Brantacan  Home  Page

Art, science, nature, engineering, mathematics,

and some relationships between them

If you have any questions please write to [email protected].

Web-site last updated January 2002

Bridges are found in many places, sometimes inviting the question "How did they do that?"  These pages provide diagrammatic explanations of the basic types of bridges, with numerous photographs.  The section also includes pages about building using arches and beams.

Colours are produced by many different mechanisms.  These and other properties of light are described using diagrams and photographs.

Sound is based on waves and vibrations, like light.  Here are some simple ideas.  Pages under construction.

Mathematics appears in every aspect of nature, as a result of simple physical causes.  Only a few ideas can be put into a small web-site.  

Physics lies behind many everyday phenomena.  Some simple ones are described here. Pages under construction.

Water is common, yet strange.  Here are some reasons why.  Page under construction.

Nature photographs – from aphids to mountains.

Snakes are fascinating and elegant animals – read about their lives in Britain.  No British snakes are aggressive to people. Lizards – Common and Slow Worms

Nature photography and macro photography – simple hints.

Cotswold Wildlife

Page Index and Site Plan

Search This Web Site

Links about Nature and about Gloucestershire

This web-site is concerned with everyday things, and some of the simpler mechanisms which underly them.  It is not intended as a text-book, being constructed in a rather different way.  Some of the possible relationships between the subjects are explicitly stated: others are not.

The material world is unimaginably complex, and that’s just the part that is known.  But you can go a long way using the rule – "Everything is simpler than you think."  This is possible because many aspects of the world can be described by simple rules.  Don’t be put off something you want to do or want to know by the thought that it’s only for "experts".  

But if you go deeply into any subject you will probably find eventually that "Everything is more complex than you thought."  This happens because even simple rules can lead to complex behaviour, and because actually making something work, economically and safely, is not easy.  And it happens because the implementation of an idea can require a complicated set of systems.  Look at a diagram of a gas-turbine jet engine, a rocket engine, or an internal combustion engine, in an encyclopedia, and then compare it with a photograph or a cut-away diagram of the real thing.

If anything here is useful for your homework, or any other non-profit educational or private use, please feel free to download it.   Questions are welcomed, and will answered wherever possible.

Thankyou for visiting Brantacan.

I am happy to receive messages, and I try to answer them all.

Please write to [email protected].

I hope you enjoyed your visit.

The contents of this web-site are Copyright © 2001 Derek Locke.  All rights reserved.

Contents may be downloaded only for non-profit private or educational use,

or in other cases only with permission.