Discover how cricket chirps can tell us the temperature, why you can't unburn a match, why ice floats, and a host of mysteries of modern living — including some riddles that maybe even Einstein couldn't solve. From the simple (How does soap know what's dirt? How do magnets work? Why do batteries die?) to the more complex (Why does evaporation have a cooling effect? Where does uranium get its energy?), this book makes science more understandable and fun.

Author Robert Wolke provides definitive and easy-to-comprehend explanations for things that we take for granted, like the illumination behind neon signs and the mysteries of beverage carbonation. Wolke also dares readers to explore and conduct their own experiments with food, kitchen utensils, and common household products. This fifteenth anniversary edition of his bestselling popular science classic has been completely revised and expanded.