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Environmental Laboratory Exercises for Instrumental Analysis and Environmental Chemistry by Frank M. Dunnivant Wiley-Interscience, Hoboken, NJ. ISBN: 0471488569 (paperback) 416 pp. $79.95 reviewed by Marco A. De Jesús
Environmental Laboratory Exercises for Instrumental Analysis and Environmental Chemistry is a good reference for educators involved in the design of an introductory environmental or instrumental chemistry laboratory. The manual contains 28 laboratory exercises grouped in seven core areas encompassing fundamental laboratory techniques, analysis of air contaminants, aquatic chemistry, hazardous waste analysis, soil chemistry, natural waters analysis, and fate and transport modeling of environmental pollutants. The first section is intended to provide a basic review of sampling theory, statistical treatment of data, and the preparation of a research-grade laboratory notebook. Part 2 is oriented toward the analysis of pesticides and other aromatic compounds in air using GC and IR techniques. Part 3 covers the use of IC, GC–ECD, ISE, and UV–vis methods for the study of ionic equilibrium, analysis of chlorinated pesticides, analysis of anions, and metal ions. The inherent benefits of GC and HPLC for the detection of organic pollutants in complex matrices, in addition to the use of precipitation techniques for wastewater treatment, are discussed in Part 4. This section also covers the use of atomic spectroscopy, ISE, and traditional titrimetric methods for the quantitative analysis of metal ions in water. Part 5 provides a basic introduction in the use of extraction techniques for the analysis of hydrocarbons in contaminated soil and the use of atomic spectroscopy to asses the fate and transport metal ions (Ca and Cu), in soil samples. Part 6 consists of a series of experiments that allow students to gather practical experience in the standard analytical procedures used in water quality assays. The final section provides an introduction on the use of computational techniques to assess of the fate and
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Journal of Chemical Education
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Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
transport of environmental pollutants. The text comes with a CD-ROM that contains additional problems for the students and an electronic version of the supportive material. The CD also includes a series of interactive Shockwave simulations that models distribution coefficient of different acid base systems and the fate and transport of a contaminant in a variety of environmental matrices. The book gives the instructor the opportunity to vary each semester’s experiences, thus allowing a more dynamic laboratory sequence. The overall presentation is well organized and each experiment includes a short discussion regarding laboratory safety and waste disposal. Despite the number of instrumental methods that this manual employs, it does not provide the necessary background to present the analytical instrumentation as more than a mere black box. The background sections are primarily oriented to environmental sciences with limited information on practical analytical considerations such as instrument performance, analytical figures of merit, advantages and limitations of a technique. Although the experimental topics are well organized, the time schedules for some of the laboratory exercises are simply too extensive for practical implementation in high-enrollment sections (16–20 students). Even though the text includes a series of advanced study assignments, most instructors would prefer questions more focused on developing good problem solving skills rather than the pre-laboratory type questions that have been presented. Dunnivant’s text is certainly a good reference for a laboratory coordinator or instructor involved in structuring an instrumental analysis or general environmental chemistry laboratory. The lack of detail concerning instrumental theory, the extremely long times required for the completion of some of the experiments, and limitations of the advanced study questions, strongly affect its use as a primary text in an instrumental analysis laboratory. In my opinion, the text is more appropriate for an introductory environmental chemistry laboratory with instrumental analysis as a co-requisite. Marco A. De Jesús is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 552 Buehler Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996-1600;
[email protected].
Vol. 82 No. 3 March 2005
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www.JCE.DivCHED.org
