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DIRECT READING COLORIMETER Calibrated for 52 Different Water & . Pollution Tests . ..
T w o volume work falls short
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It's A.C. operated and three times more accurate than visual color comparators. Readings are given directly on interchangeable meter scales in parts per million or pH. Only one adjustment t o make and no experience is necessary to operate. Each instrument is shipped complete with nine color filters, two sample bottles, full set of meter scales, molded plastic carrying case and detailed instructions. WRITE FOR CATALOG AND LIST OF CALIBRATIONS.
Turbidimeters
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Circle NO. 19 on Readers' Service Card
THE COURTESY EXECUTIVE OFFICE PACKAGE IN WASHINGTON, D. C. THAT GIVES YOU EVERYTHING FOR LESS THAN THE COST OF A SECRETARY With all that's going on in technology maybe you ought to know about it. Furnished executive offices a t a prime address. Full or part-time use. Secretary, receptionist, telephone answering, every extra you might need-including coffee served at your desk. Flexible leasing. One package price that's less than the cost of a secretary.
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Environmental Effects on Polymeric Materials. Vol. I: Environments; Vol. II: Materials. Edited by Dominic V. Rosato and Robert T. Schwartz. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1968. $42.00 each, hard cover. Harry P. Gregor is professor and chairman o f the committee on environmental science and engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University, New York, N . Y . 10027
1629 K STREET, N.W.
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WASHINGTON. D. C. 20006 e PHONE: 202-296-8100
Circle NO. 10
254 Environmental Science & Technology
on Readers' Service Card
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The title of this two volume handbook is somewhat misleading because most of the environments and test conditions which it treats are not of primary concern to ES&T'S readers. The book is directed primarily towards those concerned with specialized applications, largely of a military nature. For example, there are excellent sections on the use of polymeric materials for ship propellors, as ablative materials and as materials of construction for hypersonic aircraft, but relatively little information on plastics which will withstand the corrosive systems involved in environmental problems. Consequently, an engineer wishing to design a noncorroding scrubbing tower and seeking information on new polymeric materials would have a difficult time finding references either to classes of materials or to their resistance to classes of corrosive substances. Volume I begins with a chapter briefly describing plastic materials and their technology, including the nature of the industry from a business point of view. The chemistry of polymers is described for the nonchemist. However, many of the physical properties of polymers are listed in such a way as to be meaningless to the nonspecialist. The chapter ends with a brief summary of producers of polymers? company acquisitions, and an alphabetical listing of notation. The following chapter on cavitation errosion is of interest to designers of
bookshelf pumps and other devices for transport-
lects of seawater upon polymers were
ing liquids at high rates. The effects of rainfall uvon aircraft plastics is the primary concern of the chapter on weathering, which also presents a quanity of tabulated material with an emphasis on tensile and flexural strength. The chapter on chemical propulsion exhausts concerns ablative materials; the relationship between this inforination and data of interest to environmental engineers is distant, to say the least, The chapter on materials for hypersonic atmospheric flight falls into the same category; the following chapter on the effects of radiation is minimally concerned with solar radiation, providing some material on the effects of harder radiation, including that due to radioactive materials. A quantity of fairly definitive information is presented. Much of the data on resistance to corrosion are to be found in the chapter entitled “other properties,” but that information is presented in a rather diffuse state. Additional information of this kind is given in the last chapter, one primarily dealing with test design. Volume 11-Materials-has a first chapter on fibers, written largely for those interested in various parachute devices, inflatable fabric shelters, life rafts, and the like. The next chapter is primarily concerned with polymeric retainers for ball bearings, modified greases, etc. The chapter on organic polymeric coatings is extremely general, containing little specific information. The next sections on elastomers, piastics composites, and “other materials” include summaries on applications of plastics to the building and construction industries, to packaging films, foams and adhesives, etc. Some useful information on plastic pipe is included, however. Works such as this-which are essentially extended handbooks or encyclopedias-must have subiect indexes which are complete and well crossreferenced. Unfortunately, the indexes of these volumes are brief and so incomplete as to be virtually valueless. I selected at random two environmental effects-those due to seawater and to ozone corrosion. References to the ef-
only to rather superficial information, with virtually no references given to the technology of application of polymeric coatings so as to protect the substructure against seawater attack. There was no mention of the effects of ozone. More, useful information on both topics could be found in the various chapters. The all-important subject of biodegradability of polymers is taken up briefly in various sections, but there is no listing of this topic in the subject index. Indeed, indexing was so incomplete that both volumes would have to be read in their entirety in order to find most of the pertinent material contained therein. Throughout these volumes one finds a large number of photographs of the kind used to advertise-a needless waste of space. In general, scientists and engineers concerned primarily with problems of the environment will not find much information of use contained in this publication. m
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Eutrophication: Causes, Consequences, Correctives. Proceedings of a symposium. vii $. 661 pages. Publication No. 1700. National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Ave., Washington, D.C. 20418. 1969. $13.50, hard cover.
Conversion of Organic Solid Wastes into Yeast: An Economic Evaluation. Floyd H. Meller. 173 pages. Public Health Service Publication No. 1909. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. 1969. $1.75, paper. Earth Resources. Brian J. Skinner. ix 149 pages. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632. 1969. $5.95, hard cover.
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Observation of Continental European Solid Waste Management Practices. Michael E. Jensen. v 45 pages. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. 1969. 55 cents, paper.
6132 West Fond du Lac Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53218 Phone: 414/461-9500 A Subsidiary of U.I.P. Corporation
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