book reviews non-metals, metals, transition metals, and the metalloids, as well as the noble gas. These chapters also describe numerous plant operations and chemical process industries that are essential to our economy and employ 80-95% of all chemists. Many chemistry teachers have hemoaned the "swing" that left these out and submitted numerous abstractions that are certainly essential to the practicing chemist, but only confuse and confound thme non-mathematically oriented. Only three items this reviewer could find fault with: (1) The Dimensional Analysis idea, the metric, S.I., or I.S.U. systems are in the appendices which, like their own appendix, is a n afterthought or obsolete to most average and under students who are unaware of the utility of such pages. In a similar view in my opinion is the "Glossary" informative but definitely not all inclusive; (2) Very little, maybe it has been overdone, is found in this text on ecology and pollution; (3) "Textbook Errors," [J. CHEM. EDUC., 38, 480 (196111 by .I. Art Campbell points out that in the beautiful illustration many of us have used (as described on p. 194 in the text), the paddle wheel turns not due to the stream of electrons in a cathode ray tube but tu the light; so it really acts like a radiometer. As for the accompanying lab manual, the objectives as stated for this publication are 1) An attempt by experiment to show the early historical development as it leads to a real understanding of the field of chemistry. 21 Experiments to confirm theories, with hope for further explorative and inventive ideas. 3 ) To observe chemically related phenomena. 4) Same emphasis on desirable techniques. 5) Exercises and problems. Clever, humorous and definitely educational cartoons are scattered through the experiments; they are the most unique feature of the manual. Descriptive, well-illustrated procedures are quite adequate and direction should not be difficult tu follow. Experiment 12, Entropy, is not a common one for this level, although it is a clear, well-defined, useful idea. Few manuals include. as this one does in Experiment 14, Spectroscopy; that should be intriguing toall. The teacher's guide is a standard at^ tempt to correlate the lab experiments, the text, and the teacher. It provides a n swers to all questions and problems both in the text and lab manual-a real assist for the beginner or even the old pro. Finally, this is a well written, readable, interesting book, which is highly recammended by this reviewer. Try it: you misht like it too. William G. Kessel Indiana State University Terra Haute, indiana 47809
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Journal ot Chemical Education
Chemical Principles and Properties
MirheN J. Sienho, Cornell University and Kobert A. Plane, Cornell University. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1974. xi + 788 pp. Figs. and tables. 19.5 X 24cm. $13.95. "Outstanding." This adjective applies to the overall quality of this second edition of "Chemical Principles and Properties," a textbook written for first-year college chemistry students. The authors, who have written excellent general chemistry textbooks in the past, have produced a thoroughly revised and well-mitten book. They recognize the fact that our first-year chemistry students are not as sophistieated in training as once anticipated and thus have more gradually developed the more theoretical topics such as atomic structure, chemical banding, kinetics, and thermodynamics. Descriptive chemistry has been reemphasized and new topics added: wave functions, symmetry, molecular vibrations, and chain reactions. The text is divided into three parts: Part I, "Principles of Chemistry," Part 11, "Properties of the Elements and Their Compounds," and Part 111, "Man and His Chemical Environment." Same calculus is introduced but only where needed. There are numerous worked out examples throughout the text and over 800 new excercises are a t the end of the chapters. The problems are arranged in order of increasing difficulty and answers are given for about half of the problems. An instructor's manual is available that includes all of the answers as well as worked-out solutions. Part I1 includes a chapter on hydrogen, oxygen, and water and four chapters on the transition metals. Separate chapters are also included covering Group 111, IV, V, VI, and VII elements. Organic chemistry is covered in some depth, not in breadth, but mainly as an aspect of carbon chemistry. Equilibrium computations and thermodynamic applications are included frequently in Part 11, especially in the problem sets. Of interest to most chemistry instructors, the authors have emphasized the applications of qualitative analysis by including considerable information for detection of the common elements. Part 111 of the text, an entirely new seetion, deals with man and his chemical em vironment. Chapter 28, entitled "Limits to Growth," examines the material and energy demands an the environment, population control, and the prediction of limits to growth. Chapter 27 reviews the effects of drugs and radiation on mankind-both the good and bad effects. Finally, Chapter 26 deals with the problems generated by pollutants and additives in relation to air, water, and food. The authors have largely adopted the system of SI units, as recommended by the International Committee on Weights and Measures. The unit of Torr is eliminated, the joule is used, and atmosphere is retained. The sign of the reduction patential has been used for electrode potentials. An excellent feature of the book is the placement of useful conversion units, definitions of units, and physical quantities on the inside cover of the hook for the easy
use of the student. This text is well-organized and clearly written and will he widely used; it is useful for all students requiring a goad grounding in the elements of chemistry. Besides chemistry majors, this text will serve for medical students, engineers, molecular biologists, and agronomists.
P.Calvin Maybury University 01 South Florida Tampa. Florida 33620
IntroductoryChemislry: A Survey of General, Organic and Biological Chemistry
Karl F. Kumli, California State University, Chico. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1914. xviii + 667 pp. Figs. and tables. 18.5 x 24 cm. 512.95. This textbook is divided about equally into the three areas mentioned in the title. The first 11 chapters are in the area of general chemistry, the next 11 in organic and the last 10 are in biochemistry. The chapters conclude with a brief summary of salient points and a moderate number of problems. The book concludes with two appendices, a goad intmduetary mathematical review, and a discussion of inorganic nomenclature. The weakest of the three sections of the hook is the first part dealing with general chemistry. Same of the writing here lacks clarity and sharpness of definition; i.e., molecules are defined as "the small particles of compounds," the phrase "in eleetron volts which is a very small unit of energy" is used, and an indicator is defined as "a substance that will change color a t a certain pH due to its own acidity or basieity." The content of these 11 chapters matches that of most general chemistry texts with the one exception of thermodynamics. The concept of energy is defined an page 1, but the concepts of enthalpy, entropy, and free energy are never discussed. Thus when the ward energy is used in the seberal dozen reaction coordinate diagrams, the student has no indication as to what this energy means. The level of quantitative rigor is rather low. The most difficult computation is the use of the equation PV = n R T The phenomenon of osmosis is discussed but the van't Hoff equation is not given. This level of presentation may be satisfactory for the intended audience of students of nutrition, agriculture, and the paramedical disciplines. The most serious flaw in the book is the poor quality of the figum and of the mathematical and chemistry display material. Equations such as 2H 2em Hze, p. 153, Zn -- Zn' 2ee, p. 163, and [H.Of][OH-] = 1 X p. 194, will leave the student either depressed or canfused. Either errors, omissions, or lack of clarity plague a number of figures such as 2-5, 2-6, 2-11, 3-6, and 6-19, The display material an pages 135 and 474 is an example of poorly done typography. It appears that the directions given to the compositor (Continued on page A441
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book reviews were inadequate and that the display material has never been proofread. The tone of the book changes rather abruptly at Chapter 12. In general the organic section is well written. The presentation is considerably more rigomus than that of the general chemistry material. It perhaps would have been better if the nomenclature yhapter had been presented first. Nothing on spectroscopic methods of identification, such as ir or nmr, or chmmatographic separation methods, such as gas or gel chromatography, is included. The author also writes with authority in the concluding section of the hook on biochemistry. In this reviewer's opinion. the most interesting chapters of the text are those on nutrition and pharmaceuticals. Strangely these are the only two chapters in the text whieh do not contain a summary. Some of the difficulties which occur in this section are that the peptide bond is repeatedly shown incorrectly, rather poor representations of the Pauling-Corey alpha helix and the Watson-Crick double helix are given, and the protein synthesis diagram shows four transfer RNA's simultaneously bound to an RNA molecule which is labeled ribosomal and not messenger RNA. Some general areas of weakness should be noted. The presence of a second color would have clarified a number of the diagram; S n a n i u r r are gwcn r u the pwhIrn,%. No h;hl~ographirrnatwni nrr gwcn t u pwmit ntiduwul ctwy I,\ thr studvnl In summary, this text provides a good introduction to organic chemistry, a moderately good introduction to biochemistry, and a rather poor introduction t o general chemistry. If an instructor is willing to correct the numerous errors which oceur throughout the hook and add a discussion of thermodynamics, either through lectures or by reference to a standard general chemistry text, this hook may pmve suitable for its intended audience. ~
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James 9.lfft University at Redlands Redlands. Caiitornia 92373
An Environmental Approach to Physical Science
D Wilson, Ohio University. D. C. Heath and Co., Lexington, Massaehusetts, 1974. viii + 448 pp. Figs. and tables. 19 X 23.5 em. $7.95.
Jerp
Ten years ago a textbook that presented an environmental approach to physical science would have been unique. Today there is a plethora of books concerned with science as it relates to society and/or the environment, and same of them are very good. This book must therefore be considered in the light of some rather strong competition. This volume contains a large amount of information, perhaps even too mueh. It seems that the author has tried to mention most of the basic concepts of f i s t year physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, A44
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Journal at Chemical Education
and meteorology-all this in a one-semester textbook for students who are not very interested in science. New scientific terms (helpfully printed in hold type when they are introduced) sometimes occur six or more to 8 page. Explanations are necessarily brief. Since most of these concepts are never referred to again, one wonders why many of them had to be included a t all. This reviewer would have been mueh happier with the book if it had said less but said it more carefully. A cursory examination of several chapters turned up a number of errors, of which the following are typical: On page 127 technetium and promethium are referred to as "Te and Pr" (the symbols for tellurium and praesodymium); On page 153 it is stated t h a t t h e "monomer of Teflon is F-C-F" (instead of F2C=CFzI. This error is repeated later in the same paragraph. It was oxygen, not hydrogen as stated on page 117, that was the reference standard for atomic weights prior to the adoption of carhon-12 as the international standard in 1961. A frequent error is that of referring to elements as compounds, as on page 325 for example, ". . . other compounds, such as He, Nz,
....
The author also tends to make broad sweeping statements that are true only sometimes, as in the following eases: (page 153) "Polymers are commonly referred to as plastics." (Haw about starch, proteins, etc?); (page 129) ". . . the noble gases were once referred t o as inert gases, hut this name is out-dated and no longer applies, since the nohle gases can be chemically combined with same elements under very special conditions." (The statement applies only to xenon, krypton, and radon, the very rarest members of the group. No mention is made of the fact that the more common noble gases are still believed to be "inert."); and (pages 368-370) "The principle of the fuel cell, whieh was first demonstrated in 1839, involves an electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen to produce water and electricity." (The "fuel," of course, need not be hydrogen. and the oxidizer need not be oxygen.) There are also a number of factual statements, such as the following, to whieh some may take exception: (page 5) "Empirical knowledge of the earth and other aspects of the environment began with the appearance of man some 3 to 4 million years ago."; (page 98) "The four most common methods, or modes, of radioactive decay are alpha decay, beta decay, gamma decay, and fission."; (page 143) "pV = k T This relationship is referred to as the general, or ideal, gas law."; and (page 150-151) "The lower the pH is below 7 the stronger the acid. The higher the p H is above 7 the stronger the base." The various chapters on population. pollution, and environmental problems, all found in the latter half of the book, are the sections this reviewer liked best. They present a great deal of practical information and are written a t a level appropriate for their intended audience. Many excellent tables, diagrams, and photographs are included.
Introductory Organic Chemistry
J. T G e r i ~ .University of California, Santa Barbara. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1974. xvii + 404 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 x 24 cm. $9.95. "Introductory Organic Chemistry" by Gerig is a text to be used in a ane-semester or twa-quarter course for nonmajars. The text has many distinctive qualities. For example, it is quite compact. The traditional content of introductory organic chemistry is covered along with an interesting chapter on Chemical Evolution in less than 400 pages. The arrangement of topics suggests that the author has ordered the material primarily by functional group. The early chapters discuss the chemistry of hydrocarbons. Sections that deal with alkyl and aryl derivatives of water, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia follow. The last part of the hook is concerned with the chemistry of carhonyl compounds, carhaxylic acids and their derivatives, and compounds of biological interest. Chemical theory and physical methods are introduced when needed. For example, the first discussion of spectroscopic methods fallows the chapters an hydrocarbon chemistry and includes mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. For some unapparent reason treatment of infrared and ultraviolet visible methods is deferred t o Chapter 12 after all major functional classes have been discussed. The chemistry of biologically important molecules is well integrated with the treatment of related, simple organic compounds. The chapter on carbohydrates follows immediately after treatment of aldehydes and ketones. A section on lipids is included in the chapter on carboxylic acids and the discussion of proteins follows shortly thereafter. One of the teat's more striking features is the regular appearance of anecdotes that relate specific compounds to contemporary problems or noteworthy applications, e.g., hydrocarbon supply and the energy crisis, the carcinogenic properties of polycyclic aromatics, steroids, and antifertility drugs. There is also an excellent list of suggested readings a t the end of each chapter. This text appears to he one of the more attractive ones available for a short course in organic chemistry. However, i t does have some shortcomings and it places some special demands on students and instructors. There are no summaries of reactions within the chapters to aid students. Perhaps the compactness of the presentation precludes a need for summaries. The material is presented in concise, scientifically accurate language. Thus, the student is expected to have a good knowledge of general chemistry and to quickly adapt to the terminology of the modern organic chemist. The text focuses on a small number of basic, well-known reactions and gives little space to new reactions. The approach taken by the author far explaining important concepts is frequently outstanding; however, his language sometimes ohscures the simplicity and elegance of the argument. (For example, see the diseussion of aromatic substitution on page 102.)
Doris K . Kolb lflinob Centre1 College East Peoria, INinois 6161 1
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