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JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION INTRODUCTION NUCLEAR
'0
AL ESTUDIO DE LA QU~MICA are considerably enhanced. The chapter on spectroscopy and
Juan Sancho Gomez, Professor of Physical Chemistry, Murcia University, Spain. Pulicacianes de la Universidad, Murcia, 1948. x 292 pp. 67 figs. (and plates). 17.5 X 24.5 cm.
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T H Ibook ~ is based on a series of lectures given a t the Murcia University to which have been added bibliographic notes and a table of isotopes. Dr. Saneho states that there is to date no adequate book in Spanish on nuclear chemistry, the only information available in Spanish being in chapters of books of a more general nature or in journ~ls. Dr. Sancho has developed his subject with the aim of providing students, graduate chemists, and scientists who are not specialists in nuclear chemistry, with exact information about the state of knowledge in this fundamental field of scienoe. The book is divided into eleven ohapters and an appendix. The following subjects are discussed: constitution of matter; nuclei, isotopes, and their separation; detection and acceleration of particles; natural radioactivity; qualitative and quantitative study of different particles; different types of nuclear reactions; the theory of nuclei; table of isotopes; and the atomic bomb. In his explanations, Dr. Srtncho avoids wherever possible mathematical derivations, and the contents can be comprehended by any student who has a general background in chemistry and physics. The information of the book is up to date and bibliographic notes include 1947. It should be a very good textbook in Spanish for university students. CARLOS R. PIRIZ MAC-COLL
NAT~NA BL U R E Aon~ STANDABDB. W A B A I N ~ LD I. N .C. UNIY.RB,TTOP MONTEYIDED, MONTBVIDEO. URC(IU*Y
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PHYSICAL METHODS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, PART 11. TECHNIOUE - OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. VOLUME I
Edited by Arnold Weissberger, Research Laboratories, Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York. Interscience Puh1073-2096 pp. lishers, New York, 1949. Second edition. xt 352 figs. 5 8 tables. 15.5 X 24 cm. $12.50.
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INPARTI1 of the second edition of Weissberger's series, one new chapter on electrophoresis has been added and a section of another ohapter on turbidimetry. The remainder of the augmentation of Part I1 consists in making this book a better secondary source of information on methods and apparatus than the lirst edition was. In this the authors of the various chapters have succeeded. The reader is treated as sn intelligent beginner in the various fields and the discussion is complete enough so that he may then proceed to the original literature without further reading. (For reviews of the first edition and the first part of the 24,51 (1947); 27, 172 (1950). second edition, see Tms JOURNAL, Whether an organic chemist will wish to buy a second edition coming so soon on the heels of the k t will in part be determined by his interest in the fields in which big changes have taken place. These are reflected by correspondingly greater additions to the respective chapters in the new edition. The chapters on the following subjects are changed only by addition of new references or by fewer than three pages of added text: X-Ray Diffraction, Electron Diffraction, Colorimetry, Photometric Analysis, Flnorimetry, Polarimetry, Conductometry, and Polarography. Three chapters-Refractometry, Potentiometry, and Magnetic Susceptibility-have been increased by about seven pages, the first mainly on deviation8 of additivity caused by electronic interactions, the second by additions of examples and interpretation of titration curves, and the third by an expansion of Gouy's method of measurement. The literature on radioactivity and mass spectrometry haa been released in such volume since the first edition (1946) that fully twothirds of the journal references to these two chapters are new. The sections on measurements of hard and soft beta. rays
spectrophotometry is made 70 pages longer by a new section on light sources for visible and ultraviolet radiation, more on objective spectrophotometry, about 29 pages more on infrared, including 10 pages on thermopiles and bolometers, and more on Raman spectra. The subject of dipole moments is doubled in length to bring into the text more details, especially on bridge, resonance, and heterodyne beat methods of measuring dipole moments. The new chapter on electrophoresis contaiar a good description of the Tiselius apparatus and a substantial outline of it.s use in organic chemistry, including warnings against some of the pitfalls of interpretation. L E A L L I S B. CLAPP
ACETYLENE AND CARBON MONOXIDE CHEMISTRY
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John W. Copenhaver, Central Research Laboratory, General Aniline and Film Corp., Easton, Pennsylvania, and Maurice H. Bigelow, Plaskon Division, Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Ca., Toledo, Ohio. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, 1949. xvi 357 pp. nluatrated. 16 X 23.5 cm. $10.
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THISbook is a connected summary of the mass of detailed and repetitious reports of the development of the chemistry of acetylene under pressure in the laboratories of the I. G. Farbenindustrie under the direction of Walter Reppe. I t is valuable because the writers are experts in the field and some attempt has been made to present the material critically. The chapters an vinylation, ethinylation, and cyclopolyolefins are relatively complete because mhst of the work on these reactions has been reported only in government technical reports or in patents of the I. G. Fasbenindustrie. The chapter on-handling acetylene under pressure is very valuable, but might have been even more so if all other references on the subject had been included. The new German work on reactions of acetylene at atmospheric pressure and on homologues of acetylene was not extensive and the corresponding chapters are very brief. This is not disadvrtntageaus because critical reviews of these subjects have been published elsewhere. The section on carbon monoxide chemistry is B single chapter (fifty-three pages) describing the reactions of carbon monoxide with acetylene and with olefins in the presence of metallic carhonyls and carbonyl hydrides to form acids, alcohols, and carbony1 compounds. No mention is made of the extensive chemistry of carbon monoxide developed outside the I. G. Farbenindustrie and Ruhrchemie. This book is written in an interesting manner and should be of consider~blevalue to industrial chemists. While it will hardly be useful as a textbook, most organic chemists will iind it interesting to read, and all reference libraries should have it since the material it covers is not otherwise readily avsilable. I t is to be regretted that omission of authors' names in the references and lack of identification of the titles in the general bibliography make these of less vdue than they otherwise would have been. THOMAS L. JACOBS
Jelks Barksdale, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Alabama. The Ronald Press Co., New York, 1949. xi 591 pp. 15figs. 23 tables. 16 X 24 cm. $10.
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A noOK on titanium has long been overdue, yet this prexeut trcstirc by 1)r. nnrksdsle nppcan just before a real knowledge of the ~rooerticsof metallic titanium and the hich tiranium allon iu imn;ineht of achievement. So far as the meti1 itself is oonce&ed, this hook has little to contribute to metallurgists engaged in the development of titanium as the "metal of the future." For the chemistry of titanium, the mineralogy and recovery from ores,
MAY, 19.50
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and the titanium dioxide pigment industry, on the other hand, the treatment is very competent and exoeedingly well documented. There are 2232 references to the literature m d patents. Titanium is ninth in abundance, 0.629 per cent, among the e l e ments making up the earth's crust, being exceeded only by 0, Si, Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, Na, and K. I t is, thus, more abundant than the metallio elements, Mn, Ba, Cr, Zr, and Ni, which are prbsent in the order of 0.1 to 0.02 per cent and much more common thau Cu, Zn, Pb, and Co, which occur in amounts less than 0.01 per cent. It is greatly in excess of Sn, Sb, Cd, Hg, Bi, Ag, whichare familiar t,o every chemistry student, even though they fall below 0.001 per cent. Influenced partly no doubt by schemes of qualitative analysis, which traditionally have ignored titanium, ohemsist have grown up to feel that titanium is one of the "less familiar elements," whioh indeed it has been. Titanium is now coming into prominence and as the "Cinderella of the elements" will take its rightful place. A glance a t current issues of engineering journals reveals the steadily increasing attention being given to metallic titanium, yet commercial production of this element as a structural material has not yet been established. A tremendous amount of
industrial and military applications. Chemists will be called upon to become familiar with its properties and could turn to no better source than the comprehensive hook under consideration. Its appearance is timely. This book is recommended as a very adequate and well-written treatise that should he in every reference library. LAURENCE L FOSTER
BELMOXT, hIA88ACHUBET'TB
IONIZATION CHAMBEFiS AND COUNTERS: EXF'ERI. MENTAL TECHNIQUES Bruno Rossi, Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and H a n s H. Staub, Professor of Physics, Stanford University, MoGraw-Hill Book Ca., New York, 1949. nviii 243 pp. 140 figs. 8 iahles. 16 X 23.5 cm. $2.25.
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TAISis one of the first volumes of the National Nuclear Energy Series, a large undertaking proposing to describe the work and experience gained under the Manhattan Project, later the Atomic Energy Commission. This particular volume is a cohesive account of the indicated subject, developing first of all the basic principles upon whioh counters and ionieatiou chambers operate and giving in graphical and tabular form muoh fuudamental data upon which design may he based. I t is not a catalog of instruments and techniques which have been found useful. However, it describes representative instruments covering a wide range of nuclear measurements and these are well illustrated by a large number of drawings and photographs. The bwk seems to be intended particularly for the experimenter who in the course of his work must design special equipment for his particular needs. To be sure, one may find described the exact instrument for his purposes, but this would appear to be iucidentd to the main goal of the authors. The subject matter is also largely restricted to the function of the detecting chamber or counter, as the title would imply, and includes such subjects as amplifiers only incidentally. The first four chapters, covering 100 pages, are devoted to fundamentals of ionization and the principles of detection. Succeeding chapters deal more specifically with detectors for beta-rays, gamma-rays, X-rays, alpha-particles, neutron recoils, fission recoila, and others. The longest single chapter is con,cerned with the determination of neutron energies by measuring hydrogen recoils from elastic collisions, an objective of some difficulty which is probably not adequately described elsewhere. Individuals may 6nd that their particular sphere of interest is dealt with in less detail than they would wish. All in all, this volume is probably the most tlseful account of
the subiect that has a ~ ~ e a r to e ddate. and should move valuable design special instruments. I. PERLMAN
THERMODYNAMICS. AN ADVANCED TREATMENT FOR CHEMISTS AND PHYSICISTS
E. A. Guggenheim, Professor of Chemistry, Reading University. Volume 11 of Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Physics. Edited by H. B. G. Casmir, Director of the Philips Laboratories, Eindhoven, and H. Brinkman, Head of the Research Department of N. V. Kema, Arnhem. North Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam, Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1949. xxii 394 pp. 3 7 figs. 19 tables. 18 X 26 cm. $6.50.
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ALTHOUGH this book contains no reference to Guggenheim's "Modern Thermodynsmios by the Methods of Willard Gibbs" nuhlished in 1933. it is essentiallv a matured revision of his earlier
second chapter and used frequently thereafter; the treatment of surfaces is divided among several ohapters; the five chapters on non-electrolyte solutions are regrouped into four; and two new chanters are added on electrostatic and on msmetic . systems . systems. This is a very personal book whioh might almost have the subOther writers are repeatedly chided title "Pride and Prejudioe!' for some infraction of the Guggenheim rules, usually for using some word in a. sense not approved by him. Yet he uses "absolute activity" for more thau a. hundred pages before he explains that it is even worse than the "misleading" absolute entropy. He misappropriates Hildebrand's term "regular solutions," which should describe only the entropy of mixing, and corrupts it to denote also a. very specialized enthalpy relation. Tt -.is hard to name s m .. a u ~whioh will find this book verv useful. l'le ndwrccd student nil1 I w holed w i t h tlrc dul,lichte drnv~liou o i 30 m , ~ r ~ relztim.i, ,v mcc i n t t m l i of the rhernirnl potential, p, and onre in terms of the "nl,solutc activity," h, drfined by therclation R T In A = rr. Many of these duplicate derivations are repeated several times: for "systemsof two non-reacting components," for "systems of several non-reacting components," for "systems of ohemically reacting species," and far "electrolyte solutions!' This repetition will add to the boredom of the advanced student and to the confusion of the beginner. The very polished treatment glosses over or avoids the difficulties of the heginner and therefore gives him hut little help in salving them. The illustrations are usually very simple oases which can he treated in terms of the expanded third law, and there is too little discussion of applications for whioh even the advanced student can use help. Standard and reference states are confused rather than olrarified. I t is true that the treatment of G. N. Lewis was developed for a rsther narrow range and leads to ambiguity when the range is extended. Many alternatives have been proposed, some preferable to those of Guggenheim. The student should be taught that thermodynamics deals with differences, that the number of differences to be considered can he reduoed greatly by the use of reference states, that the magnitude of the differences can be r e duced by the use of deviation funotions, and that the choice of reference states and of deviation functions is entirely a matter of convenience, which should not be allowed to reduce the accuracy of any calculation. Then he can use any set of reference states and deviation functions or invent his own for any special problem, and there is no need to discuss the petty advantages of any system. ~
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