Sticky

At the scale of atoms and molecules, things often like to stick together. But these tiny interactions don't just matter at the nanoscale; working together, they produce some important larger-scale forces. Like friction, for example: the force that keeps cars on the road, trains on the tracks and our feet on the ground; or drag, a phenomenon encountered by anything moving through water or air.

In other words, there's a lot of stickiness happening all the time. But what do we actually know about the physics of stickiness? What's really going on? How has nature evolved to make use of it, and what technological advances has it enabled the human race to create? In Sticky, physicist Laurie Winkless brings the amazing world of surface science to life. Using wide-ranging and surprising examples, she unravels what's known about the physics of stickiness.

She shows how our understanding of slipperiness opened the door to technological advances such as high-speed flight and space travel, how the natural world exploits these physical phenomena, and how engineers and physicists tackle the problems that friction and other surface interactions can cause. By exploring the tiniest of interactions, we can begin to understand just how much civilisation owes to our knowledge of the science of stickiness.