How Technology Works: The Facts Visually Explained

by DK

Overview

Have you ever asked yourself how the inventions, gadgets, and devices that surround us actually work? Discover the hidden workings of everyday technology with this graphic guide.

How Technology Works demystifies the machinery that keeps the modern world going, from simple objects such as zip fasteners and can openers to the latest, most sophisticated devices of the information age, including smartwatches, personal digital assistants, and driverless cars. It includes inventions that have changed the course of history, like the internal combustion engine, as well as technologies that might hold the key to our future survival, including solar cells and new kinds of farming to feed a growing population.

Throughout the book, step-by-step explanations are supported by simple and original graphics that take devices apart and show you how they work. The opening chapter explains principles that underpin lots of devices, from basic mechanics to electricity to digital technology. From there, devices are grouped by application—such as the home, transportation, and computing—making them easy to find and placing similar devices side by side. How Technology Works is perfect for anyone who didn't have training in STEM subjects at school or is simply curious about how the modern world works.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781465479648
Publisher:	DK
Publication date:	04/09/2019
Series:	DK How Stuff Works
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	494,829
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

DK was founded in London in 1974 and is now the world leading illustrated reference publisher and a member of the Penguin Random House division of Bertelsmann. DK publishes highly visual, photographic non-fiction for adults and children. DK produces content for consumers in over 100 countries and over 60 languages, with offices in the UK, India, US, Germany, China, Canada, Spain and Australia.

DK's aim is to inspire, educate and entertain readers of all ages, and everything DK publishes, whether print or digital, embodies the unique DK design approach. DK brings unrivalled clarity to a wide range of topics, with a unique combination of words and pictures, put together to spectacular effect. We have a reputation for innovation in design for both print and digital products.

Our adult range spans travel, including the award-winning DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, history, science, nature, sport, gardening, cookery and parenting. 

DK’s extensive children’s list showcases a fantastic store of information for children, toddlers and babies. DK covers everything from animals and the human body, to homework help and craft activities, together with an impressive list of licensing titles, including the best-selling LEGO® books.

DK acts as the parent company for Alpha Books, publisher of the Idiot's Guides series.

https://www.dk.com/

Table of Contents

Power Technology

Power and energy 10

Water supply 12

Oil refineries 14

Generators 16

Motors 18

Power stations 20

Electricity supply 22

Nuclear power 24

Wind power 26

Water and geothermal power 28

Solar energy and bioenergy 30

Batteries 32

Fuel cells 34

Transportation Technology

Moving machines 38

Bicycles 40

Internal combustion engines 42

How a car works 44

Electric and hybrid cars 46

Radar 48

Speed cameras 50

Trains 52

Sailboats 54

Motor vessels 56

Submarines 58

Jet engines and rockets 60

Airplanes 62

Helicopters 64

Drones 66

Space probes 68

Materials and Construction Technology

Metals 72

Working with metals 74

Concrete 76

Plastics 78

Composites 80

Recycling 82

Nanotechnology 84

3-D printing 86

Arches and domes 88

Drilling 90

Earth movers 92

Bridges 94

Tunnels 96

Skyscrapers 98

Elevators 100

Cranes 102

Technology in the Home

Utilities in the home 106

Heating 108

Microwave ovens 110

Kettles and toasters 112

Dishwashers 114

Refrigeration 116

Vacuum cleaners 118

Toilets 120

Locks 122

Security alarms 124

Fabrics 126

Clothing 128

Washing machines 130

The digital home 132

Sound and Vision Technology

Waves 136

Microphones and loudspeakers 138

Digital sound 140

Telescopes and binoculars 142

Electric lighting 144

Lasers 146

Holograms 148

Projectors 150

Digital cameras 152

Printers and scanners 154

Computer Technology

The digital world 158

Digital electronics 160

Computers 162

How computers work 164

Keyboards and mice 166

Computer software 168

Artificial intelligence 170

How do robots work? 172

What can robots do? 174

Virtual reality 176

Communications Technology

Radio signals 180

Radios 182

Telephones 184

Telecommunications networks 186

Television broadcasting 188

Televisions 190

Satellites 192

Satellite navigation 194

The Internet 196

The World Wide Web 198

Email 200

Wi-Fi 202

Mobile devices 204

Smartphones 206

Electronic paper 208

Farming and Food Technology

Growing crops 212

Animal farming 214

Harvesters 216

Farming without soil 218

Precision agriculture 220

Sorting and packing 222

Food preservation 224

Food processing 226

Genetic modification 228

Medical Technology

Pacemakers 232

X-ray imaging 234

MRI scanner 236

Keyhole surgery 238

Prosthetic limbs 240

Brain implants 242

Genetic testing 244

Assisted fertility 246

Index 248

Acknowledgments 256

Editorial Reviews

05/10/2019

Gr 4–7-Not directly linked to How Science Works but covering adjacent territory, this gathering of modern technological wonders offers lucid if generally simplified overviews of each invention's major elements in operation. Nearly all of the graphic illustrations are cutaway views or schematic representations of stages or processes; they are clear and easy to understand if less dramatic or visually intense than photographs would be. The single-spread entries are randomly ordered within functional headings such as "Power Technology" or "Medical Technology," and vary in scope from "Animal Farming" and "Arches and Domes," to "Smartphones," "Toilets," and "Pacemakers." Confirmed STEM-winders will learn more about technology's underlying principles and finer details from the latest edition of David Macaulay's The Way Things Work Now, but readers with a dawning interest in buildings or bridges, plastics, clothes driers, or how a "lasagne [sic] ready meal" is factory assembled will be well served. The book will also attract students looking for broad views of where today's tech is headed in cutting edge fields as diverse as AI, gene modification, alternative power, and smart homes. VERDICT Broader in scope and more current than similar single-volume works for middle grades such as Dan Green's Basher Science: Technology, but unsystematic in organization and free of leads to further information. Best suited for browsing.-John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York

School Library Journal