The radiation chemistry of water (Draganic, Ivan G ... - ACS Publications

which is the first of two volumes to deal with the blast furnace. For esslier reviews see J. CHEM. Eouc., 43, A160. (1966). Sections deal with pig iro...
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solutions, together with some supporting material from theory, is necessarily introduced. What emerges is a. compendium of views which underlies the activities and which is the first of two volumes to deal the approach of the group headed by Ivan with the blast furnace. For esslier Drapani6 a t the Boris Kidrio Institute a t reviews see J. CHEM. Eouc., 43, A160 vin& (1966). The authors are accomplished linguists Sections deal with pig iron manufacture, in many tongues. The result is that the blast furnace design, blast furnace bybemused reader is occasionally (and, in the products and operating techniques. A opinion of this reviewer, somewhat find section reviews the state of pig iron naively) referred for further enlightenment production in the world. to numerous papers and reviews not only JANET B. VANDOEEN in German, French, and Russian hut even in Czech. I am, consequently, somewhat College of Wooste? viciously pleased to discover that my Nroo8t~r,Ohio friends, the DragrtniCs, aided and abetted presumably by their language advisor, Mrs. Subotic, have foreign synonym difficulties approaching my own: on page 22 The Chemical lndurhy During the they propose delightfully to "expose ssNineteenth Century. A Study of the sumptions" and on page 204 they write of Economic Aspect of Applied Chemistry "a temperature somewhat lower than that in Europe and North America a t which the glass begins to mollify." I n general, the occasional touch of foreign L. F. Haber, Oxford Univ. Press, New idiom and flavor makes for refreshment 292 pp. Figs. and York 1971. x and for pleasant recollection of who the tables. 24 X 16 cm. $19.95. authors are. Each chapter is itself prefaced by a samIn this hook L. F. Haber, son of the mary statement, which serves as introchemist Fritz Haher, develops the trends duction, appreciation, and review and each and vicissitudes of the chemical industry of these eight statements has a separate during its formative century. Although individual character which ranges from Haber is an economic historian he is folly historical quotation to pithy preview of knowledgeable on the role of scientific facts or of theory. investigation in changing the nature of the The ohepter titles are longer than usual; industry. He presents a sound picture of they thns offer 8. good outline of t,he charthe industry from the beginnings of the acter of the book: (1) Historical survey Leblanc soda, process to the demise of the of the radiation chemistry of water; (2) process in the face of competition of the Interactionof ionizingrrtdiation with water more efficient Solvay process in the last and the origin of short-lived species that decades of the nineteenth century. Howcause chemical changes in irradiated ever, i t must not be supposed that the book water; (3) Primary products of water is restricted to the alkali trade. Proper radiolysis: short-lived reducing speciebalance is given t o the evolution of sulfuric the hydrated electron, the hydrogen atom, acid manufacture, the birth and growth of and molecular hydrogen: (4) Primary the synthetic dye industry, the birth of products of water radiolysis: oxidizing the electrochemicd industries, and the species-the hydroxyl radical and hydrodevelopment of new explosives. gen peroxide; ( 6 ) Radiation-chemical In all fairness i t must he pointed out yields of the primary products of wster that this is not s. new hook but is a reradiolysis and their dependence on various printing, with correction, of a, hook factors; (6) Diffusion-kinetic model; (7) originally published in 1958. There is no Radiation sources and irradiation techevidence that any part of it has been reniques; and ( 8 ) Aqueous chemical dosimwritten, other than minor rewordings to eters. The major thrust of the book is in correct errors in the original. Despite the first six chapters; the latter two are the excellence of the book, and despite really not suffioiently developed or critical inflation, i t is difficult to understand how to be useful. the publishers justify a price of $19.95 I t w a d d be remiss to imply that this when the 1958 printing sold for under book is generally free of fault. The 57. The book deserves a, broader public historical development of our ideas and than such pricing policies will give it. knowledge of the hydrated electron was AARONJ. IHDE logical indeed-although, there were (and Universitg of Wisconsin still are) intervals of profound puzzlement. Madison. W i r . The authors present the logic ss inverse to the chronology of the factual developments, and thus weaken the text of Chapter 3 pedagogically, and confuse (and can actually mislead) the reader hoth ss to The Radiation Chemistry of Water history and as to logic. This book is really a highly personalized Ivan G . Draganic and Zorica D. D7areview of one aspect of e rapidly developgenic, hoth of Boris Kidrio Institute of ing field. Statements of results and of Nuclear Sciences, Vinca, Yugoslavia. interpretation are repeatedly and necesAcademic Press, New York, 1071. xi sarily introduced-and theinformed reader 242 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.5 X 15.5 checks them off, as he reads, with mental cm. $14. notations of their factual and interpretive This book is addressed toward underreliability. One useful crutch for his standing of the radiation chemistry of thinking is knowledge of the authorship of water itself, but the actual chemistry of particular information. Again and again,

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the reader must refer to the end of the chapter to discover such authorship when the information could have been incorporated declaratively in sentence structure simpler than. that aetuslly employed. Also, there are not too many hut there are, indeed, serious errors in statement of quotation from the literature (and in failure of adequate definition) which the informed reader may immediately recognize but which may confuse the novice. Fortunately, the bibliographies are excellent and the reader is carefully guided to appropriate sources. Finally, I would like to m k e a statement about use of the words "recombine" and "recombinrttion." They are not the same as "combine" and "combination"although many radiation chemists seem to think they are. Neither Hznor HnOl are produced by reoombiniltion in the ritdiolysis of water, nor does the HnO produced by back reaction in such radiolysis neeessarily imply "recomhinstian" of H and OH produced as geminate partners. That the DraganiCs fell into this linguistic trap is not too surprising; after all, it was dug by American and British chemists who ought to know better! The book is recommended as a n introductory outline to the experienced radiation chemist who wishes to know more about work on water in Eastern Emope. I t is not for the uninitiated. MILTONBURTON Radiation Laboratory University o j Notre Dame Notre Dame, Ind. 46656