BOOKSHELF Eat Your Scientific Cake and Have It, Too Science and Survival. Barry Commoner. 150 pages. The Viking Press, Inc., New York, N.Y., 10022. 1966. $4.50, hard cover. Abel Wolman is professor emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Unicersity, Baltimore, Md.
By Abel WoIman Professor Commoner is already widely known to scientist and layman via his felicitous writings in warnings against the potential hazards of the advances in science and technology over the past two or three decades. Much of these previous indictments are repeated and elaborated in the present volume. A clue to the overall position and concern of the author is promptly available to the reader in the simple listing of the chapter headings: “Is Science Getting Out of Hand?, Sorceror’s Apprentice, Greater than the Sum of its Parts, Society Versus Science, The Ultimate Blunder, The Scientist and the Citizen, and To Survive on the Earth.” His listing of the errors. the “crimes” of omission of fact, and of the cloaks of secrecy and security on the part of government officials and scientific workers will undoubtedly dismay the general reader. The book is replete with examples culled from modern exploits, most of which are used to prove the author’s central thesis that the practitioner in modern science and technology is too often unaware of the consequences of his discoveries and their applications and, hence, surprising, objectionable impacts upon the environment too often ensue. Long-time readers of Professor Commoner’s contributions in writing and speech are by now familiar with the warnings to society in his activities in the Committee on Science in the Promotion of Human Welfare of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the St. Louis Committee for Nuclear Information and the Scientists’ Institute for Public Information. His
emphases on the misuse of pesticides, the unexpected biological effects of atomic bomb testing, the shift in the composition of detergents, and other like examples all point, a t least to him, to the fact that society must guard itself against the vagaries, the unexpected, and the ignorance of the scientist and technologist. N o t alone
In fairness: however, the author does recognize that some scientists do not share all of his interpretations or all of his fears. In addition, the volume presents a t least a charter on how to survive on earth or how to eat your scientific cake and have it, too. The age old dilemma between benefits and costs still remains to be resolved.
Obviously, up till now it has not been resolved to his satisfaction. The future depends upon a n informed public morality, for which the scientist’s objectivity must be recaptured. Lest the volume leave the reader too depressed, it is well to remember that even the critics of scientific endeavor and attitude concede that, in the thousands of years of man’s search for spiritual and material peace, in the midst of accelerating technologic development, the race has done quite well in coping with the challenges of the new. I, for one, believe that man can continue to c‘emonstrate the will and the capacity to manage his world to the lasting benefit of his total society, without discarding the riches of modern science and technology.
Contamination Control Primer Contamination Analysis and Control. James L. Dwyer. v 343 pages, illus. Reinhold Publishing Corp. New York, N.Y. 10022. 1966. $15, hard cover. Richard D . Cadle is hecid of the chemistry and microphysics depurtmcnt at the National Center for Armospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.
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By Richard D.Cadle The contaminants discussed in this book consist of solid particles, droplets, and surface films. Gaseous contaminants and those in solution are excluded. Water pollution and air pollution, except in a very limited sense, are also excluded. Thus, the book is largely concerned with such matters as the prevention of the contamination of parts during manufacturing, the removal of particles from aviation fuel, and th: cleaning of surfaces. Emphasis is on tl.2 practical rather than the theoretical aspects of contamination control. The first chapter deals with the source; of particles and droplets in gases. It is obvious that aerosols (suspensions of
solids and liquids in air) are produced both intentionally and unintentionally. A common source in the latter category is mechanical grinding; others are condensation (common clouds, for example) and chemical weathering. Incomplete combustion is another common source. Numerous methods exist for creating desired aerosols. One of the most common is the spraying of a liquid from a nozzle. Another is the introduction of a liquid or a powder to the face of a spinning disk. A common problem is the need t o produce a “monodisperse’’ aerosol, in which the particles are all nearly the same size. A very useful technique for preparing such aerosols involves controlled condensation of a vapor. Properties of aerosols are discussed in Chapter 2. The content of this chapter is intentionally quite superficial and qualitative. The most characteristic property of a n aerosol is probably its size distribution; determining and describing this distribution is a very challenging art. Optical properties are, of course, very important, and manifest Volume 1, Number 2, February 1967 175
themselves in many ways. Inertial, thermal, and electrical properties play important roles in the coagulation and deposition of airborne particles. This chapter would have been more useful if the descriptions had been more quantitative. A reference to the comprehensive and well-known book on aerosols by Green and Lane would have been helpful to the reader wishing to delve deeper.
Sample analysis is described in Chapter 7. Section headings include Gravimetric Analysis; Visual Methods; Particle Size, Shape, and Distribution Measurements; Qualitative Identification; Patch Tests; Chemical Analysis; Spot Tests; Absorption Spectrophotometry; and Emission Spectroscopy. The sampling and analysis of contaminants on surfaces are next treated in a separate, short chapter.
Aerosol sampling
The next chapter, on aerosol sampling, is about twice the length of the first two and much more useful. Dwyer lists and discusses the following criteria for good aerosol sampling techniques : sensitivity, low background, sample adequacy, sample representativity, ease of operation, and method precision and repeatability. Numerous devices for sample collection are described, such as impactors, electrostatic precipitators, centrifugal separators, and filters. Automatic instruments have been developed which function on a continuous basis and two such instruments which are commercially available are described. Various sampling situations may require quite different approaches. Thus, sampling the open atmosphere or the air in a room usually requires quite a different approach than sampling an aerosol in a dust. Dwyer discusses such differences in some detail. The next three chapters, dealing with particles in liquids, properties of liquid suspensions, and liquid sampling, roughly parallel the three preceding chapters dealing with aerosols. While the similarities between the two types of system are obvious, there are important differences. For example, the counterpart of emulsions is almost entirely unknown in the gaseous system. Because of the greater viscosity and density of liquids, sedimentation in liquids is much slower than sedimentation in air. Furthermore, the member concentration of particles is often much higher in a liquid than in air. Two general approaches to liquid sampling are described. One involves bringing a sample of the entire suspension back to the laboratory. The other involves examining or collecting the particles at the sampling point. Particles can be removed from the liquid by evaporation of the liquid, sedimentation or centrifugation, and filtration. Devices for automatic sizing and counting are commercially available. 176 Environmental Science and Technology
Airborne contaminants
Chapters 9 and 10, dealing with airborne contaminant control and the control of contaminants in liquids, occupy more than one third of the text. The former chapter discusses two main topics, namely air cleaners and “clean rooms.” Air contaminated with particles can be cleaned with inertial separators of various kinds, scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, and filters. A clean room, which is also sometimes called a “white room,” can be loosely defined as any room maintained relatively free of dust in order to conduct some operation more advantageously. Much more precise definitions, however, are given in certain US. Government specifications. These rooms serve many purposes, especially the manufacture of today’s highly sophisticated electronic, hydraulic, electromechanical, and electro-optical systems. These systems require such precision that the presence of microscopic particles of dust usually found in nominally clean-room air cannot be tolerated. Several types of clean environments are commonly used: “conventional” clean rooms, laminarflow clean rooms, and laminar flow work benches. The author describes these very competently and in considerable detail. He goes on to describe operations within the clean room, contamination monitoring in such rooms, and clean-room garments.
sion cleaning, etching and acid cleaning, alkali cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, and cleaning with sprays. This is a book which can be very useful to the engineer seeking an introduction to one or more aspects of contamination control. For the most part the discussions are not sufficiently quantitative or thorough to serve as the basis of design. Therefore, it is unfortunate that a more complete bibliography is not furnished. The table of contents and index are far from adequate. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs and line drawings. Some of the former, such as photographs of bottles and microscopes, hardly seem necessary, but I would rather see too many than too few illustrations. The author gives the incorrect impression that the only membrane filter commercially available is the Millipore filter, which is perhaps not surprising since he is Director of Engineering Research of the Millipore Filter Corp. In spite of these criticisms, this book is worthy of a permanent place on the shelves of the technical library.
Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy. Edited by Henry Jarett. xv 173 pages. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md. 21218. 1966. $5.00, hard cover.
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Chemical Detection of Gaseous Pollutants: An Annotated Bibliography. Edited and revised by Walter E. Ruch. iv 180 pages. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106. 1966. $18.75, hard cover.
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Water Use in Manufacturing-1963: Subject Statistics, MC63(1)-10. Prepared under the direction of Louis J. Owen, industry division, Bureau of the Census. 174 pages. U S . Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. $1.00, paper.
Liquid contaminants
The chapter describing the control of contaminants in liquids is also roughly divided into two parts, the first dealing with methods for removing particulate contaminants, and the second with the application of these methods to specific types of systems. The final chapter deals with the very important subject-the cleaning of surfaces. Among the topics discussed are immersion cleaning, detergents, emul-
Beryllium: Its Industrial Hygiene Aspects. Edited by Herbert E. Stokinger. xiii + 394 pages. Academic Press, New York, N.Y. 10003. 1966. $11.60, hard cover. Watching for the Wind: The Seen and Unseen Influences on Local Weather. James G. Edinger. 149 pages. Doubleday & Co., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1967. $4.50, hard cover; $1.25, paper.
