Books in Checkerboard Science Library: Everyday Inventions series

This book introduces the history of the invention of airplanes, including Leonardo da Vinci's ornithopter, Joseph-Michel and Jacque-Étienne Montgolfier's hot air balloons, Sir George Cayley and Otto Lilienthal's work with gliders, Orville and Wilbur Wright's first flight, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart's flights across the Atlantic, and the work of modern record breakers Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. Other chapters delve into airplane parts, from wings and ailerons to landing gear and jet engines, as well as how these parts along with concepts such as lift, gravity, thrust, and drag help keep an airplane flying. Fun facts discuss black boxes, autopilot, and the requirements for a U.S. pilot's license. Other sections cover regimes of flight, mach numbers, and different kinds of airplanes, such as monoplanes, biplanes, floatplanes, and sailplanes, as well as the pilots, crews, flight attendants, and airport workers who run this form of transportation. The book also addresses the airplane's impact on society as swift carriers of passengers and products, as well as disease and pollution. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about airplanes, an everyday invention that makes travel faster and puts the world at our fingertips. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

This book introduces the history of the invention of cameras, including early artists' use of the camera obscura, Johan Heinrich Schulze's use of silver salts, inventing ways to make photographic images permanent, Joseph-Nicéphore Niepce and the first photograph, Louis-Jacque-Mandé Daguerre's daguerreotype, William Henry Fox Talbot's talbotype, George Eastman's roll film and portable Kodak cameras, Oskar Barnack's handheld Leica, Paul Vierkotter's camera flash, Harold Edgerton's stroboscopic flash, Edwin Herbert Land's instant camera, Steven Sasson and the first digital camera, and cell phone cameras. Other chapters delve into camera parts, from the light-tight body to lenses and viewfinders, as well as how these parts work together to make a camera work, from framing a shot to how images form on film or a charge-coupled device. Other sections cover different kinds of cameras and photography, including daguerreotypes, the Kodak box camera, the Brownie, the Polaroid Land Camera, camcorders, and digital cameras, as well as the professional photographers, teachers, salespeople, film developers, and repair specialists who work with cameras. Fun facts discuss French photographer Nadar and the first aerial photograph, Mathew Brady's coverage of the American Civil War, and Eadweard Muybridge's photographs of a running horse. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about cameras, an everyday invention that has changed the way we look at the world. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

This book introduces the history of the invention of automobiles, including Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's steam engine vehicle, Nikolaus August Otto's four-stroke internal-combustion engine, Henry Ford and the Model T, and the contributions of other inventors such as Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz. Other chapters delve into automobile parts, from pistons and cylinders to wheels and brake pads, as well as the intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes that convert gasoline to motion and keep an automobile moving. Other sections cover different kinds of automobiles, from SUVs to hybrid cars, as well as the designers, assembly line workers, salespeople, race car drivers, and millions of other people for whom the automobile industry provides jobs. Fun facts discuss the prevalence of automobiles in the United States, the first automobile race, Mary Anderson's invention of windshield wipers, and the function of safety glass. The book also addresses safety belts, pollution, fuel efficiency, the Clean Air Act, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, carpooling, and new technologies such as entertainment systems that allow satellite television and DVD players in automobiles. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about automobiles, an everyday invention that influences transportation worldwide. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

This book introduces the history of the invention of bicycles, including the early designs and questionable influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Comte Médé de Sivrac, the célérifère, Baron Karl de Drais's draisienne, Kirkpatrick Macmillan and Pierre and Ernest Michaux's pedal and crank improvements, the boneshaker, James Starley's Ariel, the penny-farthing, the ordinary, H.J. Lawson's chain-driven back wheel, John Kemp Starley's Rover Safety model, John Boyd Dunlop's pneumatic tires, and the invention of mountain bikes. Other chapters delve into bicycle parts, from handlebars and derailleurs to wheels and brakes, as well as how these parts work together to keep riders upright and bicycles moving. Other sections cover different kinds of bicycles, including road, mountain, hybrid, bmx, recumbent, and tandem bikes, as well as the designers, manufacturers, salespeople, repairers, messengers, and racers who work with them. Fun facts discuss the Tour de France and inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach and the first motorcycle. The book also addresses the popularity of bicycles, how easily they can be fixed, and their benefits as a healthy form of exercise and an efficient, environmentally friendly form of transportation. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, a sidebar on bicycle safety, and an index enhance this engaging, easy-to-read text about bicycles, an everyday invention that exists in the millions worldwide. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

This book introduces the history of the invention of radios, including its roots in the telegraph and the telephone, the contributions of Michael Faraday, Joseph Henry, James Clerk Maxwell, Heinrich Hertz, Nikola Tesla, Guglielmo Marconi, and Reginald A. Fessenden, as well as Morse code, induction theory, electromagnetic waves, the first transatlantic radio transmission, the first spoken radio messages, and radio communication with astronauts in space. Other chapters delve into the parts and systems that make radio technology possible from transmission to reception, including program signals, antennas, and speakers, as well as amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), and wave bands. Other sections cover different kinds of radios, including Ham, shortwave, digital, and satellite radio, and the disc jockeys (DJs), producers, sound engineers, radio tower repairers, and professional installers who work with them. Fun facts discuss Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Tesla, and Samuel F.B. Morse's induction into the Inventors Hall of Fame, Woodrow Wilson as the first president to talk over the radio, and the significance of radio call sign letters. Full-color photographs, informative diagrams, glossary words in bold, a graphic timeline, and an index enhance engaging, easy-to-read text about radios, an everyday invention that has influenced wireless communication from walkie-talkies to text messages. Checkerboard Library is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

These exciting books teach young readers about farms, and about life as a farm family. Children will learn about different kinds of farms. They will read about families working with the seasons, the 4H club, county fairs, and rodeos.-- Supports geography, science, and social studies curriculum-- Full-color photos and maps enhance the text-- Table of contents, glossary, index, and internet sites