JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
4SO
The properties of a metal or alloy depend upon the microstructure, and this is greatly influenced by the method of producing and fabricating parts from them. Some alloys are so hard and brittle that they can only be molded into final shape by precision casting methods. The structure may be coarse grained as a result. Molybdenum was formerly produced by powder metallurgy methods only, but now arc-melted castings that may be forged and rolled into sheet can be made. This has resulted in improved mechanical properties a t high temperatures. Allays that are high in cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, or tungsten, the basic elements for super-alloys, that were formerly too brittle to forge, have, as a result of the ingenuity of research metallurgists, gradually become amenable to conventional fabrication methods. Each step in the process must be carefully controlled and is usually the result of much hard work that is nlmost entirelv emoirieal in aooroach. These soeeial manu-
temperatures, are given brief mention. The last chapter p r o sents results of tests on soding of alloys, which have been d o signed primarily to resist chemical attack a t high tempert~turs, in air, steam, and controlled atniaspheres. This section is of particular interest to chemists. The increased importance of high temperatures and high pressures in fields other than superchargers, jet propulsion, and gas turbines, makes it imperative for chemists to have access to the new informetion contained in this hook. It is a book in which they may have confidence, because Dr. Clark has been closely associated with the field for many years and has been able t o secure information previously unpublished and inaccessible. For reference work there is no comparable publication. Because i t is so uncommon to encounter a woman professional metallurgist, a brief comment on Dr. Clark's career will interest teachers who are looking for fields into which to direot their able women students. Miss Clsrk gadusted from Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a, metallurgist in the olass of 1922 and received her Sc.D. degree from the same institution in 1926, the only woman in her group in each instance. She won fame in the field of powder metallurgy for her work on oantact-point alloys during her yews ttt Western Union Laboratories, and she has served an the staff of the Powder Metallurgy Laboratory a t Stevens Institute of Technology. She is now engaged in applied research and development, mainly in the field of her excellent book. She is a married woman devoted to her home, but for p r o f d o n a l reasons writes under her maiden name. She has accomplished what many women desire, a successful career in science and a happy but separate private life. LAURENCE S. FOSTER BELMOXV MABBACAUBETTS
PHYSICS IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
R. C. L. Bosworth. M a d a n and Co., Ltd., London, 1950. xix
+ 928 pp.
15.5 X 23 om. $12.75.
THIS book is applicable to English readers more than to those in the United States where the fundamentals of the chemical industry, or preferably chemical engineering, are handled in a different manner. The contents of this volume can be better understood in the U. S. A. by calling it a book on physics and physical chemistry. It is instructive to see how another group of scientists approach this subject, and as such this work by Bosworth has a definite comparative value. Within the 928 pages of the book here reviewed there are considered many aspects of the underlying seiences for the chemical industry. These include not only physical chemistry but some of the purely physical aspects of unit operations, the chemical changes such as kinetics, equilibrium and the like, as well as mathematics and instrumentation. Part I (Chapters 1-7) emI m m s a. "Mathemetical Introduction" and treats the m a t h e
matical concepts and their application in "Dimensional analysis" (Chapter 5) and "Statistical methods" (Chapters 6 and 7). Part I1 (Chapters 8-17) considers under the heading "Properties of Matter" both physical and chemical changes such as equilibrium, gases, solids, absorption, physioltl metallurgy, etc. In Part 111, or "Movement of Matter," is included a fundamental study of motion, diffusion, energy, radiation, and rate of chemical reaction. Part IV, "Scientific Instruments," embraces what in the United States is called instrumentation. The author has accomplished a Herculean task to include such a variety of subjects within one volume. The treatment is basically mathematical and is supplemented by end-of-chapter references to books and journal articles. The book is well written with nice illustrations, excellent printing, and on ver3satisfactory paper. Repetfully the reviewer must state that the American reader will do much better t o spend his time on the many other books covering the various subjects here presented (Perry, Editor, "Chemical Engineers' Handbook" and its very many references). R. NORRIS SHREVE PUADUE UNIYERB~TV
LMAYETTG.INDIANA
SOILS: THEIR PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
A. N. Puri, Director, University Institute of Chemistry and Field Research Station Trust. Lahore. India. Reinhold Publishino sso pp. 179 figs. 243 tables. Carp., New York, 1949.' xv 16 X 24 cm. $7.
+
INTHE preface the author states, "It must be understood that the material has been written for beginners, and it is not intended to be a treatise. Facts have been stated and theories have been left in the background, for theories confuse the novice and tax even the initiated." Part I, "Chemistry of the Soil," treats the soil ss an acidoid which does not differ from an ordinary acid. The author helieves the electronegative part of the soil acidoid can be completely disregarded. The titration curves of soils with various bases are given considerable attention. Interaction of ammonia, csrbonates, and sulfides with soil acidoids is considered. Hydr* gen ion activity, heat of neutralization, relation of specific supface and chemical reaction, and effect of ignition are discussed in separate ehapters. Active mass is defined as "that portion of the total weight which constitutes the monomoleoular layer." Thp author believes that the active mass is as much in true solution as any common molecular solution. Thus, in considering reactions the molecules which do not constitute the surface of a colloid e m be disregarded. The pccurrence and importance of clay minerals in the chemical and physical properties of soils, and the origin of exchange charges on the different clay minerals are not discussed. Quality of irrigation waters, electrodialysis, dispersion of sodium ssloids, oxidation-reduction potential of &oils, action of carbon dioxide on soils, interaction between snions and soils, oxidation of nitrites and oxalates in soils, physioohemical properties of ferro-alumino-silicates, and humus are also discussed. Part I1 covers the mechanical analysis (partiele-size distribution) of soils. Emphasis is placed on apparatus and methods, many of which were developed by the author. A method for pipetting particles 40 mp (0.00004 mm.) in diameter with a hypodermic needle s t 1 mm. after settling one week is described. The effect of convection currents and the platy nature of clay of this size are not discussed. The relation of mechanical analysis to specific surface is discussed in detail. No mention is made of the differences in specific surface of the different clay minerals commonly found in soils. Physical characteristics of soils related to mechanical analysis are discussed. Chemical reactivity can also be calculated from the mechanical analysis. Part 111 concerns soil moisture. The hypothesis of capillary condensation is accepted as the mechanism of moisture absorption by soils. The vapors me condensed as bulk liquid in pores by
