24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Learning to See and Understand Structure
How are ideas for buildings, bridges, and towers transformed from sketches to concrete reality? What are the three essential qualities that make a structure great? What's the difference between seeing a structure and actually understanding it? Discover the answers to these and other questions in this introductory lecture.
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Learning to See and Understand Structure
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13.
Three Great Domes—Rome to the Renaissance
Trace the dome's evolution from the 1st century A.D. to the Renaissance. It's a journey reflected in the increasingly sophisticated domes of three great structures: the ancient Roman Pantheon, the Byzantine-era basilica of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and the Renaissance-era dome over the Florence cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
13.
Three Great Domes—Rome to the Renaissance
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2.
The Science of Structure—Forces in Balance
Explore how two types of external forces—loads (forces applied to structures) and reactions (forces developed at supports, in response to applied loads)—act on structures such as Kansas City's Chouteau Bridge. Also, learn how these forces are related to the most important concept in engineering mechanics: equilibrium.
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The Science of Structure—Forces in Balance
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14.
How Iron and Science Transformed Arch Bridges
Examine the development of arched bridges during and after the Industrial Revolution. See how the revolutionary Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale paved the way for the development of science-based engineering. Also, see how science contributed to increasingly sophisticated modern bridges such as Spain's Campo Volantin Bridge.
14.
How Iron and Science Transformed Arch Bridges
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3.
Internal Forces, Stress, and Strength
Use the Simple Tension Test (pulling on a structural element until it reaches the breaking point) as a gateway to understanding the concepts of internal force, stress, and strength. Then, see these concepts at work in structures such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Athens' Olympic Velodrome.
3.
Internal Forces, Stress, and Strength
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15.
Suspension Bridges—The Battle of the Cable
After learning the science behind suspension bridges, begin your two-lecture look at these structural marvels. Here, relive the "Battle of the Cable," in which 19th-century engineers struggled over whether to build suspension cables from iron chains (as in England's Menai Strait Bridge) or steel wire (as in the Brooklyn Bridge).
15.
Suspension Bridges—The Battle of the Cable
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4.
From Wood to Steel—Properties of Materials
Materials profoundly influence the form, function, and structure of great buildings, bridges, and towers. Using steel (which is superior in terms of strength, ductility, and stiffness) as a benchmark, compare the structural properties of wood, masonry, concrete, and iron—and see them at work in thousands of years' worth of structures.
4.
From Wood to Steel—Properties of Materials
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16.
Suspension Bridges—The Challenge of Wind
In July 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge dramatically collapsed in a steady 42-mph wind. In this concluding lecture on suspension bridges, focus on how the Brooklyn Bridge, the Severn Bridge, and other bridges were designed to combat the second great challenge of these record-breaking bridges: their vulnerability to wind-induced vibrations.
16.
Suspension Bridges—The Challenge of Wind
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5.
Building Up—Columns and Buckling
One of the most potent human aspirations supported by engineering is to build up. Learn how this has been done from antiquity to the present with columns—structural members that carry load primarily in compression. You'll also learn about buckling: the often catastrophic stability failure that occurs in columns with certain geometric characteristics.
5.
Building Up—Columns and Buckling
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17.
Great Cantilever Bridges—Tragedy and Triumph
Professor Ressler shows how structural catastrophes produced two bridges that provide a wonderful opportunity to see and understand structure: Scotland's Firth of Forth Bridge and Canada's second Quebec Bridge. You'll also gain insights into the human element of engineering, and the reasons structures turn out the way they do.
17.
Great Cantilever Bridges—Tragedy and Triumph
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6.
Building Across—Beams and Bending
Beams, combining tension and compression, are central to the second aspiration supported by engineering: building across long distances. As you survey beams from the primitive lintel over the Lion Gate at Mycenae to Norway's Raftsundet Bridge, you'll investigate scientific developments and transform your understanding of what makes this structural element possible.
6.
Building Across—Beams and Bending
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18.
The Rise of Iron- and Steel-Framed Buildings
How did iron and steel revolutionize building design? Find out in this trip back to late 18th- and early 19th-century Europe and America, where iron-framed structures—such as sheds at England's Chatham Dockyard, New York City's Equitable Life Insurance Building, and Chicago's First Leiter Building—would set the stage for modern skyscrapers.
18.
The Rise of Iron- and Steel-Framed Buildings
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7.
Trusses—The Power of the Triangle
Trusses, the subject of this fascinating lecture, are rigid frameworks composed of structural members connected at joints and arranged into networks of triangles. Learn how they work to stabilize and support a range of structural wonders, including the Brooklyn Bridge and—most famously—the Eiffel Tower.
7.
Trusses—The Power of the Triangle
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19.
The Great Skyscraper Race
The human aspiration to build upward reaches its climax with the skyscraper. Learn the story behind America's "great skyscraper race" and the increasingly sophisticated buildings it produced. Among the structural masterpieces you examine in depth are the Wainwright Building, the Chrysler Building, the Willis Tower, and the World Trade Center towers.
19.
The Great Skyscraper Race
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8.
Cables and Arches—The Power of the Parabola
In this lecture, Professor Ressler introduces you to two final structural elements: cables and arches. The Saint Louis Gateway Arch and the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge are just two examples of breathtaking structural features that also have extensive, occasionally surprising, parallels.
8.
Cables and Arches—The Power of the Parabola
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20.
The Beauty and Versatility of Modern Concrete
Concrete, the world's most commonly used construction material, has been used in buildings that are anything but common. See concrete's versatility at work in an incredible range of structures, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, the Salginatobel Bridge in the Swiss Alps, and Dubai's Burj Khalifa (currently the world's tallest building).
20.
The Beauty and Versatility of Modern Concrete
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9.
Loads and Structural Systems
Structures are heavily influenced by the loads they're designed to carry. First, take a closer look at the most important loads structures must resist, including traffic loads and earthquake loads. Then, using the historic iron building at Watervliet Arsenal in New York, analyze how loads are actually transmitted through structural systems along load paths.
9.
Loads and Structural Systems
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21.
Amazing Thin Shells—Strength from Curvature
Thin shells are unique structural elements that use curvature—cylindrical, dome-like, or saddle-like—to attain strength and stiffness. See these three types of thin shells used creatively in buildings ranging from St. Paul's Cathedral in London to the Zeiss planetarium in Germany to the Trans World Flight Center at New York's JFK Airport.
21.
Amazing Thin Shells—Strength from Curvature
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10.
Egypt and Greece—Pyramids to the Parthenon
Embark on your tour of different types of structures from around the world and across time. Your first stop: ancient Egypt, and the surprisingly complex engineering of pyramids, including the Great and Red pyramids. Your second stop: ancient Greece, where you visit the domed Treasury of Atreus and break down the structural system of the Parthenon.
10.
Egypt and Greece—Pyramids to the Parthenon
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22.
Vast Roof Systems of Iron and Steel
The need for roofs spanning large enclosed spaces led to a startling number of new structural systems in the last 200 years. Look closer at long-span structural configurations in places such as the Houston Astrodome, the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and even the Hartford Civic Center (the collapse of which offers a lesson in the risks of innovation).
22.
Vast Roof Systems of Iron and Steel
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11.
The Glory of Rome in Arches and Vaults
Learn why the arch is the principal structural feature of ancient Rome. Your detailed case studies range from simple bridges such as the Pont St. Martin and triumphal arches such as the Arch of Titus to massive aqueducts like the Pont du Gard and majestic public spaces like the Baths of Caracalla.
11.
The Glory of Rome in Arches and Vaults
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23.
The Incredible Lightness of Tension Structures
Apply old concepts in new ways with this lecture on tension structures, where all the principal load-carrying elements are in tension. Explore noteworthy examples, from the cable-supported roof of North Carolina's J. S. Dorton Arena to the suspended dish roof of Madison Square Garden to the cable dome of South Korea's Olympic Gymnastics Hall.
23.
The Incredible Lightness of Tension Structures
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12.
The Rise and Fall of the Gothic Cathedral
Gothic cathedrals are lasting testaments to the power of a series of sweeping architectural developments in medieval Europe. After examining the roots of Gothic cathedrals in their Romanesque predecessors, focus on several structural innovations—including flying buttresses and pointed arches—at work in places such as France's Chartres Cathedral.
12.
The Rise and Fall of the Gothic Cathedral
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24.
Strategies for Understanding Any Structure
What happens when you encounter a noteworthy structure that hasn't been included in this course and you want to know more about it? Professor Ressler devotes his final lecture to answering this question; sending you out into the world with suggested strategies for understanding any structure—great or otherwise.
24.
Strategies for Understanding Any Structure
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24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
The Crossroads of 21st-Century Science
Join Professors Sargent and Kelley for an initial plunge into the nanoscale, the tiny and mind-blowing realm where revolutionary developments are taking place in applied physics, computer science, biology, and medicine. Begin by probing the size of a nanometer and consider how laws of nature and principles of design change at that scale.
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The Crossroads of 21st-Century Science
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13.
Delivering Drugs with “Smart” Nanocapsules
Learn how nano-enabled drug delivery systems can target cells with greater potency and fewer side effects than traditional treatments can. Examples include protein nanoparticles and liposomes, which have already been approved for clinical use. Then examine some next-generation approaches.
13.
Delivering Drugs with “Smart” Nanocapsules
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2.
The Fundamental Importance of Being Nano
Professor Sargent discusses the rules that govern the nanoscale, where the strange effects of quantum mechanics offer exciting possibilities for engineering. Survey the structure of atoms and molecules and their interactions with light, which are fundamental properties at the nanoscale.
2.
The Fundamental Importance of Being Nano
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14.
Nanoscale Surgical Tools
Nanoscale surgical tools can make excisions with incredible precision, ensuring that when a cancerous tumor is removed, no malignant cells remain and no healthy cells are harmed. Explore this ongoing medical revolution, and discover the role of robotics in enhancing the surgeon’s skill.
14.
Nanoscale Surgical Tools
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3.
From Micro to Nano—Scaling in a Digital World
Trace the evolution of the original computer switches—vacuum tubes—to smaller and smaller components: first to discrete transistors and then to printed circuits that have now shrunk to the nanoscale. Learn how Moore’s law predicts exponential progress in this “race to the bottom.”
3.
From Micro to Nano—Scaling in a Digital World
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15.
Nanomaterials for Artificial Tissue
Regenerative medicine focuses on producing artificial substitutes that can restore or replace damaged tissues or organs. Learn how nanomaterials stimulate cell and tissue growth in the body. Also follow progress in generating artificial organs outside the body to help meet the demand for organ transplants.
15.
Nanomaterials for Artificial Tissue
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4.
Leveraging the Nanometer in Computing
Moore’s law forecasts that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double roughly every two years. This rule of thumb has held for more than half a century. But how long can it continue? The nanoscale offers new challenges and solutions to the problem of producing ever-smaller circuits.
4.
Leveraging the Nanometer in Computing
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16.
How Nano Research Gets Done
Professors Kelley and Sargent introduce their research teams. Discover that nanotechnology is highly interdisciplinary. Chemists generate new materials. Physicists help understand those materials. Biologists put biomolecules and nanomaterials together. And engineers help turn basic discoveries into devices.
16.
How Nano Research Gets Done
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5.
Leveraging the Nanometer in Communications
How did the world become networked so fast? Follow a beam of light down a fiber-optic cable to understand why it now costs pennies to send data that would have been billed at more than $100,000 just a few decades ago.
5.
Leveraging the Nanometer in Communications
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17.
Nanomotifs—Building Blocks, Complex Structures
Professor Sargent takes a brief interlude to showcase the visual side of nanoengineering. View the complex structures that are built from nanoparts. Starting with nanoparticles, consider the many shapes that can be created, from nanotubes to supercrystals—structures that are not just useful but beautiful.
17.
Nanomotifs—Building Blocks, Complex Structures
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6.
Sensing the World through Nanoengineering
Megapixel cameras on cell phones may seem miraculous, but nanoengineering promises far more powerful imaging systems. Quantum dots will give cameras much greater sensitivity and the ability to detect light across a broad range of invisible wavelengths, opening new applications for image processing.
6.
Sensing the World through Nanoengineering
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18.
Using Nanotechnology to Capture Sunlight
Starting a sequence of lectures on nanotechnology and energy, Professor Sargent probes the physics of solar cells, which use semiconductors to generate an electric current from sunlight. Learn how nanotechnology is making this renewable energy source more efficient and cost-effective.
18.
Using Nanotechnology to Capture Sunlight
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7.
Nanomedicine—DNA and Gold Nanoparticles
Begin a series of lectures with Dr. Kelley on nanoscience in biology. The building blocks of life, including DNA, are nanoscale objects, making ideal targets for nanotechnology diagnostic tools and disease treatments. As an example, see how gold nanoparticles are used to identify genetic mutations.
7.
Nanomedicine—DNA and Gold Nanoparticles
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19.
Photons to Electricity—Nano-Based Solar Cells
Explore further into nanoscale solar cell technology by looking at different techniques for capturing solar energy. Rigid silicon-based hardware may soon be a thing of the past, replaced by inexpensive products such as organic photovoltaics, which are composed of physically flexible organic polymers that can be applied like plastic sheeting.
19.
Photons to Electricity—Nano-Based Solar Cells
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8.
Nano and Proteins—Enzymes to Cholesterol
Gold nanoparticles attached to an antibody protein allow a simple pregnancy test. Discover that nanoparticles are also tools for mapping how cholesterol and other protein molecules enter cells.
8.
Nano and Proteins—Enzymes to Cholesterol
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20.
Nanotechnology for Storing Energy
One of the challenges of renewable energy is that its hours of peak production may not correspond to times of peak demand, creating the problem of energy storage. Investigate some solutions that nanotechnology offers, including supercapacitors and a remarkable new class of batteries assembled by viruses.
20.
Nanotechnology for Storing Energy
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9.
Nanoparticles Detect Cancer in Living Organisms
Learn how metal nanoparticles called quantum dots can signal the presence of cancer cells inside the body. While still experimental, this technology may herald a breakthrough in noninvasive medical imaging.
9.
Nanoparticles Detect Cancer in Living Organisms
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21.
Nanotechnology for Releasing Energy
Catalysts foster a chemical reaction without being consumed by the reaction, using and releasing energy with incredible efficiency. Explore this phenomenon at the nanoscale, seeing how nanomaterials can increase the surface area of a catalyst, which greatly improves its performance for a wide range of applications.
21.
Nanotechnology for Releasing Energy
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10.
Detecting Only a Few Molecules of a Disease
Turn to cancer diagnostic tools “in vitro”—outside the body. Professor Kelley discusses her own work on a system for disease diagnosis that uses nanomaterials layered on microelectronic chips. This research promises much more efficient detection of the molecules that signal cancer.
10.
Detecting Only a Few Molecules of a Disease
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22.
Energy’s Holy Grail—Artificial Photosynthesis
The ultimate energy collection and storage system is photosynthesis. Nature does it with plants, but researchers are striving to attain the same result with nanotechnology—using sunlight to produce and store energy in the form of a fuel such as hydrogen.
22.
Energy’s Holy Grail—Artificial Photosynthesis
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11.
Nanomaterials That Seek and Destroy Disease
Explore three strategies for treating tumors. A photothermal approach places gold nanoparticles in a tumor and then irradiates the particles from an external source. A similar but more targeted technique tunes the radiation to a precise frequency, sparing surrounding tissues. Finally, learn how the gold nanoparticles themselves can be the tumor-killing agent.
11.
Nanomaterials That Seek and Destroy Disease
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23.
Nanorobots and Nature’s Nanomachines
Learn how nanorobots that take over the world in science fiction usually defy the laws of physics, and survey concerns about the harm that nanomaterials can do. Look at nanovehicles built with buckeyballs for wheels, and then turn to nature’s nanomachines such as diatoms, which build astonishing structures at the molecular level. Explore ways that these tiny creatures may be more effective than nanorobots.
23.
Nanorobots and Nature’s Nanomachines
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12.
How Nanomaterials Improve Drug Delivery
Drugs are administered by injection, inhalation, skin patches, or in pills. These methods deliver only a fraction of the medication to the needed areas, and many potentially useful biomolecules have no effective way to get to their targets. Discover that nanomaterials offer a solution to these problems.
12.
How Nanomaterials Improve Drug Delivery
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24.
On the Horizon and in the Far Future
Close your exploration of nanotechnology by looking ahead at possible near- and long-term developments. One is a real “cloak of invisibility.” Then look back to revisit physicist Richard Feynman’s bold predictions. See how far we’ve come and discover what Feynman apparently overlooked.
24.
On the Horizon and in the Far Future
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