Hazards in the Chemlcal Laboratory
G. D. Muir, (Editor), The Chemical Swiety, Burlington House, London WIV OBN, England, 1977. XVII 473 pp. Figs. and tables. 15 X 21.5 em. $15.75. Available through the American Chemical Society, Washington, DC.
+
A Textbook of Physlcal Chemistry
Arthur W. Adamson, University of Southern Califorhia, Academic Press, 953 pp. Figs. New York, 1979. XXV and tables. 25 X 17 em. $22.95.
+
Teachers who appreciated the first edition of Professor Adamson's physical chemistry text will welcome this new revision. Notable for a hlend of theoretieal and practical topics, this new edition includes some significant modifications, particularly in the development of quantum concepts. The overall development of this text continues to emohasize a hlend of macroscooic
various optical, electrical, and magnetic molecular properties. The development of thermodynamics (first law, themochemistry, second and third laws) utilizes both thermodynamic and molecular ideas. Applications in chemical and phase equilibria, nonelectrolyte solutions and colligative properties, heterogeneous equilibrium, electrolyte solutions, and electrochemical cells are developed from these fundamentals. The electrochemical cell discussions are based primarily on oxidation potentials, a convention that may cause some difficulty with the current textbook use of standard electrode potentials. The discussion of chemical kinetics is separated into chapters on gas phase reaetions and reactions in solution. This division is appropriate in light of the theoretical models that are appropriate to each although one might wonder if students most often have encountered and are more familiar with rates greater in solutions and would benefit from a ~. emphasis m how rntes nre drtwminrd ex. prrimenully and how nnnlyml toohtain rate equations. The next several chapters on wave mechanics, symmetry, bonding, and spectros~~
~~
copy are considerably revised in this edition. Principal changes involve putting some of the concepts previously relegated to commentary and special topics sections a t the ends of chapters back into the mainstream of the chapters. This organization provides the student with same of the key mathematical development necessary for the student to understand the terminology and qualitative arguments often applied in quantum models. One chapter is devoted to symmetry ideas and group theory and these concepts are then applied t o the discussions of banding, spectroscopy, and photochemistry in direct and practical fashion. These sections are notable in their emphasis on fundamentals and the attention paid to pertinent and currently active examples. The quantum chemistry development in the first edition was perhaps the only really frustrating section to students and this reorganization should alleviate whatever qualms instructors may have had in this regard. The remaining chapters on the solid state, colloids and macromolecules, and nuclear chemistry are clear and informative and should be useful to students even if they are not all covered formally in their particular course work. In addition to many changes in organization and content, the new edition contains many new problems. Answers are given to the first set of exercises in each chapter but not t o the remaining sets of problems. As a whole, this text should appeal to many teachers and to students as well. It is complete enough to be a useful reference but organized carefully so that each topic is treated clearly and uncluttered by extensive excursions into esoteric details. Topical sections are brief, illustrations are clear, and the examples are interesting. I t should receive serious consideration for use in the full year physical chemistry course far chemistry majors. Jefferson C. Davis, jr. University of Swth Florida Tampa. FL 33620
This good and useful book is one with which all practicing chemists should be familiar and have available for quick reference. I t is indeed unfortunate that awareness of the book has spread so slowly in this country; this second edition was published three years ago. Also, now that Bretherick's important "Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards" is available in an expanded second edition, it is disappointing to realize that the many relevant citations of Bretheriek are tied to his first edition. Moreover, readers in this country often will wish that there were s U S . equivalent of the book. We could well use a text with a similar lurid commentary on o w slatutpa whirh bear on chemical health and safety. Also, those British phrasings whirh differ from ours may sometimes give an American reader pause. But laboratory hazards are fundamentally the same in all countries, and this hookpravide8 a goal mix of chapters by wellqualified experts on coping. Topics of particular importance t o us are "Planning for Safety," "Fire Protection," "Reactive Chemical Hazards," "Chemical Hazards and Toxicology," "Medical Services and First Aid," and a set of monographs on the effects upon the human body of 460 flammable, explosive, corrosive, andlor toxic substances; the latter section also reeommends first aid and fire fighting procedures in the case of accidents and suggests methods of dealing with spillages. There are supplementary chapters on "Safety in Hospital Biochemistry Laboratories" and on "Precautions Against Radiations." The reviewer was bothered by the stress of some authors on wearing eye protection "whenever liquid chemicals are in use" rather than the insistence on routine wearing of eve ~. pru~eetionat all rimes in the labrawry. A h , the endorsement of eyewash buttles for treating the victims of a chemical splash is contrary t o the practice recommended in this country (i.e., prolonged flushing with copious quantities of water from an eyewash fountain or faucet). Such neeative comments. however. should not ohscuk the uvemll admiration' which [his reviewer hna for,the book. In the (Cvnlinued on page A2701 ~
