The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather

From the masterful author of The Age of Wood, a "fascinating" (The Wall Street Journal), "original and highly engaging insight into how our universe works, encompassing black holes, the cotton mills of the industrial revolution, the biomechanics of walking, and more" (Paul Sen, author of Einstein's Fridge). From the time humans first used rotating bobbins to twist thread or whirled slings around their heads to throw stones, people have found spin fascinating and baffling in equal measure. Now, in The Science of Spin, Roland Ennos shows how rotational motion dominates the workings of the world around us. It has shaped the solar system, galaxies, and black holes. It controls our climate and weather--from the pattern of trade winds to the local formation of hurricanes and tornadoes. Harnessing the power of spin helped launch civilization, from the first developments of the wheel to the systems that now add force the industrial world--propellers, turbines, centrifugal pumps, electric motor