Environmental Chemistry: Alr and Water
Pollution
Chemistry Today
William F. Kieffer, College of Wooster. Canfield Press, San Francisco, 1976. xii 596 pages. Figures and tables. 19 X 24 cm.
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Professor Kieffer has made another contribution to the gowing number of textbooks for the nonscience students' chemistry course. This text, "Chemistry Today," is quite different from his previous text, "Chemistry: A Cultural Approach" (Harper & Row, 1971). The previous text was primarily a historical-philosophical treatment of selected topics in chemistry. His latest presentation covers a broader range of topics and uses many analogies to situations from everyday life which students have undouhtedly encountered. The topics covered in "Chemistry Today" parallel many conventional introductory chemistry texts and include stoichiometry, states of matter, atomic and molecular structures, solutions, acids and bases, organic chemistry, polymers, and biochemistry. Particularly interesting are the three chapters on various forms of energy. The level of treatment is surprisingly high. Professor Kieffer has an amazing knack of giving a complex topic a thorough treatment without using a mathematical approach, although simple mathematics is used where appropriate. The analogies which are used should help students obtain a better grasp of the chemical and physical phenomena in the world around them. A few of the analogiesare rather colorful, such as the comparison between an unbonded oxygen atom and a divorced person-and the desire of both to
hpccmc rrcumbined again. Ircturcrs who nre hmk~ngfur interesting ways to present toplcs wll iind man) examples in thir book. At frequent points throughout the text, environmental concerns and dilemmas are pointed out along with the need for further research in these areas. The oreanic-biochemistry diarussioni are extremely wellwrlrten. The mly topic which thii revieurr feels is inadequately treated is descriptive inorganic chemistry, however there are chapters on oxidation-reduction and acids a n d bases. The book is nicely laid out, with good usage of diaerams and section "hieh-liehts". A .. .. glmiary d n e w rerhnical termsappear nt the end uf each chapter alung with zewml good questions and prohlrms. T h r indexing. ap. pears to he moat adequate. Errors are infrequent; the only really ohjectionahle one which was found was the presentation of a structural formula of EDTA as an amide of acetic acid and ethylenediamine on page 505. This text is certainly worthy of consideration by instructors of nonscience students' courses. It isnot an extreme or radically different approach, but is refreshingly "oldfashioned". Students who go through a c o m e centered around this text will come out with a good understanding of the chemistry involved in the world around them and hooefull" will be better ablr to help make intelligent drcisiunr as our environmental problems ~~
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Wayne C . Wolsey Mscale-?er College Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105
William F. Kieffer,Chemistry Today H. Stephen Stoker and Spencer L. Seoger, Environmental Chemistry: Air and Water Pollution Lower Division Staff Uniuersity of Maryland, Laboratory Chemistry, Second Edition, Volumes One and Two Andrew Streitwieser, Jr. and Peter H. Owens, Orbital and Electron Density Diagrams: An Annlieation of ~- Cnmnuter Gmnhies ----~ ~ ~ . . L. C. Roseloor, Systematic Physical Chemistry H. "on Olphen and Karol J. Mysels, editors, Physical Chemistry: Enriching Topics from Colloid and Surface Science David Nieholls, Inorganic Complexes Herman Sklonik and Kenneth M Reese, A Century of Chemistry: the Role of Chemists and the American Chemical Society R. 0. C. Norman and D. J. Waddington, Modern Organic Chemistry E. D. Morgan and Robert Robinson, An Introduction to Organic Chemistry. Aliphatic and Alicyclic Compounds Oliuer Howarth, Theory of Spectroscopy. An Elementary Introduction E. N. Guryanoua, I . P Gol'dschtein, and I. P. Romm, Donor-Acceptor Bond R. B. Cundall, and A. Gilbert, Photochemistry. Studies in Modern Chemistry Arthur W . Adomson and Paul D. Fleisehauer, editors, Concepts of Inorganic Photochemistry Eugene D. Olsen, Modern Optical Methods of Analysis Robert L. G o b , editor, Chromatographic Analysis of the Environment Howard V. Malmstadt, Christie G. Enke, Stanley R. Crouch, and Gory Horlick, Electronic Measurements for Scientists. Instrumentstion for Scientist Series L. A. Woodward, Molecular Statistics for Students of Chemistry M. F. R. Muleahy, Gas Kinetics Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy or "The Hunting of the Greene Lyan" New Volumes in Continuing Series
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H Stephen Stoker and Spencer I. S ~ a p or. Weher State College. Scott. Poremnn and ('omoanv. Glemlew. Illlnols. 1975 233 pp. Figs.;nd tables. 23.5 X 15.5 cm. $3.95. Environmental chemistry and specifically the chemistry of air and water pollution is a rapidly expanding field. This hoak, which is the second edition of the same title published in 1972.. nresents an introduction to the frrld. There ha\,e bren seveml minor changes in the second editwn. The material is presented in two parts. Part One focuses on air pollutants and is presented in the first seven chapters. The titles of the chapters: General Considerations, Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides, Hydrocarbons and Photochemical Oxidants. Sulfur Oxides, I'artkulstes and ' l ' c m ~ m t u r e I n w r w n prowdt an indi~atiunof the matrr ~ a ldweuxsed. The first part is concluded with two appendices, air pollutant concentration expressions and national air quality standards. The chapters have similar formats by presenting discussions of sources of pollutants, commonly encountered eoncentratious, chemistry of atmospheric reactions, fate of atmospheric pollutants, human and plant health effects and methods of control. Water pollution is discussed in the six chapters that constitute Part Two. The titles of the chanters are: General Considerations, Deterrents. Pesticides..oil:. n~~ .Svnthetic Oreanic " Tmir Metal;, and Waste Wnter Treatment. These chapter$ presrnt a quolitntlw diiruisian of each group of pollutants and sizable quantities of data regarding their cancentrations, chemistry, and toxicity studies where annlieahle. The first edition included .. (Continued on page A180) ~
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Reviewer Wayne C . Wolsey Gordon K. Pagenkopf David B. Arnold
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K. N. Houk
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D. M. Schrader
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Ira Blei George B. Kauffman William G. Kessel Lowell E. Weller Wilmer K. Fife
J. E. Katon Milton Tamres Richard S. Givens E. L. Wehry James D. Ingle, Jr. Dwight B. Easty Peter Sturrock F. C. Goodrich Paul J. Dagdigian Ralph E. Oesper
Volume 54, Number 3, March 1977 / A177
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