range of difficulty, class discussion questions, a bibliography, and a glossary. The ease histories for the most Dart are concerned either with current oroblems such as nuclear the faculty member than to students. The text contains some typographical errors, but none appear to impair the understanding seriously. The emphasis on the use of Fortran may date the text if Pascal or subsequent generations of structured languages are adopted widely by chemists. The exclusive use of Fortran in the text is not necessarily a flaw, however, since the nu^ merieal methods, once mastered, can be programmed in the newer languages as desired. The level af the text is suitable for integrate use of the text into a n existing
system is introduced and used extensively. Included are a six-page general glossary, a three-page appendix, and a three-page index. J. Michael Conner Regis College Denver, 60 80221
Environmental S c i e n c e in Perspective Thomas G. Spiro and William M. Stigliani, State Unlv. of NY Press, Albany, NY, 1980.ix 236 pp. Figs. and tables. 15 X 22.5 cm. $6.95.
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in chapters author probes topics, parti&ly 5-8. Obviously, the better solution is to offer a course in numerical methods as the author does at the University of Pittsburg. Researchers who encounter problems requiring numerical methods with which they are not familiar will fmd the text to he a useful reference. J. Emory Howell University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg. MS 39401
Introduction t o Environmental Studles Jonathan Turk, W. 5. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1980.vii 329 pp. Figs, and tables. 19.5 X 26.5 cm.
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The author has written an outstanding introductory text for this field, and it should be considered carefully for all serious environmental studies courses, especially in chemistry. In the author's own words, "interrelated problems of ecological disruptions, growth of human populations, land use, energy, nuclear power, food supplies, pesticides, air and water pollution, solid waste, and noise are all eovered."The discussions are readable, current, extensively illustrated, and would be especially interesting to the serious environmental studies student. The chemical, biological, physical, social, and legal implications of each problem are considered along with attempts a t solution from each of these aspects. This will be a particularly challenging bmk far the non-seience major attempting that first science course. Nonetheless, it has great flexibility and would he a valuable learning aid for both of the above types of student. There is ample lecture material for a full~year sequence, with ideas for field trips and the laboratory. Selective use of topics would adapt it well t o a one-semester course also. Six general units are organized into fifteen chapters covering specific environmental ~ r o b l e m sin greater depth. Most chapters include each of the following: an actual case history, a concise summary, a list of key words, take-home experiments with practical everyday applications, problems with a wide
A68
Journal
of Chemical
Educatio
Many environmental science teats are written a t the introductory level and are aimed a t freshman who possess little or no knowledge of ehemistry. Although notes on the back cover of this text suggest that this book requires little background in science, the level of presentation is actually fairly sophisticated, and the problem solutions are beyond the capabilities of the average freshman. In addition, the use of line structural diagrams for polynuelear aromatics, pesticides, and insect pheremones would be meaningless to thaae who had not already had an introduction t o organic chemistry. As a result this text would be more suitable for a special topics eourse a t the advanced undergraduate level. Each chapter is concluded with an extensive list of references to more specialized books and the state of the art as reported in Science, Chemical and Engi-
actually caused a decrease in gasoline eonsumotion in the U.S. and has stimulated the have also altered the energy outlook. The latter section of Part I examines alternative energy sources. Those emphasized include coal, nuclear (both fission and fusion), and solar. The authors are clearly anti nuclear. The discussion on nuclear power is introduced with. "Since the erim dawn ofthe also several errors are present. Minor alternative energy sources briefly noted include wind, ocean thermal gradients, organic wastes, and tides. Thermal pollution is also treated here, although i t would seem more logical to put it in the hydrosphere section. Part 11, "Atmosphere," is the strongest section of the book. Here the authors discuss the earth's radiation balance, the greenhouse effect, atmospheric layering, the atmospheric chemistry of small molecules including
ehlorofluoromethanes, ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and hydrocarbon automobile emissions. The chemistry of a typical internal combustion engine is presented and contrasted with the chemistry of the Hondaa stratified charge engine. Finally, particulate air pollution is examined. Part 111, "Hydrosphere," covers acidity due to acid rains and mine effluent, water hardness, soaps and detergents, detergent formulation and eutrophication, the oceans, sewage treatment (primary, secondary, and tertiary), drinking water treatment, and agricultural pollution. Part IV, "Biosphere," presents relationships between chemicals and living things. Here one finds the nitrogen cycle, the use of fertilizers, the importance of amino acids in nutrition, types of insecticides (their modes of action and persistence in the environment), inadvertent contamination by toxic (industrial) chemicals, tonicity of heavy metals (lead, mercury, and cadmium), and environmental links to cancer. The two authors have engaged in a n ambitious undertaking. The difficulty of environmental science lies in its interdisciplinary diversity in contrast to the high degree of specialization normally found in most professionals. In this case the authors have created a well-organized, interesting, readable teat. Its strength lies in its examination of several ~ * p wI$ ~~i ~ n v i r ~ m n ~ n ht ~w tali q ~ r vi n dcplh. I t , n t a k ~ ~ lies ~ s s i ~ s ~ , v o rl.rrvity. ~.l \\'it h only L Y J pagr., many n q w t 1 t w i ronmental science are discussed only briefly or not a t all. For instance, current toxic waste disposal practices, a growing concern due to problems arising from past practices, are omitted entirely. Figures and tables abound, hut several are never discussed in the main body of the text. While the knowledgeable reader will teadily comprehend, the student will need some help. This problem is parti& offset by the many references. The net result is a stimulating text for a one-quarter or one-semester course, but one which sometimes merely whets the reader's appetite for more information. Students will appreciate the fact that this text is available in an inexpensive ($6.95) paperback edition. David L. Dean Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA 99004
Enzymes Malcolm Dixon and Edwin C Webb, Aca1 1 16 demic Press, New York, 1980.v pp. Figs and tables. 23.2 X 15.5 cm. $49.50.
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The authors of this book provide the seientifie public with a broad overview of the field of enzymology. The topics covered include enzyme isolation, kinetics, classification, specificity, mechanisms, inhibition and activation, cofactors, structure, biosynthesis, and biology. At the end of the book, an atlas of crystalline enzymes and a table of enzymes is provided. Together these constitute ap(Continued on page A70)
proximately one third of the book. The authors have wisely restricted their discussion to the more relevant or commonly encountered asoeets of each tooie. The clear ogy make this book a useful reference source for the researcher and graduate classroom instructor alike. This hook would, however, be a great deal more valuable had the authors taken more care in updating certain sections in the book. For examole. in reviewine techtechniques that were popular ten years ago and exclude from discussion more recent ones. To site a specific example, temperature and pressure studies of enzyme reactions were included in the chanter coverine enzvme Similar types of omissions are made in some of the theoretical treatments. For example, great detail is given to equations which describe the pH behavior of enzyme reactions most of whieh was taken from papers published a decade aeo. The more current theopapers dealing with supporting experimental studies. The chapter whieh appears mast severely effected by being out-of- date is that dealing with enzyme mechanisms. Perhaps equally disturbing is the authors' frequent failure to provide references that are either current or general in nature. Thus, while "Enzymes" provides the reader with a well-organized, concise review of the vast area of enzymology, its value is somewhat compromised by the fact that it is already at least five years out-of-date. Debra Dunaway-Mariano
earhonmd hydrogen provide the molecular weights of the hydrocarbon fuels. The gross and net enthalpies of combustion fur liquid and vapor fuels a t 25' C a r e reported for 16 paraffins, 15 olefins, and 7 alkylhenzenes. The chapter a n data sources gives a detailed description of the statistical mechanical partition functions used to compute the ideal gas thermodynamic functions. The volumk provides data far one-dimensional, isentropic, compressible flow. Tables of Rayleigh lines, Fanna lines, and the normal shock function are given a t selected values of the polytropic exponent. Some asditional tables for two-dimensional flow functions are also given for the polytropic exponent 1.4. The numerical values in this second edition are significantly different from the first edition values a t low and hightemperatures. The central portion of the tables are nearly the same. This is the reason for presenting the second edition. Those who must make thermodynamic or gas dynamics calculations for air, its constituents, and hydrocarbon fuel combustion product systems will find these data very helpful. These data can he used in a classroom and a design office. Those who do computations routinely will probably have access t o computer codes for doing their calculations. This book can serve to check the results produced by the computer codes. The book is attractively printed and easy to read. Unfortunately, all tables are presented in Enelish units. Conversion factors have provided a source of thermodynamic data whieh many will find useful for many years to come. Truman Storvick Blacr and ei.rcr>Professor of Engineer ny ilnd Profcssar 01 Cnem,cn Eng neorlng ,n WF I) of Mm0.r -COJmn ;1
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Columbia, MO 65211
University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742
G a s Tables. Thermodynamic Properties of Air, Products Of Combustion a n d Component G a s e s , Compressible Flow Functions Joseph H. Keenan, Jing Chao, and Joseph Kaye, John Wlley & Sons, NY 1980. xiv 217 pp. 22 X 26.5 cm. $22.50.
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This hook is a revision of the 1948 edition ofthe"GasTab1es" written by J. H. Keenan and Joseph Kaye. It follows the same format and is designed for use in thermodynamic calculations where air and its constituents and the products of combustion of hydrocarbons with air are considered. A tahle for combustion with 100% excess air has heen added with the remainder of the book essentially unchanged. The volume remains unique as a source of these thermodynamic data. The authors of the second edition have used the latest physical, molecular, and spectroscopic constants t o compute the reA70
Journal of Chemical Education
G a s Chromatography with G l a s s Capillary Columns Walter Jennmgs, Academ c Press, hew York. 1980 Secono Edition Figs. nnd taoles. 23 X 16 cm. xiv T 320 pp. $25.00. There probably does not remain a single practitioner of packed-column gas chromatography who has not a t one time or another stared incredulously a t a capillary chromatogram of several hundred haseline-resolved oeaks. Yet. there is tadav absolutelv no que&ion that separations are gaasihle with such systems whieh simply cannot he realized otherwise. Thus, considerable interest has arisen over the past few years regarding open-tubular columns for GC (delayed somewhat as aresult, perhaps, of the original patent covering the methodology), and activity in this field continues to grow a t a remarkable pace. The second edition of this text seeks to introduce the title subject to those already versed in gas chromatography as well as t o provide a number of practical guidelines for those now engaged in related areas of re-
the chromatographic process which, however, contains a few errors: Gaussian peak widths a t the inflection point wi are 20 whereas those a t half the height of the peak wliz are 2 o m = 2.3550. Thus, the two are not identical. Measurement .of peak widths is facilitated simply by running the chart speed faster rather than the indicated procedure of using a magnifying glass (why this obvious fact seems to continue to elude chromatographers is a mystery). The symbol t~ is used fort* (tM = jtA) which should be measured from the peak maximum and not from the peak leading edge (the differences will, however, be slight). "Phase" is mispelled as "phrase" frequently. The symbol k is used for k' and will cause some confusion (k = llk' as originally defined by van Deemter, e t al.). The term uida infra is used far too frequently in the text and should wherever it appears he replaced by a section or page number. Chapter two introduces glass-capillary GC columns with a welcomed section on surface pre-treatments (those after drawing but prior to coating) while chapter three details various methods of deposition of stationary phases. Contrary to the opinion expressed on pp. 46-47, user-made columns (at least in the laboratory of the reviewer) exhibit higher efficiencies than those available commercially. Indeed, if i t is true as stated that commercial columns are cheaper and better what, then, is the point of writing a book about the subject? Chapter four provides a discussion of inlet systems while chapter five offers hints as to column installation. Chapter six, measuring column efficiency, correctly points out that currently-popular methods of assessment of the merits of this or that system are only variants of methods of measurement of resolution between two peaks. Most of chapters seven (treatment of retention data) and eight (temperature programming and carrier flow considerations) should he deleted; those aspects peculiar to open-tubular columns can then be expanded upon. Chapter nine, special analytical methods, is far too brief t o be of much use while chapter ten (column stability) could have been placed earlier in the book. Chapter eleven, column selection, offers virtually no help in choosing a stationary phase, nor are the problems associated with deposition of selective phases (e.g., eysnosilieones) onto glass treated with any authority. Chapters twelve (sample preparation), thirteen (analysis of non-volatile materials), and fourteen (weak discussion of instrument conversion) offer nothing for those who would presumably use this text and so should be deleted. Chapter fifteen (examples of applications) is undoubtedly the most informative in the text; numerous chromatograms are presented which illustrate the scope of separations possible with open-tubular columns of high efficiency. Chapter sixteen (fault diagnosis) is again far too brief to be of any use. The work is concluded with four appendices (nomenclature, a list of liquid phases, retention data with porous polymer adsorbents-why included is a mystery-and silylatian pracedures which have been covered in much greater detail elsewhere), none of which are of any use, and an index. Although intended to he pedagogic, this book fails to offer much other than a hrief taste of all that is involved in the construction and use of glass-capillary GC columns. The
