book reviews

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book reviews Editor: W. F. KIEFFER Collage of Woortor Woater, Ohie

An Introduction to College Chemistry

William H. Nyee, University of New Haven. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1972. xii + 258 pp. Figs. and tahles. 26 X 19 em. $10.95. The author intends this hook "as a n introduction t o chemistry for students with no prior knowledge of the subject and as a supplemental text for those students who need to review basic principles and concepts of chemistry." By and large, the ohjectives of introducing chemistry or reviewing basic principles have been attained. This is chemistry stripped down to bare bones and the careful user will learn many things of value along the lines of basic concepts presented in the simplest form, the mechanics of solving very simple problems, the rudiments of the symbolism of chemistry and a very brief introduction to the nomenclature of simple compounds. The book is devoid of any mention of the cultural context of chemistry and little is given to motivate the student. There are many study questions and problems a t the end of eaeh chapter. Answers to the problems are given. Eight appendices are included seven of which are likely to prove useful. Three of these deal with logarithms, algebra and use of the slide rule. The appendix on radioactive isotopes appears unrelated t o anything found in the text. A useful glossary of chemical terms is included. The hook is reasonably free of typographical ermn. It is disappointing not to find any mention of space-directed hands in the chapter on bonding. Probably every chemist has his own pet way of balancing redox equations, hut the reviewer found the method described in Chapter 11 to be cumbersome and predicts that it will give students same difficulty. In Chapter 13, t h e cptegorical statement is made that there are five ways of expressing concentration. Mare ways can be found, for example, milligram percentage and formality, to name two. In Figure 14.4, the diagrams of cubic, tetraganal, and artho-

rhomhic crystals all appear to he the same. This hook seems likely to meet a definite need in the textbook field: that of a book which can help a student who is headed into a technician training program or who needs some conditioning before he is ready to take a higher level general chemistry course. David W . Emerson Departmenf o f Naturai Sciences The Universily of Michigan Dearborn. Michigan

Problems lor General and Environmental Chemistry

William M. Risen, Jr., Brown University, and George P Flynn. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New-York, 1972. xii + 440 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.5 X 15 em. $5.95. This is a piperback prohlems book that might he useful either as a supplementary freshman level textbook or as a source of extra problems for individual students. It is a book I would recommend for purchase by the interested science major. It is not the hoak I would choose for a nursing or business major. The first half of the book is devoted to brief discussions of various subiects, eaeh followed by an assortment of reiated prohlems. Topics are organized into 20 chapters and the problems represent as much variety as possible with little repetition of the same type problem. The entire second half of the book is used for detailed salutians to all the problems, the dimensional analysis method being used whenever appropriate. The "problems" are not always mathematical exercises. In the chapter on axidation-reduction reactions they are lists of equations to be completed and balanced.

-Reviewed in This Issue Wdliam H.Nyce, An Introduction to College Chemistry William M. Risen, Jr. and George P. Flynn, Problems for General and Enwronmental Chemistry Thomas L Isenhour andPeter C. Jurs, Introduction to Computer Programming for Chemists Leonard K . Nosh, ChemThermo: A Statistical Approach to Classical Chemical Thermodynamics DavidN. Hague, Fast Reactions F. C. Goodrich, A Primer of Quantum Chemistry New Volumes in Continuing Series

In the organic chemistry section they are mainly questions on nomenclature, structure, and reactions of organic compounds. In the chapter on bonding, they are questions about molecular shapes and electron distribution. Energy relationships are covered in two chapters, one on elementary thermochemistry ond the other on thermodynamics (in which, e.g., there are a few problems using the Clausius-Clapyron equation). In addition there is a chapter on electrochemistry, which includes a number of problems involving AG, a few .requiring use of the Nernst equation. The most distinctive feature of the hoak is the last chapter, which deals with environmental chemistry. An imaginative collection of practical environmental prohlems has been gathered together. Unfortunately the chapter is only 11 pages long. There are 41 problems involving various facets of air pollution, water pollution, and waste treatment. They are widely distributed in schject matter and in ease of solution. Doris K. KOib lllinais Central College East Peoria, 111. 61611

Introduction to Computer Programming lor Chemists

Thomas L. Isenhour and Peter C. Jurs. Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, 1972. 336 pp. $6.25. The increasing use of computers in the natural sciences has made it a necessity for undergraduate chemistry students, in particular, to develop computer programming skills. This hoak is written on a premise shared by the reviewer that "programming is the only way to learn to program." By carefully integrating the basics of FORTRAN IV programming language and numerical analysis with forty-five typical, and progressively more difficult application problems taken from all branches of chemistry, the authors lead the student from relatively simple to mare complex programs. In contrast to most other books written for chemists, this volume is in paperback and, while not cheap, is in a more camfortable price bracket for the average student. It is well organized and readable. The book is divided into three parts. The first concerns itself with basic computer concepts and FORTRAN IV language. Computer logic and flow charts are emphasized. The FORTRAN 1V chapter itself hrieflv summarizes the features of the oro-

logical operators, are not implemented on the smaller machines used by many schools, e.g., IBM 1130. Part 2 cantainsexamples of applications which are explained.in detail; flaw charts are given a t first for simple examples and later omitted. Some early programs are made into subroutines in later, mare saphisticated problems. While some of the

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book reviews problems are quite pedestrian, others are quite interesting: plausable empirical formulas from elemental analysis, platting graphs with the line printer, titration curves, inorganic qualitative analysis scheme, mass spectrometry, and even arganic synthesis, to name a few. Part 3 includes very useful appendices on such topics as binary arithmetic, job processing, computer terminology, program optirni7ation, trouble-shuotlnc, and a hlhliogrephv which icquitecumplere. 'l'hc hook aora an exrrllent tuh in ac. complishing its stated object&es. In a larger context, however, it has several drawbacks. Unfortunately, much of the introductory discussion tends to be oriented far large IBM computers. The book is also apparently committed to hatch job processing which is increasingly inefficient, as time-sharing systems with remote teletype terminals are becoming more popular. A simplified language such as BASIC has. much more appeal for the latter and is much easier to learn. While FORTRAN IV, no doubt, will continue t o be important as a scientific programming language for specialists, BASIC has a wider appeal to all chemistry students, not just majors. The hook will thus disappoint devotees of CAI (computer assisted instruction). It also departs from the typical text in that problem assignments are not given; the examples themselves do not suggest extensions or modifications which the student might attempt to program. However, this book will surely prove useful for teaching FORTRAN t o chemistry students and should be considered by anyone teaching such a course. Stanley E. Anderson Pahiavi Universily Shiraz, Iran

ChemThermo: A Statistical Approach to Classical Chemical Thermodynamics Leonard K. Nash, Harvard University. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Mass., 1971. xii 207 pp. Figs. and tables. 23 X 15 em. $3.50.

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Leonard Nash has once mare advanced the teaching of chemical science by developing "advanced but fundamental concepts in a form accessible t o the first-year student. "ChemThermo" approaches thermodynamics through elementary statistical ideas; in a logical order, and with the same articulate clarity that characterized Nash's earlier hooks. I find the first three chapters, which develop the laws of thermodynamics, particularly appealing; the approach is extremely similar t o the one that has evolved in my own teaching of thermadynamies to first-year people. The notions of microstate and macrostate, o f ' the overwhelming probabilities associated with most probable configurations for many-particle systems, and the relationship of these ideas to irreversibility have a natural appeal that gives vitality to thermodynamics. In my experience, only the most educated and wisest of first-year stuA308 /Journal of Chemical Education

dents penetrate an abstract phenomenological approach t o thermodynamics beyond the level of manipulating symbols, and retain any physical sense of heat, enthalpy, entropy and free energy. On the other hand, when these concepts are tied to the behavior of individual particles through simple statistical ideas, they become meaningful and useful to most students. The fourth and final chapter of the hook develops the consequence of the First and Second Laws, treating free energies, phase equilibria, colligative properties and chemical equilibrium. The material in this chapter is, almost necessarily, more nearly standard than the content of the first three chapters. However the emphasis on the relationship between observables and mathematical statements is particularly well done, and the many examples here, like those in the earlier chapters, illustrate the physical concepts and the magnitudes of variables very effectively. There are seventy problems of the challenging sort one expects from Leonard Nash, and a brief discussion of elementary operations of calculus. With these appendices, the hook is self-contained, excellent for the bright student who wants to study a subject independently, as well as for use in a course. All in all, I consider this book a valuable contribution to chemical pedagogy. R. Stephen Berry University of Chicago Chicago, Illinois 60637

Fast Reactions David N. Hague, University of Kent. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1971. viii + 159 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.5 X 15.5 cm. $8.50. Although most texts beyond the firstyear college level (and even same of those) include a section on fast reactions, no monograph aimed for upper level undergraduates and graduates has been available prior to the appearance of this volume. Despite the many goad qualities of this book, its lack of depth makes i t fall short of its target. "Fast Reactions" consists of two parts. In the first section are an introductory chapter and a chapter an experimental methods. The latter comprises almost onehalf the entire volume. Two chapters an results plus appendices make up the remainder. The chapter on experimental methods covers perturbation techniques and competition methods. The main purpose should be accomplished in this chapter; yet i t represents the weakest element of the book. The principles of chemical relaxation are presented from the standpoint of transient perturbation methods such as temperature- or pressure-jump applied to single-step reactions. Stationary methods receive a brief, qualitative mention. The treatment does not rise above the level of elementary algebra and the first-order differential equation of chemical kinetics. Thus, only one example of a multi-step reaction is given, and it, too, is treated similarly.

Herein lies the basis for the book's inutility. The elementary approach to the theory of chemical relaxation is inadequate far the graduate student, and inherently lacking in interest or challenge for both graduate and undergraduate, alike. Furthermore, it is misleadine. ... as i t imdies a l a h g on the part ot t l ~ cnwlhud tu rope ulth uumpler ryitems. wl~ich,in fact, rr ra particularly ueli-suited to handle m comparison with other kinetic methods. One example will illustrate the shortcomings of this approach. The relaxation times for the scheme A + B t AB I Care sought. Step A + B t AB equilibrates much more rapidly than the second step, and can be treated independently. Hence, the problem is to find the longer of the two relaxation times. However, this system possesses three independent concentration variables, with but a single conservation relation among them. Therefore, to solve for the slower relaxation time, another relation is needed. This relation is found by assuming the first step to be equilihrated a t all times while the second step responds to the perturbation. The apparent eauilibrium ouotient leiven incorrectlv in

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and linearized to provide the necessary equation. In contrast, the more correct approach is to treat the reaction scheme as a set of two coupled linear differential equations. A general solution for the two relaxation times, of which the above is a special case, can be readily derived with no assumptions. Without losing the intended audience, the appropriate mathematics for this analysis could have been introduced directly into the text, and not relegated to a few advanced expressions in a n appendix. The monograph would then have been a t once more rigorous and more rewarding for study. The chapters on results are generally good, however. Especially noteworthy is the section on the hydrated electron, the inclusion of which adds breadth to the selection of systems investigated by these techniques. The student exercises in this part of the hook are also considerably more instructive than those in the first half. Thus, "Fast Reactions" might be useful to augment a study program, but it is not recommended for use as the basis of an intensive study project. Kenneth Kustin Branders University Wallham. Mass. 02154 A Primer of Quantum Chemistry

F. C. Goodrich, Clarkson College of Technology. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1972. ix + 232 pp. pigs. and tables. 22.7 x 15.0 cm. $12.50. This textbook provides a sound introduction t o time-independent topics in quantum chemistry. It places more emphasis on secular equations and other matrix-oriented topics than do most comparable textbooks. Nevertheless mast appli(Continued onpogeA3lOJ