Chemical Education Today edited by
Book & Media Reviews
Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
Exploring Chemical Analysis, 3rd Edition by Daniel C. Harris W. H. Freeman: New York, NY, 2005. 610 pp. ISBN 0716705710 (paperback). $113.60 reviewed by Jack K. Steehler
Exploring Chemical Analysis is a lighter version of Daniel Harris’s popular Quantitative Chemical Analysis textbook, which is a common choice for quantitative analysis courses. Although slimmed down to about 70% of the length of the longer book, Exploring Chemical Analysis does not have the feel of a watered down version. It covers almost exactly the same list of topics, in good detail. It would be a fine choice for a quantitative analysis course or other single-semester analytical courses that precede instrumental analysis. It is also suitable for less traditional courses, such as a freshman level course for well prepared science majors. Stylistically the book is very readable, with a bit of humor as well. There is a consistent emphasis on interesting applications of analytical chemistry; each chapter begins with a fully described application, and other applications appear in boxes within each chapter. Some chapters use the initial example as a theme throughout the chapter and as the basis for the specific examples discussed. Featured applications include analyzing chocolate for caffeine and theobromine, archaeological and geochemical studies, a large number of biochemical applications, many environmental analyses, etc.—truly something for everyone. The book’s content includes fundamentals of sampling and statistics, classical techniques of gravimetry and titration
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(acid–base, redox, complexometric), atomic and molecular spectroscopy, separations (GC, HPLC, capillary electrophoresis), and electrochemistry. Each is well developed, with plenty of numerical examples and end-of-chapter problems. Laboratory experiments are available on the text’s Web site, and many additional published experiments from the chemical education literature are referenced at the end of each chapter. The third edition has well written updates in several areas, including the use of Excel spreadsheets, ICP-MS, and quality assurance. Comparing Exploring Chemical Analysis to its longer sibling text, you are hard pressed to identify the topics omitted in the shorter version. The mass spectrometry is integrated in the chromatography material rather than appearing as a stand-alone chapter. Some details of redox titrations are omitted, as are some specialized examples of spectroscopy techniques (such as Scatchard plots and the method of continuous variation). Another example of an omission is the F-test in the statistics section. However, the bottom line is that the omitted topics aren’t missed, and the remaining material has plenty of depth and rigor. The only real question about this text is the author’s own characterization of the audience as “students whose primary interests generally lie outside of chemistry”. While the applications that are highlighted in the book do reflect that emphasis, I think the strong mathematical focus of the equilibrium and quantitative analysis topics allow this book to be used for all audiences, including chemistry majors. In fact, the engaging writing style, the shorter length, and the many interesting topics discussed are likely to be just as valued by chemistry majors as by other science majors! Jack Steehler is in the Department of Chemistry, Roanoke College, Salem, VA 24153;
[email protected] Vol. 82 No. 5 May 2005
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Journal of Chemical Education
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