Chemistry: principles and applications (Anderson, Curtis, B.; Ford

Chemistry: principles and applications (Anderson, Curtis, B.; Ford, Peter C.) Arthur C. Breyer. J. Chem. Educ. , 1974, 51 (2), p A110. DOI: 10.1021/ed...
0 downloads 0 Views 1MB Size
book reviews treat the so-called relevant chemistry in purely descriptive fashion. "Chemistry and the Environment" is well supplied with study questions and suggestions for additional reading. There are very few numerical prohlems, and no answers to the questions and problems are given in the text; however, they are available in an Instructor's Guide. The book is attractively illustrated and, in general, the illustrations are well selected to aid the readers in understanding the written material. Carl W. Moeller The University of Connecticut Slorrs, Conn. 06268

Chemistry: Principles and Applications

Curtis B. Anderson, Peter C. Ford, and John K Kennedy, University of California University of California a t Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California. D. C. Heath and Company, Lexington, Massachusetts, 1973. X + 550 pp., Figs. and tables, 26 X 18 cm. $10.95. My overall reaction to this text is very positive. The authors state that the text "was written for students with little or no background in chemistry" and who are "planning a career in biology, nursing, engineering, and other related fields." The text is very readable. I t seems best suited far a year course for average to above-average college students. It is definitely not for weak students. The text very successfully integrates descriptive chemistry, both organic and inorganic with a lucid development of chemical principles in the context of interestingly presented environmental issues, current technological applications, and contemporary industrial processes. This approach should maximize student interest but the organizing factor of the periodic table for the study of the elements is sacrificed. A special index of all references to the chemical elements enables the reader to quickly locate all the information in the text on any given element. Other special features include: 1)very extensive references in the body of the text which will enable a student to review related material presented earlier: 2) all new terms are printed in hold type in the text and exhaustive summaries of all new terms presented in each ehapter are listed section by section at the end of the chapter; 3) the text footnotes numerous short biographical resumes of virtually every scientist mentioned in the text; 4) the end-of-chapter supplementary readings are all very up-to-date articles in Science, Scientific American, Chemical and Engineering News, other periodicals, and selected paperbacks; and 5) the exercises and problems are captioned as to the main topical emphasis of the problem. Answers to most of the problems appear a t the end of each problem set. The exercises are one of the strongest features of this book. Most of the problems require clear thinking, concern themselves with conA1 10

/

Journal of Chemical Education

temporary topics, and the answers themselves are of great interest. In order to gain an overview of the flavor of this freshman text some comments on specific chapters will be made. Chapter 2 discusses metallurgy, cement, concrete, ceramics, and agricultural compounds in the context of environmental issues. A realistic and comprehensive discussion of energy resources is developed in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 makes extensive use of enthalpy diagrams. Both the ehapter materials and problems zero in on thermal pollution, new type engines, and platfarming of hydrocarbons. In Chapter 7 the reader will learn about pollution sinks and many aspects of automohile pollution. In addition to usual material on electraehemistry Chapter 8 mentions redox analysis of CO and SO*, new batteries for automobiles and space vehicles, biological fuel cells, heart pacemakers, electric vehicles, the plight of Lake Erie, the mercury problem, and corrosion and cathodic protection of metals. Chapter 9, gases and the atmosphere, is extremely well done. Virtually all of the seventeen problems in this chapter relate to atmospheric and/or pollution chemistry. Chapter 10 discusses liquids, solutions and phase diagrams, and then relates many aspects of water chemistry including the many faces of water pollution. The chapter on solids mentions the synthesis of gem stones, and "whiskers," and contains a beautiful diagram on the steps in the production of transistors. Chapter 12 discusses the chemical industry in terms of five hasic new materials and then details the preparation of selected chemical intermediates (trisodium phosphate, sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, and petrochemicals, including alkyl benzene sulfonates and linear alkyl benzene sulfonates). In Chapter 13 the preparation of such consumer products as esters, fats, ails, soaps, polymers, detergents, insecticides, dyes, explosives, herbicides, and defoliants from chemical intermediates is presented with the use of basic aliphatic and aromatic synthesis chemistry. Throughout this text there is a continuous reference to chemical economics. The final chapter on biochemistry discusses amino acids, proteins, enzymes, carbohydrates, hormones, vitamins, antibiotics, and drugs. This book should be considered seriously by all teachers of general chemistry as either a text or a source of good pedagogical ideas.

ticularly for students preparing for one of the health science careers. Its language and style of writing is emminently suitable for students who have had minimal exposure to and aptitude for ehemistry. The book is divided into three sections encompassing 33 chapters: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Biochemistry. The chapters are generally brief but cover the essential material with a minimum of derivations and mathematical esoterica. The principal changes incorporated in the second edition of this well-received text are mostly in the form of additional and current examples of applications of chemical principles to health-related situations. An increased number of supplemental readings has been added to the end of most chapters. The majority of the changes in the text from the first edition have been made in the first and third seetions. A few outmoded examples and practices have been deleted while the new material includes expanded examples of the use of radioisotopes in treatment and diagnosis, medical applications of Dalton's law of partial pressures, discussion of hemodialysis in the chapter on liquid mixtures, discussion of prostaglandins in the chapter on lipids, an expanded [and needed] discussion on fluid-electrolyte balances in the chapter on Body Fluids: The Blood, and inclusion of chemical defects behind genetic diseases. These changes are particularly welcome for this hook far they provide a much greater insight for the students of applications of chemistry to situations with which they might be familiar or which they probably will encounter in their chosen careers. A few errors were noted in this edition, mostly in the new material added to the ehapter on Radiochemistry. On page 48, the technetium isotope used in organ scans is usually designated gsmTe or Tc-93m which decays by gamma emission to T c (which is also radioactive.) Figures 4-9 show a scintillation counter, not a Geiger counter as labeled, and an page 56, a rem is defined as roentgenequivalent to man. In summary, the second edition of "Chemistry for the Health Sciences" has provided an increased coverage of applications of chemistry to the health sciences without becoming burdensome nor sacrificing its student-oriented style af writing. Leonard F. Druding

Rutgers University Newark. N.J. 07102

Arthur C. Breyer Beaver College Glenside, Pa. 19038

Essentials of General, Organic and Biochemistry Chemistry for the Health Sciences. Ediion Two

George I Saekheim, University of nlinois, and Romld M. Sehultz, Chicago City College. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1973. vii + 515 pp. Figs. and tables. 24 x 18 em. $9.00. This textbook is designed for a one year introductory course in the basic principles of general, organic, and biochemistry par-

Joseph I Routh, Donell P Eyman, and Donald J. Burton, all of the University of Iowa. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1973. xiv + 652 pp. Figs. and tables. 26.5 X 19 cm. $12.95. The authors indicate the purpose of this text remains unchanged from the first edition [see this Journal, 48, A501 (1971)l. which was directed to students "desiring a (Continued onpageAll4)