Books reviewed in issue 65

• Page 26 Introduction to Physical Chemistry
• Page 51 A Practical Guide for the Preparation of Specimens for X-Ray Fluorescence and X-Ray Diffraction Analysis

Introduction to Physical Chemistry (Third Edition)
Author: Mark Ladd, University of Surrey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press 1998
ISBN 0 521 48000 0 (hardbound) £65 ISBN 0 521 57881 7 (pbk) £22.95

This is a general Physical Chemistry textbook intended for undergraduates in their first and second years of a Chemistry B.Sc. It covers all the usual topics such as quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and kinetics. Chapter 3 is of particular interest as it covers first point group symmetry, with a startling picture of a large Doberman dog as an illustration of s_n symmetry, immediately followed by a description of crystal symmetry. This arrangement works well. The description of X-ray crystallographic analysis, later in the same chapter, is beautifully written and a model of conciseness, covering all the major topics from the Bragg equation through to the representation of electron density by a Fourier series, with equations, all in just 16 pages. Unfortunately, I feel that this may be its Achilles heel, as the average first, or even second year student is likely to encounter problems when learning from such a compact text. Unfortunately, the description also omits any mention of powder diffraction, or neutron diffraction and has missed the opportunity of guiding students to computer databases of structures, which have been available for some time.

Generally I found the book a little old fashioned. In the quantum mechanics chapter, there is only one paragraph on tunnelling, and this fails to mention the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), a rather serious omission since the STM is the only technique by which individual atoms can be directly observed and manipulated. I also feel that the use of a pair of headphones, to obtain a balance on a Wheatstone bridge when measuring the resistance of an electrolyte, may give the student the wrong impression of current technology. There is also no material on statistical thermodynamics, reaction dynamics or lasers and only a mention of surface chemistry; but perhaps these are third or fourth year subjects.

When compared with similar texts such as P.W. Atkins, "Physical Chemistry", 6th Edn., and G.M. Barrows, "Physical Chemistry", 6th Edn, which have a similar price, it is clear that this "Introduction to Physical Chemistry" is shorter, as would be expected from its title. Interestingly, Atkins and Ladd's books are the first two I have encountered which try hard to utilise computers as learning aids. Ladd gives a world wide web (WWW) address
ftp://ftp.cup.cam.ac.uk/pub/science/outgoing/Ladd/READ.DOC from which programs can be downloaded and run, which presupposes that the student has access to an internetted PC, while Atkins provides a CD with the book, which presupposes a CD drive on the PC. The use of a WWW address has the advantage over the CD that it can be updated easily, while the CD has the advantage of immediacy and moving graphics. This is the beginning of a new trend and it will be interesting to see where it goes. In the future, will we buy a CD with WWW addresses in it and no book?

Having been somewhat critical of Mark Ladds "Introduction to Physical Chemistry", I must end on a positive note. The chapter which deals with the solid state is excellent.

It combines the solid state physics of band structures and free electron theory, with structural descriptions which are more usually the province of inorganic chemistry. This is unusual in a general physical chemistry text and is a definite high point of the book.

Robert G Jones,
Department of Chemistry, University of Nottingham

Editor's Notes:

• I have downloaded some of the WWW problems for the student. They run under DOS, which has the advantage that you do not need the latest variety of 'Microsoft Windows' on your PC to try the exercises. The programs are written in Fortran77, so should be portable to other computers. If there is sufficient demand I may be able to help do this for VAX/VMS systems or for Acorn RISC microcomputers.
  If you have the book beside you the problems look useful. However, if you get stuck and want to download the solutions you may need some variety of 'Windows' because they are written in Adobe PDF format. (PDF viewers are freely available via the Internet if you do not have one.) I understand the publisher may send out printed paper copies of the solutions on request to purchasers of the book.
• A meeting to mark the author's retirement from the University of Surrey is reported in 'Crystallography News' No 39 December 1991 page 28

This new book is aimed at the practical scientist, both beginner and experienced, who needs to extract a sample from a bulk material and prepare a representative homogeneous specimen for analysis. The 31 contributors impart some necessary repetition, but overall the book has a logical flow and is easy to read.

The coverage of a wide range of materials is split in favour of those used for X-Ray Diffraction. Although this review concentrates on the Diffraction aspects many of the comments are equally applicable to the Fluorescence content. The book starts with a general introduction covering basic statistics, obtaining a representative sample from a bulk, grinding, absorption, crystallinity and particle effects and includes 26 references.
The 88 pages of Chapters 2 & 3 cover Fluorescence and contain 147 references. Chapters 4-7 are dedicated to Diffraction and span 141 pages with 114 references.

The coverage is detailed and for beginners will provide all the information needed to embark on the preparation of powder diffraction specimens. The experienced user may find that the coverage of their particular speciality falls short of their expectations. However, for procedures and materials that are unfamiliar, the book will be invaluable. Materials covered include metals, minerals, clays, zeolites, forensics, paper, reactive, toxic, radioactive and explosive. Preparation techniques are included for small samples and thin films. The new aerosol suspension technique is described well with good supporting diagrams. A whole chapter is devoted specifically to specimens for cameras and there are sections on high-pressure studies and synchrotron radiation. Chapter 8 covers the equipment necessary for sample preparation for both techniques. It includes lists of equipment required and vendor addresses. The final chapter is devoted to X-Ray Fluorescence Standards and instrumental dricorrection.

Many laboratories that use both techniques and only buy one copy because of the high price in the UK, might have a conflict of ownership. If I have a criticism it has to be the US bias in the materials and suppliers lists. Has anyone in the UK heard of Tackiwax or Cow gum? Finding an item of interest is sometimes difficult with the list of contents often being more useful than the index. The book should be read from cover to cover and not just used for reference.This text is ideally suited for conversion to a multimedia CD-ROM with video clips of the various preparation procedures. Web links could provide updated information, references and country specific supplier information.

Many scientists spend too little time on specimen preparation, preferring to devote their time to the more interesting and rewarding data processing aspects. Their results can be unreliable because specimens are not reproducible or representative. Following the principles outlined in this book will produce good specimens and lay the foundations for analytical reliability. This book is a must for the reference shelves of all X-ray analysis laboratories.

Dave Taylor
[email protected]

Page last updated 6 July 1998

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