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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page summation of an article by Mark E. Eberhart entitled 'Why Things Break.' In this article, Eberhart argues that all of technology is contingent on how things fail‹either by being brittle or ductile. After a discussion that places this topic in historical perspective, he discusses the latest developments in new alloy production and predicting metal fatigue. The writer demonstrates how this is a well-written, clear article that uses language easily understood by the average reader. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KE9_99broken.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
civilization and the continuation of the technology that keeps life going here at the close of the twentieth century. Mark E. Eberhart, who is an associate professor of chemistry
and geo-chemistry at the Colorado School of Mines, is an expert on why things break and he has written a fascinating article on the subject, which appears in the October,
1999 edition of "Scientific American." Eberhart begins his article on why things break by giving some historical background that conveys the importance of this topic to modern life. He
points out that materials can break in two ways: they can shatter in a brittle way, like glass; or, they can distort in a ductile way, like iron (66). It
can be argued that all of technology relates to this principle. Our ancient ancestors inaugurated the "first technological era," the Stone Age, some 2.5 million years ago by taking advantage
of the fact that certain minerals, such as flint, can be manipulated due to the fact that they fail in a brittle way (66). On the other hand, around
5,000 years ago, artisans discovered that gold and cooper resist brittle failure and can, therefore, be shaped into jewelry and ornaments. Eberhart carries this line of thinking forward, describing how
bronze, which is made by combining cooper and tin, replaced stone tools and weapons because it was hard and tough (66); and then, alloys of carbon and iron came along,
which eventually led to the first steel (66). Although humanity has long taken advantage of the properties of materials regarding how they break, that is whether they are brittle or
ductile, it has only been in this century that anyone could accurately explain why they break. Even today, however, much of why things act like they do is still
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