Preface: How to Read This Series

The Allure of Materials in the Movies

Since discovering materials science, I have been continually surprised that it is such a small field, because when I was a kid I saw that most action movies include at least one scene where a gadget guy explains something to the effect of, "This gadget is made of a super material that makes it impervious to third act plot twists!" Even as a kid I knew that it was probably impossible to grow up to be an action hero, but I could probably manage to become a real life gadget guy. Special materials play a core role in so many different stories, from the impervious mithril armor in Lord of the Rings, to bullet-proof suits in John Wick, to the special cold-resistant metal alloy that paves the way for victory in the first Iron Man movie. I wanted to make stuff that was just as cool as what I saw in the movies, so I became a materials scientist in an attempt to do just that.

Since becoming a materials scientist, I have been pleasantly surprised by how accessible of a goal that seems to be. Many fiction writers are inspired by real life science when they imagine gadgets for their stories, and many scientists are inspired in turn by the fantastical stories written by those authors. This creates a wonderful feedback loop of scientific and creative innovation that all of humanity benefits from. 

How to Read This Series

In this series I will take a look at several fictional materials, their real life inspirations, and any real life examples of those seemingly fictional materials available today or in the near future. The purpose of this series is not to trick you into learning materials science, although you will probably learn some along the way. The purpose is to describe how the world in which we live is much more fantastical than it might appear, and to show that there is a lot of scientific truth to be found in fiction. 

To that end, every chapter in this series will follow the same format. There will be a list of popular movies and other works of fiction that prominently display the spotlighted material, then there will be a discussion of the real science surrounding the spotlighted material in three increasing levels of depth. Above all, I want readers to leave each chapter feeling that their curiosity about the material is satisfied without boring them, so I encourage you to only read as far in the chapter as you personally find it interesting. Every section in this series is written in plain English for all audiences to enjoy, but of course not all readers will share the same level of curiosity about the nitty gritty details of every material.

What is Materials Science?

Materials science is the study of what makes the stuff around us behave the way it does. Why is metal hard? Why is plastic flexible? Why is glue sticky? Why is gum chewy? Why is grease slippery? Materials science studies and answers all of those questions along with comparing different materials to each other to determine what the best material for each job is. That second part of materials science is called "materials selection."

Materials science is a cross-disciplinary field that involves input from all of the major physical sciences. Chemistry comes into play through an understanding of how the atoms and molecules in a material are put together. Physics comes into play through studies of how materials respond to being stretched, bent, and broken. Biology comes into play through the ways different materials interact with living things, and the materials those living things create. Mathematics and computer science come into play through models that help us understand and predict what is going on inside of materials.

Professors are fond of saying that materials science has existed for as long as humanity, to the point that we have named several historical ages after materials--The Bronze Age, The Iron Age, The Silicon Age. While that is true, I prefer to think about the tangible ways in which materials science affects our daily lives. There was thought put into what materials are used in every single object in our homes--every single man-made object we have ever touched--and those choices were made for a reason by someone we'll often never meet. We have intimate relationships with materials through a person's love of the smell of wood, or the texture of soft fabric, or the shimmer of jewels. Honoring and improving those relationships between people and the materials we feel connected to are what get me excited about materials science, so I hope in reading this you can feel a bit more connected to both the things you love and all of the people who worked hard to make them for you.

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