Frank L. Pilar, Addison-Wesley Puhlishing Co., Reading, MA, 1979. i 769 pp. Figs. &tables. 25.1 X 20 cm.
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The general chemistry text "ChemistryThe Universal Science" by Frank Pilar is a good choice for a class that contains students having a wide range of professional goals. This text makes reasahable compromises between what one would expect in a text for good science majors and the average nonscience student. The book is well written and has both adequate drawings and problems at the end of each chapter. The order of the chapters is traditional. The text starts with general definitions, stoichiometry, the gaseous state, electronic structure of the atoms, and proceeds to chemical bonding, geometry of molecules, and then states of matter and solutions. Chemical equilibrium (Chapter 12) is treated before kinetics (Chapter 20). Between chemical equilibrium and kinetics are chapt e n on acid-base chemistry, chemical reactions, hydrogen, oxygen and H20, two chapters on organic chemistry, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry. One of the unique aspects of this book is the comparatively large emnhasis on oreanic chernistrv. There is a chapter on funrt,onal groups, another un chemical reacttons, and an excellent chapter on polvmers and pol)rner~?at~on The rest of the book contains chapters on the various elements and their compounds and a short chapter on biochemistry. In the hack of the hook are the common type appendices (metric svstem. nomenclature etc.l and a unique eection on the construction and use of contour diagrams.
-Reviewed
P i W s text does not emphasize the inductive method of teaching chemistry. For example, he explains the wave model of the atom before he provides the experimental foundations for this model. The gss laws are given and explained hut not derived fmm experimental data provided in the text. The relative rigor of this text is best illustrated in the chapter on acids and bases. This chapter covers acid and base dissociation problems, common ion effect, pH, buffer, and some titration problems but does not cover such problems as polyacids, metal ion hydrolysis, formation conatants of metal complexes such as Ag(NH*)lt. There is a short discussion of selective precipitation of sulfides in the descriptive chemistry an sulfurs. In summary most of the chapters are somewhat less rigorous than Mortimer's textbook but more rigorous than Holum's text. The amount of organic chemistry is more than Mortimer's text and far less than is found in Holum's text. This textbook is recommended to anv teacher who must integrate intomeclsss the needs of many different types of students. Ellfott L. Bllnn Bowling Gmm State Unlwrsify Bowling Green. OH 43403
James S. Fritz, Iowa State University, George H. Schenk, Wayne State University; Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, 1919. iv 659 pp. Figs. & tables. 23.5 X 18.5 cm. $19.95.
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Fritz and Schenk's "Quantitative Analytical Chemistry," now in its 4th Edition has
not been renewed on these pages ~ i n c ethe appearance of the original version in 1966 (ThisJ o u m l . 44.62 (lYli7,). It hasgradually expanded, along with all other contemporary texts, from that initial 516 pages to the current 661 pages. The authors, thmugh the various editions, have ietained the strennths in snectronhotometry, chnnnatography. and nonaqueous acid-bape chemistry. The current edition hap been brought up-to-date in all of the unual areas of analytical chemistry, with many references to recent research, including that of both authors. In common with some other texts, a brief introduction to spectrophotometry is made in Chapter 5 and then followed hy athomugh, hut concise, treatment of electronic absorption spectra and related phenomena in Chapter 23. The coverage of electrochemistry is "bare bones," but it touches all of the standard methods. Those looking for a detailed treatment of gravimetric analysis will not find it in this book, although three clansical eravimetric exoeriments are included. An meresting feature rs the inclus~onof a chapter, and an acccmpanying experiment, on the usage of reaction rates in analytrcal chemistry. The section on ionic equilibria has a few innovative presentations, such as an interesting graph showing the error caused by the assumption that the concentration of the undi-iated form ofaweak monoorotic acid is equal u, rts analytrcal ronrentratlon. Extenswe usage IS made of graph* in the d a cussion of titrations. One of the strengths of the book is the wide range of experiments presented by the authois. I t is now becoming common in analytical texts to include hiologically-oriented exoeriments. We find the Determination of vikamin C in Dehydrated Juice Solids and the Fluorometric Determination of Vitamin D as the offerings m this text. Other interesting variants on standard experiments are the Near-Infrared Determination of Water in Acetic Acid-Water Mixtures, A Photometric Titration of Copper (11) with EDTA, the Analysis of a Razor Blade for Iron (The students should have a close shave with that
in this Issue
Fmnk L. Pilor, Chemistry-The Universal Science James S. Fritz and George H. Schenk, Quantitative Analytical Chemistry Jane M. Cram and Donald J . Cram, The Essence of Organic Chemistry G. H. Williams, editor, Organic Chemistry: A Conceptual Approach Audrey L. Companion, Chemical Bonding Klaus Florey, editor, Analytical Profiles of Drug Substances. Vol. 8 Morton Lippmann and Richard 8.Schlesinger, Chemical Contamination in the Human Environment
Reviewer Elliott L. Blinn Wayne C. Wolsey James F.Wolfe Frank L. Lamhert W. F. Arendale Patrick S. Callery Donald H. Williams
A219 A219 A220 A220 A220 A221 A221
Volume57, Number 7, July 1980 / A219
