Summary of Helen Czerski's Storm in a Teacup

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The inside of a popcorn kernel is made up of a germ, which is the start of a new plant, and the endosperm, which is there to provide food for the new plant. The endosperm is made up of starch packaged into granules and contains about 14 percent water. As the kernels sat in the hot oil, the water began to evaporate, turning into steam.

#2 The rules change when the hard shell finally succumbs. The insides are exposed to the atmospheric pressure in the rest of the pan, and there is no volume limit any more. The starchy goo expands explosively, until the pressure inside matches the pressure outside.

#3 The laws of gases are a great example of how simplicity can be achieved from complexity. As the pressure on a pocket of air increases, its volume decreases. This is Boyle’s Law, and it says that gas pressure is inversely proportional to volume.

#4 The most precious treasure the whale carries down into the gloom is oxygen, which it needs to sustain the chemical reactions that power its swimming muscles. But the gaseous oxygen supplied by the atmosphere becomes a liability in the deep, as it becomes compressed by the weight of water above it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822546134

IRB Media

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Insights on Helen Czerski's Storm in a Teacup

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The inside of a popcorn kernel is made up of a germ, which is the start of a new plant, and the endosperm, which is there to provide food for the new plant. The endosperm is made up of starch packaged into granules and contains about 14 percent water. As the kernels sat in the hot oil, the water began to evaporate, turning into steam.

#2

The rules change when the hard shell finally succumbs. The insides are exposed to the atmospheric pressure in the rest of the pan, and there is no volume limit any more. The starchy goo expands explosively, until the pressure inside matches the pressure outside.

#3

The laws of gases are a great example of how simplicity can be achieved from complexity. As the pressure on a pocket of air increases, its volume decreases. This is Boyle’s Law, and it says that gas pressure is inversely proportional to volume.

#4

The most precious treasure the whale carries down into the gloom is oxygen, which it needs to sustain the chemical reactions that power its swimming muscles. But the gaseous oxygen supplied by the atmosphere becomes a liability in the deep, as it becomes compressed by the weight of water above it.

#5

The problem of the shrunken lungs is that if their volume is only one-hundredth of what it was at the surface, the pressure of the gas in there will be one hundred times greater than atmospheric pressure. The whale can access its energy reserves because its blood and muscles can store an extraordinary amount of oxygen.

#6

The process of making bread is called fermentation. Each individual fermentation reaction produces two molecules of carbon dioxide which are expelled by the yeast. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a small unreactive molecule at room temperature that has enough energy to float free as a gas.

#7

The pressure in the oven was still the same as the pressure outside, but the temperature in the bread had suddenly gone up from 20°C to 250°C. In absolute units, that’s from 293 Kelvin to 523 Kelvin, almost a doubling of temperature. The gas molecules speeded up as a result.

#8

The ideal gas law, which describes the behavior of gases, is based on the assumption that all the molecules in a gas are identical. It is what drives the internal combustion engine,