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s m i t h s o n i a n
KNOWLEDGE
E N C Y C L O P E D I A
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CONTENTS
SECOND EDITION
DK DELHI
Project Art Editor Shreya Anand Editor Aadithyan Mohan
DTP Designers Anita Yadav, Rakesh Kumar Jacket Designer Tanya Mehrotra
Jackets Editorial Coordinator Priyanka Sharma
Managing Editor Kingshuk Ghoshal Managing Art Editor Govind Mittal
DK LONDON
Editor Sophie Parkes SPACE
Jacket Designer Surabhi Wadhwa-Gandhi Jacket Editor Claire Gell
US Editor Megan Douglass US Executive Editor Lori Cates Hand
Jacket Design Development Manager Sophia MTT
Producer, Pre-production Gillian Reid Producer Anna Vallarino
Managing Editor Lisa Gillespie Managing Art Editor Owen Peyton Jones
Publisher Andrew Macintyre Associate Publishing Director Liz Wheeler
Art Director Karen Self Design Director Phil Ormerod
Publishing Director Jonathan Metcalf
FIRST EDITION
Senior Editors Shaila Brown, Daniel Mills, Ben Morgan
Senior Art Editors Vicky Short, Smiljka Surla
Editors Lizzie Munsey, Sam Priddy, Alison Sturgeon
Designers Daniela Boraschi, Tannishtha Chakraborty, Richard Horsford,
Hedi Hunter, Fiona Macdonald
Visualizer Peter Laws
Illustrators Peter Bull, Rob Cook, FOREAL™, Mike Garland, Mark Garlick,
Gary Hanna, Jason Harding, Arran Lewis, Maltings Partnership, Medi-Mation,
Peter Minister, Gerson Mora and Anna Luiza Aragão/Maná e.d.i.,
Moonrunner Design, Ian Naylor, Alex Pang, Dean Wright and Agatha Gomes
DK Picture Library Emma Shepherd, Rob Nunn
Jacket Design Development Manager Sophia MTT
Jacket Designer Laura Brim Jacket Editor Manisha Majithia
Producer, pre-production Francesca Wardell Producer Alice Sykes
Managing Editors Julie Ferris, Paula Regan
Managing Art Editor Owen Peyton Jones
Publisher Sarah Larter Art Director Phil Ormerod
Associate Publishing Director Liz Wheeler
Publishing Director Jonathan Metcalf
Contributors Kim Bryan, Robert Dinwiddie, Jolyon Goddard, Ian Graham,
Reg G Grant, Jacqueline Mitton, Darren Naish, Douglas Palmer, Philip Parker,
Penny Preston, Sally Regan, David Rothery, Carole Stott, Paul Sutherland,
Chris Woodford, John Woodward
This American Edition, 2018
First American Edition, 2013
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
1450 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2013, 2018 Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
20 21 22 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
011—195142—Jul/2018
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, THE UNIVERSE 10
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written
permission of the copyright owner. The Big Bang 12
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited. Galaxies 14
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Star birth 16
ISBN: 978-1-4654-1417-5
DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for sales Star death 18
promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact:
The Sun 20
DK Publishing Special Markets, 1450 Broadway, Suite 801, New York, NY 10018
[email protected] The Solar System 22
Printed and bound in UAE Inner planets 24
Outer planets 26
For the curious
The Moon 28
www.dk.com
SPACE EXPLORATION 30
Astronomy 32
Mission to the Moon 34
Exploring the planets 36
THE SMITHSONIAN
Established in 1846, the Smithsonian—the world’s largest museum and
research complex—includes 19 museums and galleries and the National This book was made with Forest Stewardship Council ™
Zoological Park. The total number of artifacts, works of art, and specimens in certified paper – one small step in DK’s commitment
the Smithsonian’s collection is estimated at 156 million. The Smithsonian is a to a sustainable future.
renowned research center, dedicated to public education; national service; For more information go to
and scholarship in the arts, sciences, and history. www.dk.com/our-green-pledge
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EARTH NATURE
PLANET EARTH 40
Inside the Earth 42
Earth’s climate 44
TECTONIC EARTH 46
Plate tectonics 48
Volcanoes 50
Earthquakes 52
EARTH’S RESOURCES 54
Rocks and minerals 56
WEATHER 58
Hurricanes 60
The water cycle 62
SHAPING THE LAND 64
Caves 66
HOW LIFE BEGAN 76
Glaciers 68
Timeline of life 78
The dinosaurs 80
EARTH’S OCEANS 70
Tyrannosaurus rex 82
The ocean floor 72
How fossils form 84
THE LIVING WORLD 86
Plant life 88
Green energy 90
INVERTEBRATES 92
Insects 94
Butterfly lifecycle 96
VERTEBRATES 98
Fish 100
Great white shark 102
Amphibians 104
Frog lifecycle 106
Reptiles 108
Crocodile 110
Birds 112
How birds fly 114
Mammals 116
African elephant 118
SURVIVAL SECRETS 120
Habitats 122
American desert 124
Amazon rainforest 126
African savanna 128
Coral reef 130
Animal architects 132
Predators and prey 134
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HUMAN BODY SCIENCE
BODY BASICS 138
Building blocks 140
The skeleton 142
Muscle power 144
The skin 146
FUELING THE BODY 148
From mouth to stomach 150
The intestines 152
In the blood 154
The heart 156
Fighting germs 158
Cleaning the blood 160
Air supply 162
IN CONTROL 164
Nervous system 166
Brainpower 168
How vision works 170
Inside the ear 172 MATTER 190
Taste and smell 174 Atoms and molecules 192
Control chemicals 176 Atom smasher 194
Solids, liquids, and gases 196
LIFE CYCLE 178 The elements 198
A new life 180 Chemical reactions 200
Life in the womb 182 Material world 202
Growing up 184
Genes and DNA 186 FORCES 204
Laws of motion 206
Engines 208
Simple machines 210
Flotation 212
Magnetism 214
Gravity 216
Flight 218
ENERGY 220
Electromagnetic spectrum 222
Signals from space 224
Light 226
Telescopes 228
Sound 230
Heat 232
Electricity 234
Power network 236
Radioactivity 238
ELECTRONICS 240
Digital world 242
Robotics 244
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HISTORY
THE ANCIENT WORLD 248 Imperial China 294
The first humans 250 Rulers of India 296
The first towns 252
Early empires 254 THE MODERN WORLD 298
Ancient Egypt 256 The slave trade 300
The pharaohs 258 The Enlightenment 302
Ancient Greece 260 The American Revolution 304
Ancient Athens 262 French Revolution 306
The Roman Empire 264 The Industrial Revolution 308
Roman society 266 The Age of Steam 310
The Civil War 312
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 268 World War I 314
Viking raiders 270 Trench warfare 316
Fortresses 272 World War II 318
Wars of faith 274 Modern warfare 320
World religions 276 The Cold War 322
The Ottoman Empire 278 The 1960s 324
The Silk Road 280 The 21st century 326
Samurai warriors 282
THE AGE OF DISCOVERY 284 REFERENCE 328
Voyage to the Americas 286 GLOSSARY 346
Ancient Americas 288 INDEX 350
The Renaissance 290 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 359
Shakespeare’s theater 292
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SPACE
When you look into the blackness of the night sky, you are
peering into the fathomless depths of the Universe. Stars,
planets, and galaxies stretch into space, not just farther than
you can see, but farther than you can imagine.
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10
THE
CELESTIAL BODIES
The Universe is at least 99.999999999999
percent empty space. Floating in this vast,
UNIVERSE dark void are all sorts of different objects,
which astronomers call celestial bodies.
They range from grains of dust to planets,
stars, and galaxies. Our Solar System
includes a star (the Sun) and a large family
The Universe is the whole of existence—all of space, of planets and moons that formed from
Asteroid
matter, energy, and time. The Universe is so vast that it the same cloud of gas that gave birth to
Rocky lumps left over from
the Sun. In recent years, planets have
seems unimaginable, but we do know that it has been the formation of the Solar
been seen around thousands of other System are called asteroids.
steadily expanding following its beginning 13.8 billion stars, showing that our Solar System They range in size from
years ago in an explosive event called the Big Bang. may be one of billions in our galaxy. boulders to bodies close to
the size of a dwarf planet.
UNDERSTANDING Looking back in time
THE UNIVERSE Because light takes time to travel,
when we look into space we are looking
People used to think of the back in time. The most distant objects
Universe as a giant sphere, but visible are galaxies photographed by
we now know that things are the Hubble Telescope. We see them as
not so simple. The Universe Closed they were 13 billion years ago. The
probably has no center or outer A dense Universe would bend itself into a Universe extends far beyond these,
closed shape. Traveling in a straight line
but it’s impossible to see objects
edge. Only a fraction of it—the would bring you back to your starting point.
much further because their light
observable Universe—is visible
hasn’t had time to reach us.
to us. The whole Universe may
Furthest objects
be vastly bigger than this,
The light from the faintest galaxies in this
perhaps infinitely so.
photo from the Hubble Space Telescope
took 13 billion years to reach Earth.
The shape of space
The three dimensions of space Open What’s the matter?
are bent by the force of gravity If the Universe isn’t dense enough, it might The elements hydrogen and
from matter in the Universe into stretch into an open shape, making it helium make up 98 percent of 27% 23%
a fourth dimension that we can’t infinite in size with no outer edge. dark matter
the matter we can see in the helium
see. This is hard to visualize, so
Universe. But there doesn’t
scientists use the metaphor of a
seem to be enough matter to 75%
two-dimensional rubber sheet to
account for the way stars and 68% hydrogen
explain the idea. The mass of the
galaxies are pulled by gravity. dark energy
Universe could bend this rubber
As a result, astronomers think
sheet in one of three ways, 5% matter
galaxies contain dark matter,
depending on how densely 2% other
packed with matter the Universe Flat which we cannot see. There is elements
Just the right amount of matter would give also an unknown force making
is. Most scientists now think the
the Universe a flat shape. This would also the Universe expand, known
shape of the Universe is flat. be infinite in size with no outer edge. as dark energy. MAKEUP OF THE UNIVERSE
THE SCALE
OF SPACE
The Universe is so vast that
we cannot appreciate its size
without making leaps of scale.
In this series of pictures, each
stage represents a microscopic
speck of the image to its right.
When dealing with the vast
distances in space, miles
aren’t big enough. Instead,
astronomers use the speed of
light as a yardstick. Light is so
Earth and Moon Solar System Stellar neighborhood
fast it can travel around the Earth is 7,926 miles (12,756 km) wide. The Sun’s family of eight planets occupies The nearest star to the Sun is Proxima
Earth 7.5 times in a second. Our nearest neighbor in space—the Moon— a region of space 5.6 billion miles (9 billion Centauri, which is just over 4 light-years
One light-year is the distance orbits Earth at a distance of 238,855 miles km) wide. If Earth were a soccer ball, it away. There are around 2,000 stars within
(384,400 km). If Earth were the size of a would take five days to walk across this 50 light-years of the Sun. These make up
light travels in a year: nearly
soccer ball, the Moon would be the size of part of the Solar System. The nearest star our stellar neighborhood, which is a tiny
6 trillion miles (10 trillion km).
a cantaloupe about 69 ft (21 meters) away. would be a 58-year walk away. fraction of the Milky Way galaxy.
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