EDITORIAL Phvsicochemical constants J
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characterizationof Surfaces ere is an overview of the powerful spectroscopic methods in use today for characterizing crystal structure, Chemistry, morphology, and excited states of minerals. With a triple focus, this new summary of the latest techniques emphasizes:
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the structural and physical properties of minerals that have been associated with promotion of chemical reactions on their surfaces the fact that most naturally oecurrlng minerals store electronic energy In quantities sufficient to significantly alter some of their properties, and the spectroscopic means by which biologically deposited minerals can be distinguished from geologically depostted ones
Twenty-three chapters describe a variety of new applications of mineral spectroscopy to determine composition, purity, interaction with energy, characterization of active centers, and adsorbate interactions. A discussion of nonoptical methods includes instruction on how to describe a mineral and its surface before studying it. Other chapters focus on energy storage within minerals. A section on active centers uses clays as a model, because in spite of its complexity, it is one of the most important classes of natural reactive minerals. If you are a physicist, chemist, geologist, or fuel, mil, agricultural, and environmental scientist interested in interfacial chemistry of geological surfaces, this book will stimulate your thinking and inspire you to try these new characterization methods. Lelia M. Cope, €ditof,San Jose State Unlversiq Stephen W.S. McKeever, €ditof, Oklahoma State University David F. Blake, &ditor,NASA-Ames Research Center Developed from a symposium sponsored by the Divi-
sion of Geochemistryof the American Chemical Society ACS Symposium Series No. 41S 492 pages (1 989)Clothbound
From time to time this journal has published papers that report physicochemical data for selected compounds. Such papers have included data on new measurements of vapor pressures, solubilities, and other parameters, as well as interpretations of existing data of this type. In the future, ES&T will accept these papers only if there is clear, demonstrated relevance of the data to environmental applications. This is not to say that the editors do not appreciate the value of accurate physicochemical data. Indeed, it is clear to us that such data are badly needed if good models of environmental systems are to be developed. We are simply stating that ES&T is not the appropriate place for the publication of basic physicochemical constants for molecules. There are other journals more appropriate for such papers, especially the ACS publications Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data and Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data. For a paper on physicochemical data to be suitable for publication in ES&T, it should be clear that the major purpose of the work is to develop a better understanding of an environmentally relevant problem. Equally important, the paper should contain more than just the collection of basic physicochemical data. The same paper, or an accompanying one in exceptional cases, should show how these new data can be used to model or otherwise interpret processes or systems in the environment by using the measured constants. This policy is dictated in part by our limited page budget, but it is also consistent with the longstanding editorial policy of the journal. We hope that it will be received with understanding by the scientific community.
ISBN 0-8412-1 71 6-5 LC 89-27755
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0013-936X/90/0924-0933$02.50/0 0 1990 Amerlcan Chemical Society
Environ. Scl. Technol., Vol. 24, No. 7,1990 933
