend -- Friction: formidable foe -- Looking for leverage -- Wedges and wheels -- Animals at work -- To stick or not to stick -- Pressure and gases -- Pascal's liquid assets -- Making steel float -- A turbulent world -- Taking Bernoulli for a ride -- Making waves -- Reflection and refraction -- Resonance and interference -- Turning up the heat -- How heat gets around -- Heat and weather -- The effects of Coriolis -- 2. Forces of Nature -- The four forces -- A situation of gravity -- Gravity's many shapes -- Attraction from afar -- Magnetism and our lives -- Getting charged -- Electricity in motion -- To conduct or not to conduct -- Around and around -- Resistance: pros and cons -- Now you see it... -- Light of many colors -- Managing light for fun and profit -- Of sunlight and Earth -- Making light bend -- Focusing on worlds near and far -- Beyond visible light -- At the cutting edge of light -- Making light speak -- In our own image -- The photoelectric effect -- Inner sanctum -- 3. The Right Stuff -- Elements: personality kids -- Getting together -- Odd couples -- We're the stuff of stars -- Skeletons of substance -- Marriages of convenience -- Let's drink to water! -- Fresh water: not here -- Seeking balance: pH -- Chemistry for contractors -- Those amazing halogens -- Halogens and the environment -- Ashes to ashes, rust to rust -- It's what's for dinner -- Carbon's black magic -- A world of fuels -- Endless variations on a theme -- 4. The Chemistry of Life -- What is life, anyway? -- Cells without walls -- Turning sunlight into food -- Life runs on sugar -- Turning on your body heat -- Getting going -- Fats: the good, the bad, and the ugly -- The building blocks of life -- Hormones: the body's semaphores -- How cells change as they stay the same -- Your personal bar code for life -- Species: It's a family affair -- Evolution: nature's test drives -- The death of a cell -- Cells that never die -- Two killers on the rise -- We're all Trojan horses -- Bacteria of the world -- Viral invaders -- Vaccines and viruses -- The body's immune system -- War in a lymph node -- The enemy within -- Nervous systems -- Nerves and muscles -- Putting flex in your step -- Born to beat -- Heart attacks and brain attacks -- Running on rust -- Being good to your gut -- The magic of the liver -- Vitamins and minerals -- Bones and teeth -- Blood: the liquid organ -- Basics of the brain -- Seeing and believing -- Perception--or confusion? -- Sounds of a lifetime -- Taste and smell -- Thresholds of pain -- Emotion and behavior -- Drugs of pleasure -- Sleep and dreams -- Intimations of mortality -- Index -- Acknowledgments and Additional Reading -- Credits.