The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather

By Roland Ennos

An eye-opening look at the unlikely links between tightrope walkers and tyrannosaurs, mediaeval catapults and tennis players, stunt cars and long jumpers

Spin shaped the Solar System, galaxies and black holes. It controls our climate and weather. It underpinned the progress of civilization, from the developments of the wheel – gears, pulleys, flywheels and lathes – that helped the old world gain global supremacy, to the systems that today power the industrial world – propellers, turbines, centrifugal pumps, impellers and electric motors. Even our own bodies are complex systems of rotating joints and levers.

But although we are fascinated by spin, most people remain baffled by it. As Roland Ennos shows in this rich and lively book, we lack an intuitive grasp of the concept because scientists – from Newton on – have focused on linear rather than rotational motion. By turning this old view on its head, Ennos aims to show how spin, be it natural or engineered, is what literally makes the world go around.

Along the way he reveals how spin makes our planet habitable, how it has been tamed by engineers to make our lives more comfortable, how we throw projectiles and wield tools and weapons, how we are only beginning to grasp how we balance, walk, run, swing and jump – and how we can ensure that like cats we always land on our feet.