The New York Times bestselling author of Stuff Matters and Liquid Rules presents a fascinating
guided tour of the secret life of gases: the strange elusive and fascinating substances that
shape our world. Gases are all around us?they fill our lungs power our movement create stars
and warm our atmosphere. Often invisible and sometimes odorless these ubiquitous substances
are also the least understood materials in our world and always have been. It wasn't long ago
that they were seen as the work of ancient spirits: the sudden closing of a door after a change
in airflow signaled a ghost's presence. Scientists and engineers have struggled with their own
gaseous demons. The development of high-pressure steam power in the 18th century literally blew
away some researchers ushering in a new era for both safety regulations and mass transit. And
carbon dioxide that noxious byproduct of fossil fuel consumption and cow burps gave rise to
modern civilization. Its warming properties known for centuries it now spells ruin for our
fragile atmosphere. As bestselling science writer and materials scientist Mark Miodownik shows
in this entertaining often hilarious tour of gases we've long harnessed the power of gases to
create life-altering technologies without fully understanding their potential. In the perfect
follow-up to his bestselling Stuff Matters and Liquid Rules It's a Gas chronicles ten gases
that shaped human history. From hydrogen carbon dioxide and neon to laughing gas steam and
even wind the story of gases is the story of that tricky space where science and belief
collide and of the elusive limits of human understanding.
