Crossing the boundaries of physics, chemistry, life sciences, and earth sciences,
Humanistic imagination and scientific and technological creativity all in one!
Exploring the natural phenomena and science and technology that make up the world

This book will serve as a helpful guide for young people who want to learn integrated science as a first step toward becoming creative and convergent talents, as well as for teachers and parents who want to introduce children to the joy of science and foster their insight.

Understand how the world works and unlock the secrets of the universe and Earth.

Scientists use estimates to predict research results to some extent and to determine whether measurements are reasonable and close to the true value.
What inconvenience would arise if the measured value and unit were different when reading the scale, even though each person used the same tool or device?
On September 23, 1999, scientists learned that the Mars Climate Orbiter had failed to enter Mars' orbit.
Analysis of the cause revealed that NASA used the international unit of measurement, m (meter), as its unit, but Lockheed Martin, the satellite manufacturer, used the yard-pound system, which was mainly used in the United States and the United Kingdom at the time.
Ultimately, the program input values ​​using different units resulted in the failure to enter Mars orbit, resulting in huge economic losses.
If NASA and the British satellite manufacturer had standardized their program inputs using the same international standard units of measurement, they could have achieved even more success in Mars exploration.
This case study highlights the usefulness and necessity of standardizing basic quantity measurements.
---From the main text, “Chapter 1: How Can We Measure the World?”

There is an anecdote related to the reason Mendeleev completed his own periodic table.
Mendeleev was a professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg University.
However, he said that he introduced card games to his students to teach them the regularities of the elements he was researching, after seeing students living in dormitories playing cards all night and coming to class the next morning sleepy.

He wrote the properties and atomic weights of the elements on cards made of paper, asked the students to find patterns and arrange them, and suggested that students who finished arranging them could return to their dormitories.
Students who were confident in card games tried the given element card arrangements several times.
Mendeleev also made his suggestion without knowing the answer, so he and his students tried numerous times but were unable to find the correct arrangement method, and they had no choice but to waste time worrying.

Then one day, Mendeleev had a dream in which he saw the periodic table, which reflected the regularity of the elements that he had been wondering about.
When he woke up, he wrote down exactly what he had seen in his dream, and this was the moment when the basic framework of the periodic table we use today was born.

---From the main text, “Chapter 2: How did matter come into being and gather together?”

It is predicted that crop production will decline in the future due to urbanization and climate change.
So, since 2003, expert meetings and research on edible insects have been held, and in 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) selected insects as a promising future food.
Why are insects, often considered disgusting, being chosen as future food? First and foremost, insects are easy to raise in confined spaces and are rich in protein.

The word protein in English is derived from the Greek word 'proreios'.
It means 'primary'.
As can be seen from the origin of the word protein, protein is an essential component that regulates life phenomena in all living things, including humans, and is the main substance that makes up living things.
Enzymes that help chemical reactions occur quickly within living organisms.
Hormones that regulate life activities and antibodies that fight pathogens are all made of proteins.

Protein is an essential substance not only for adolescents in their growing years but also for aging adults, and hair, nails, and muscles are all made of protein.
Our body's hair is made of keratin protein, our skin is made of collagen protein, our muscles are made of myosin and actin proteins, and the protein in red blood cells that is responsible for transporting oxygen is hemoglobin.
It is used not only in the human body but also in the bodies of many other creatures, such as peacock feathers, sheep horns, and spider webs.

---From the main text, “Chapter 3: What Materials is Nature Made of?”

When an earthquake occurs, the media reports, “An earthquake of this magnitude occurred” and “An earthquake of this magnitude occurred.”
What is the difference between earthquake magnitude and intensity?
Earthquake magnitude is a measure of the energy released by an earthquake, and was proposed in 1935 by seismologist Charles Richter.
It is also called the Richter scale after him.
A 1.0 increase on the Richter scale means that the energy released by an earthquake increases by 101.5, or about 30 times.
This means that the energy released by an earthquake with a magnitude of 1.0 differs by a factor of 30.
So a magnitude 7.0 earthquake is 30 times stronger than a magnitude 6.0 earthquake, and 900 times stronger than a magnitude 5.0 earthquake.

However, even if a large earthquake occurs, it is not felt in distant areas.
The degree to which the ground in a specific area shakes is called intensity.
In countries that frequently experience earthquakes (such as the United States, Japan, India, Israel, the Philippines, Taiwan, Russia, and China), each determines its own standard and uses it accordingly.

As Korea did not have a standard for the intensity of earthquakes, it used the intensity scale used by the Japan Meteorological Agency until 2000, but since 2001, it has been using the Modified Mercalli intensity scale used in the United States and other places.

---From the main text, “Chapter 4: Living in the Earth System”

Car crash tests don't just show which parts of the body are hit in an accident.
It reveals with precise data how much impact is applied to which part of the body and what effect this impact has on humans.
For this purpose, the dummy is equipped with various advanced sensors.
Typically, about 80 sensors, including load cells, accelerometers, and displacement sensors, are installed on a single dummy.
A load cell is a sensor that precisely measures the amount of force applied to a specific area during a collision, and is the most basic sensor equipped in a dummy.
In a car crash, the head is thrown forward at tremendous speed, which can be very fatal, and an accelerometer is used to measure this acceleration.
Additionally, the human neck and spine, which are parts directly related to life, bend, shrink, or stretch at the moment of impact, and the degree of this compression or bending is measured using a displacement meter.

These sensors are strategically placed in every vital part of the body, from head to toe.
The data collected through this method is used as essential data for improving the safety design of automobiles and developing new safety devices.
The development of crash test dummies is closely linked to the advancement of automotive safety technology, contributing to saving countless lives.
---From the main text, “Chapter 5: Dynamic Systems: How Do Forces and Motion Work?”

If you eat chicken breast, will the protein in it be absorbed directly into your body and build muscle? No, it goes through a digestive process in your digestive organs, like your stomach and small intestine.
The protein in chicken breast must be broken down into smaller amino acids before it can enter cells and be synthesized into the proteins needed for muscle formation.

In this way, chemical reactions that break down or synthesize proteins occur in our body, and this is called metabolism.
All living things, including humans, obtain the substances and energy necessary for life activities through metabolism.
Metabolism is a chemical reaction, but it is different from the chemical reactions that occur outside of living organisms.

In order for the protein in chicken breast to be broken down through chemical reactions outside of a living organism, it must be soaked in hydrochloric acid and kept at a high temperature of over 200℃ for a day, but inside a living organism, it is broken down through metabolism at a low temperature of 35-37℃ in just 1-2 hours.

---From the text, “Chapter 6: Organic and Sophisticated Systems, Life Systems”