Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down

by J.E. Gordon

A structure has been defined as ‘any assemblage of materials which is intended to sustain loads’, and the study of structures is one of the traditional branches of science. If an engineering structure breaks, people are likely to get killed, and so engineers do well to investigate the behaviour of structures with circumspection.

how worms came to be the shape they are and why a bat can fly into a rose-bush without tearing its wings.

How do our

tendons work? Why do we get...

How were pterodactyls able to weigh so little? Why do birds have feathers? How do our arteries work ? What can we do for crippled children ? Why are sailing ships rigged in the way they are? Why did the bow of Odysseus have to be so hard to string? Why did the ancients take the wheels off their chariots at night? How did a Greek catapult work ? Why is a reed shaken by the wind and why is the Parthenon so beautiful? Can engineers le...

This book is about modern views on the structural element in Nature, in technology and in everyday life. We shall discuss the ways in which the need to be strong and to support various necessary loads has influenced the development of all sorts of creatures and devices – including man.