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BOOK
REVIEWS
General Chemistry Labomtory Operations
Lawrence E. Conroy and R. Stuart Tobias, both of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Maemillan Co., 191 pp. New York, 1965. viii Figs. and tables. 21.5 X 28 cm. Paperbound. 83.50.
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This laboratory manual consists of three sections: iutradoet,ory material, twentyone experiments, and five tables. The format for the experiments includes a n introduction in whieh the nature and theoretical aspects of the experiment are generally briefly discussed; directions for the laborat,ory work with, in some cases, instructions for the calculstions required; laboratory report sheets; and, several questions pertaining to some aspect of the experiment or a. similar one. The experiments generally ~ a n s i s tof two parts. I n the first part, det,ailed laboratory operations are used to obtain data. whieh are known to the student. The primary and secondary data required are specified on the report sheet. In t,he second part, the students are expected to apply the operation t o a quantit,ative measurement of an unknown. Usually no directions are given and no indication is made of the data to he collected. The directions far the laboratory operations and for processing data. decrease in suecesive experiments reaching a minimwn in the later experiments.
-Reviewed
The manual is in t,he form of a spiral notebook from whioh completed report sheets can be removed b y the student. The illustrations m e clearly drawn and labeled. The directions and explanations are written in a clear, simple style. The equipment required to do the experiments is essentially that associated with a course in quantitative analysis. The number of solutions to be used seems to be reasonable. Sixteen af the experiments involve unknowns whieh could require considerable preparation time. A number of experiments involving traditional subjects appear in the manual such as mass-volume measurements, reduction of oxides, and atomic weight, equivalent weight, and malal volume determinations. However, these experiments are differentin t h s t the students are to be assigned a substance to be identified. Some of the more outstanding experiments include t,he following: A mixture of BaC1a,2Hz0 is analyzed by findBaCL ing the percent water and percent barium present. Data, are collected from which the origin and nature of a. titration curve are established. Seven different studies are given involving enthalpies of reaction. The soh~b'ilityproduct of potassium hydrogen tartrate and t,he mean activity coefficients are calculated from solubility data. An electrochemicd study provides data that are used to compare E with E o , The study of the reaction of hydrogen peroxide with iodide ion l a d s t o the rate law for the reaction. The equilibrium
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in this Issue
Lawrence E. Cvnroy and R. Stuart Tobias, General Chemistry Laboratory Operations
N . L. Paw, editor, Laboratory Handbook Linus Pauling and Roger Hayward, The Architecture of Molecules Alfred J . Moses, Nuclear Techniques in Analytical Chemistry Leon F. Phillips, Basic Quantum Chemistry
S. Coffey,editor, Rodd's Chemistry of Carbon Compoundn. Volume 1, Part B Saul Patai, editor, The Chemistry of Alkenes S. M. Perel'man, Rubidium and Caesium William G. Moffat,George W . Pearsall, and John Wulff, The Structure and Properties of Materials. Volume 1, Structure Henry M . Leicester, The Historical Background of Chemistry Marcel Pourbaiz, Atlas d'kquilibres Plectrochimiques 9, 25'C
A. C . Rose-Innes, Low Temperature Techniques: The Use of Liquid Helium in the Laboratory New Vo'olums in Continuing Series
578 / Journol of Chemical Education
eonstsnt is found for 1 2 1- e Ig-. The descriptive chemistry of the oxides of the group five elements and of nine anions is developed and used for two qoalilative analysis exercises. The authors have written a laboratory manual containing quantitative experiments that emphasize chemical concepts. At the same time, they have given a d e quate attention to acceptable laboratory operations and to the processing, analysis, and interpretation of data. The authors suggest that the m a n t d in written to be appropriate for all students in s, genela1 chemistry course in which basic chemical concepts are st,ressed. Although there are only twenty-one experiments, the nature of each is such that there is ample laborat,ory work for two semesters. The potential of the manual would be enhanced by including experiments involving instrumentation and by giving appropriate references for the experiments.
H. A. N~rorG Lebanon Valley College Annville, Pennsylvania
Laboratory Handbook
Edited by N. L. Paw. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1965. xi 1523 pp. Figs. and tables. 14.5 X 22 cm. 837.50.
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Containing contributions by 47 British authorities (of whom less than 15% are from academic institutions) the "Laboratory Handbook" has been "designed both to help those workers who are already engaged in a psrticolar field and to guide the student a t the beginning of a career in lahora*tory work." Though fint published in the US. in 1965, it has been previously published in 1963 in Great Britain, and upon careful inspection it appears t h s t most references are prior to 1961. Furthermore, its value to American users is diminished by the fact that whenever mention is made of particular laboratory apparatus, it is of British msnufacture. Therefore this hook probably fulfills better the second rather than the first part of its somewhat modest but compromising goals. For satisfaction of the first intention it would be perhaps better to rely on the volumes in the series edited by Ruth Lang, "Laboratory and Workshop Notes," which consists of selected articles from those published regularly in the Journal of Scientific Instruments. Essentially, "Laboratory Handbook" is a collection of expository chapters accompanied by appropriate, though not necessarily critical, references to t h e periodical literature as well as to books devoted to particular techniques such as glassblowing, vacnum techniques, temperature measurement, etc. Very little of the material is presented in the format of tables, the latter being so characteristic of many, though surely not all, handbooks. Therefore it more nearly resembles in format handbooks such ss the "American Institute of Physics Handbook" and t h e "Biochemists' Handbook" than the
