Relativity and reality - Journal of Chemical Education (ACS Publications)

Sister Mary Martinette B.V.M.. J. Chem. Educ. , 1954, 31 (7), p 389. DOI: 10.1021/ed031p389.2. Publication Date: July 1954. View: PDF | PDF w/ Links. ...
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JULY, 1954

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reputation of its author in all respects. I t is detailed and exhaustive in its treatment of the main subjects; the large number of tables indicates that it is well documented: and in addition the author has usually included a very interesting historical perspective a t the beginning of each major section. I t is an advanced treatise and one whieh scrtrcely would be appreciated by any hut the advanced student and teacher in the field. Nowhere else will there be found a review of Eleotrophilio Aromatic Substitution, Nucleophilic Aliphatic Suhstitution, or Olefin-forming Eliminations which will compare to the treatment here. If one includes related materid, the subject of aromatic substitution oocupies 190 pages, or almost one-fourth of the 816 pages of text. This is indimtive of the extent and detail of the treatment. Illustrstive material in these sections is drawn from many sources and Professor Ingald has shown a. tremendous breadth of knowledge concerning the work in the field of organic reaction mechanism. As is only natural, however, he has relied heavily upon his own and closely related investigations for most d the material, as indicated by the fact that 105 of the 231 references in the chapter on Nucleophilic Aliphatic Substitution are to Ingold and Hughes, separately or jointly. There is thus no ouestion concernine the authoritv with whieh the author writes ind there is also go question b i t that the viewpoint (and alsa the terminology) of the English achool is held throughout. In several instances other viewpoints have been ignored by omission or dismissed in a summary fmhion. As stated by the author in the preface, "the wide scope of the subject has necessitated the imposition of Limitations.. . . Thus a very appreciable fraction of the field indicated by the title remain8 uncovered." This is es~eciallvtrue of the treatment of "structure" whieh is limited -to the introductory chapter on Valency and Molecular Structure, a section of the chapter on The Aromatic Nucleus, and those aspects of stereochemistry which naturally come up in connection with Nucleophilic Aliphatic Substitution, Olefin-forming Eliminations, Saturated Rearrangements, and Additions and Their Retrogression. The selection of material necessitated the omission of many pertinent subjects; the following is a list of a few that the reviewer $d not find included: free radical reactions in general, polymenzation, catalytio reduction, the mechanism of most oxidation processes, the problem of eonformztion or constellation, the subject of bridged ions, Grignard reactions, rearrangements of the Raeyer, Villiger, and Criegee types, and hindered rotation in the biphenyl series. In addition the subject of cyclic mechanisms is only mentioned; for instance, the Tschugaev reaction was not taken up in the section on alefin-forming eliminations. An inadequate index has measurably lessened the value of this volume as a reference text. These shortcomings of omission cannot detract from the excellence of the volume as a definitive treatise of Ingold's contribution in the field of organic chemical mechanism and there is no question hut that it will have an honored place in the perm* nent chemical literature. HARRY S. MOSHER S ~ a n r o n oUNIVERBI%T S T * N ~ ~c*uronm* D.

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ORGANIC PROTECTIVE COATINGS

Edited by William m n Fixher, Head, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and Edward G. Bobolek, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Case Institute of Technology. Reinhold 387 pp. Many figs. Publishing Corp., New York, 1953. viii and tables. 16 X 23.5 om. $7.50.

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CASEINSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY has built up a reputation in the field of paint and varnish teohnology which had to he broadened in scope as vmious organic protective coatings entered the field of surface orotection. In 1948 Dr. van Fincher edited a series of lectures' that had been given a t Case by a number of experts. This was published as "Paint and Vrtrnish Teohnol-

ogy." Now the panel of experts has broadened its field of d i s cussion and "Organic Proteotive Coatings" is the result. A variety of materials are discussed in the sixteen chapters of this book. Synthetics dominate the field, with vinyl resins occupying the most attention. Others are aminoplast resins and the silicones. Pigments are discussed in several chapters, anticorrosive pigments, reflectance properties, luminescent coatings, new pigments in modern color design, and pigment dispersion problems in formulation. The formulation of emulsion and latex paints is discussed on the basis of emulsion systems. Although this hook does not cover all recent advances, or discuss all subjects exhaustively, it helps keep the technical man abreast of developments in the broadening field of protective coatings. Taken with the earlier book, the two volumes are excellent reference texts in this field. KENNETH A. KOBE

RELATMTY AND REALITY E, G,B ~ ~h~~philosophical ~ ~ ~ f~ i ~, ~N~~~ york, ~ , 1953. xi 131pp. 13.5 X 21.5 om. $4.75.

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THE author has undertaken in this slim little volume to clarify certain interpretations and applications of relativity to make them more acceotable to the classical ohvsicists. In this work his nhjective appears to he carefully & point out where some writers have failed to distinguish between the well established evidence and that which represents a degree of uncertainty and/or of individual opinion. Absolute space a t rest, the constancy of the velocity of light, the reciprocity of distortions, reality, and similar concepts subject to duo-interpretation are re-examined as metsphysieal and ns natural science concepts with an attempt to bring them to a common focal point. Those scholars learned in both philosophy and physics d l find the hook interesting and provocative. The general reader will find it beyond his ken. ~

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SISTER MARY MARTINETTE. B.V.M. ~ ~ WOMEN M D N D E ~ BC~ONL L EFOB Cnrc*ao. ILLINOIB

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DISLOCATIONS IN CRYSTALS

W. T. Read, Jr., Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. McGraw-Hill Bwk Cc., Inc., New York, 1953. xvii 228 pp. 77 figs. 16 X 23.5 cm. $5.

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SCIENTIFIC understanding of the properties of metals, alloys, and other solids has been greatly advanced by the determination, using X-ray diffraction methods, of the arrangements of atoms in the hypothetical, perfectly regular, structures which the actual structures approximate. It has long been evident, however, that certain properties, especially those (e. g., tensile strength and hardness) which involve changes in the relative locations of the atoms, are "structure-sensitGe!' These properties often depend more an deviations from the perfect structure than on the nature of the structure itself. Such structural deviations or imperfections are of various kinds. One type consists of a foreign atom, together with the disturbed region immediately surrounding it. "Dislocations" constitute another important class. A dislocation is an imperfection which c m be considered as being produced by slipping of a portion of the regular structure relative to the rest. It consists of a distorted reeion in the neiehborhood of a line in the structure. The book under reGew deals with the nature, description, classification, geometry, and physics of dislocations and their

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