REGENT BOOKS PLASTICSSCIENTIFICAND TE~HNOLOG~CAL. H. Ronald Fleck. Chemical Publishing Co., Inc., Brooklyn, New York, 1945. x 325 pp. 76 figs. 5 appendixes. 14 X 22 cm. $6.50. Thin book might be taken as a starting point for a person trained academically in plastic chemistry for getting acquainted with the technological aspects of the subject. Conversely, it might also be used by a person practicing the a r t for becoming familiar with the chemistry of plastics. I t is a critical and comprehensive survey of the two aspects of the subject. The latest information ox the chemistrv and structures of plasri,,< t i g v r ~ tivithtwt d~lai19of LIIC proofs, but r(.fer~..~cw to the urigi1.11 lit~vrltuware give:, rlircctly i:, rhc tern throughour rhe book l ' h r nurerial o:! the tcchnolc,gical sidr of the field i.; on a more scholarly level than the reviewer bas seen in any other book ox the subject. There is a discussion of molecular weight determinations by the cryoscopic and osmotic pressure methods and a rather detailed description of Staudinger's viscosity method. The writer has not seen this in any other secondary source of comparable scope. Among the physical properties discussed (with measurements in most cases) are elasticity, effect of wlcanization, vibration properties, degree of swelling, flow properties, transition zone, effect of temperature of polymerization on hardness and tensile strength, creep- and fatigue-resistance in thermoplastics, water absorption, use of plasticizers, effect of fillers, electrical properties, and grain structure. For those interested purely in technology there are chapters on: adhesides, plywood, and impregnated wood; manufacture of dies and moulds; maxufacture of plastic articles; a scheme of qualitative analysis of plastics and estimation of plastic raw materials. The book is suited for a college course in the science of plastics after a year of organic chemistry. There are several detailed procedures given for conducting laboratory experiments. The text was intended t o be a companion to the monthly British publication "Plastics." LEALLYN B. CLAPP ~~
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GENERAL CHEMISTRY.S t ~ a r tR . Brinkley, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Yale University. 3rd Edition. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1945. x f 645 pp. 135 figs. 47 tables. 15 X 23 em. $4.00. I t is apparently the author's modesty that bas impelled him to use the word "IntroduCtory" in the title of his book, for this edition contains as much material as almost any of the texts on the market which are Labeled "College Chemistry" and "General Chemistry." The order of material is that usually followed with a few exceptions. The discussion of the atmosphere is placed in Chapter 111 with oxygen. In the following chapter the author has placed a brief introduction t o the Periodic System and shows the correlation of common valences with the system. Many of us have found this very desirable in teaching but this is one of the few books to follow the practice. The gas laws are placed ahead of hydrogen and water. Under the metallic elements free use is made of flow sheets. For example, in the chapter on the alkaline earths there are flow sheets for the production of magnesium from brine, sea water, and magnesite. The last two chapters of the book are devoted to organic compounds. Synthetic rubber, nylon, sulfa drugs, and newer resins are given some mention. A chapter on "Colloids" is placed just after the section of the book that is devoted to nonmetals. There aremany desirable features in this text. I t is grmd to see real preparations of hydrogen bromide and hydrogen iodide in addition to the usual phosphorus trihalide method. Amphoteric INTRODUCTORY
hydroxides are explained and written as hydroiyl complexes. Authors have been notoriously slow in adopting this. The ionic form of writing equations is used where it is i m p r t a n t to show the ions but where it is desired to emphasize the compound the molecular form is employed. The discussion of atomic numbers is far superior to that in many texts. Uilder ionizatim tke relationship of valence types to apparent degree of ionization is shown nicely in tabular form. There is also a table of dielectric constants of water and other solvents. The mathematical forms for the ionization constant, solubility product, and instability constant of complex ions are freely u x d . For simpliEcztion in developing the solubility product principle the idea that the surface of the solid is constant is used. This of course is no! true. and solubility does vary with the surface expsed. On page 256 the equilibrium relation of hydrogen sulfide and carbonic acid are shown as 2Hf S-HzS. From this the student is likely to get the impression that the hydrogen ion concentration is twice that of the sulfide. I t would be better to show both the primary and secondary ionizations and the corresponding constants. E. WHITE CHARLES
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THE CHEM~CAL PROCESSINDUSTRIES. R. Nowis Shrew, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University. First Edition. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1945. xiii 957 pp. 153 tables. 258 figs. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. 96.00. Although a number of books has been published in r e c n t years on the subject usually called "Industrial Chemistry," there was need, according to the author, f a one which would moreclosely correlateindustrial processes with theunit operations and the unit processes-in other words, industrial chemistry from the chemical engineering point of view. This was the avowed main objective of the book. It is a rather difficult assignment t o encompass within t h e covers of one volume but, in the opinion of this reviewer, the author has succeeded remarkably well. The book gives an up-to-date, condensed treatment of most of the important industries in which the common chemical processes combined with the unit physical operations of chemical engineering
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In each chapter the author follows a general plan which may be brieRy outlined as follows: After a short introduction t o orientate the reader and present a little historical background, statistics of a n economic character are given t o emphasize the importance of eachparticularindustry and to illustrate its trends in recent years. Then follows the treatment of manufacturing methods in which the unit operations and processes are emphasized by flow sheets and important physicochemical principles are brought to the attention of the reader wherever this is feasible. One of the aims of the book was to stress the quantitative engineering aspects of each subject, but obviously in electing to cover such a widevariety of products and inaustries, the author has necesssrily been obliged to limit this phase of the treatment severely. A truly amazing amount of highly condensed information has been packed into the 39 chapters, which would be very valuable t o anyone who wishes t o obtain a good rbsumb of any particular process industry. Since the treatment had to be brief in every case, theauthorhasprovided attheend of eachchapteranexcellent list of references for those who wish to delve more deeply into each field. Another useful feature is a collection of short, relatively simple problems a t the end of a number of the chapters. The place for such a book as a textbook for beginning students of chemical engineering is a debatable one and depends on one's philosophy of chemical engineering education. Some teachers, including the present reviewer, do not see the value in presenting the student with such a large amount of descriptive'information,
