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Absorption spectra in the ultraviolet and visible region
171 Journal of Molecular Strrrcture, 16 (1973) 171-l 72 6 Elsevier ScientificPublishingCompany,Amsterdam-
Printed in The Netherlands
Book reviews by WILLIAM G. DAVIES, W. B. Saunders 1972, pp. vi + 301, price L2.10.
Introduction to Chemical Thermodynamics,
Company, Philadelphia,
This is a brave attempt at a near impossible achievement summed up in the sub-title to the book “A non-calculus approach”. Guggenheim in his book “Thermodynamics” defines a thermodynamic process in terms of a difference in macroscopic properties of the system between two times of observation. Glasstone also makes the point that thermodynamics is independent of any theory concerning the existence of molecules and is based on experimental macroscopic observation of the body as a whole. In the book under review the student is always and deliberately brought to the point where the nature of the molecules involved is emphasized almost to the exclusion of the fact that in presenting thermodynamics a knowledge of molecules is just not necessary. The book is just as difficult to understand as any conventional book on thermodynamics. The introduction of some of the terms is abrupt, such as the equilibrium constant on page 6, and while some of the concepts are expressed in naive terms other treatments are surprisingly sophisticated. The book makes very interesting reading, and presents a new approach to the subject. The trouble is that this treatment can only really be appreciated if one understands the normal approach to the subject and one suspects that at some later stage in his career a student will have to adopt the conventional method anyway. D. D.
Absorption
Volume XVI, edited by Kiad6, Budapest, 1972, pp_ 423, price L7.00_
Spectra in the UItravioIet and Visible Region,
L. LANG, Akademiai
This volume of an extensive series of compilations published by Akad&miai Kiad6 has contributions from forty-one Eastern European spectroscopists with those responsible for editing centred at the Spectroscopy Department, Institute of Atomic Physics, Technical University, Budapest. No systematic attempt has been made in this volume to group the compounds and their absorption spectra into various categories. This is perhaps a failing common to all the volumes of this series. Any compilation of this type requires some definite format and a little more information so that the interested researcher is not completely bored after turning over the tist few pages or on looking through the first page of the subject index. It would be of benefit if the subject
172
index had (a) some order to the types of compounds included and (b) an indication of what class of compound they belong to, i.e. such as alkaloids or organometailics, etc. It is impossible to summarise the compounds which receive attention for this reason and because such a range of compounds are dealt with. Any compilation such as this is of value but since little structural information can be obtained from ultraviolet and visible spectra of organic compounds it has much less appeB1 than a similar infrared or NMR index or atlas. P. J. B.
Collision Broadening of Spectral Lines by Neutral Atoms, by W. R. HINDMARSH JUDITH M. FARR, in Progress in Quantum Electronics, Vol. 2, Part 3, edited
AND
by J. 3. SUNDERSAND S. STENHOLM, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1972, pp. 70, price flzl.00. The authors state quite clearly that this article deals mainly with progress in theory and experiment since 1957 and that it is by no means a comprehensive review. The section of classical theory of collision broadening is excellent and should be appreciated by people not working directly in the field. On the other hand, quantum theory of collision broadening is dispatched so quickly that one wonders why it was included. The article proceeds to deal quite nicely with the classical path approximation followed by the last theoretical section on the use of the Lennard-Jones potential. The experimental section shows quite nicely how the Lennard-Jones approach in many cases approximates to that found experimentally, at the same time showing the inadequacy of the Van der Waals approach. Workers in the field and on the periphery of the fieid must find the experimental section absorbing reading. However, one feels that workers on the periphery may find this volume slightly overpriced compared to its usefulness. T. W. W.
Printed in The Netherlands
Book reviews by WILLIAM G. DAVIES, W. B. Saunders 1972, pp. vi + 301, price L2.10.
Introduction to Chemical Thermodynamics,
Company, Philadelphia,
This is a brave attempt at a near impossible achievement summed up in the sub-title to the book “A non-calculus approach”. Guggenheim in his book “Thermodynamics” defines a thermodynamic process in terms of a difference in macroscopic properties of the system between two times of observation. Glasstone also makes the point that thermodynamics is independent of any theory concerning the existence of molecules and is based on experimental macroscopic observation of the body as a whole. In the book under review the student is always and deliberately brought to the point where the nature of the molecules involved is emphasized almost to the exclusion of the fact that in presenting thermodynamics a knowledge of molecules is just not necessary. The book is just as difficult to understand as any conventional book on thermodynamics. The introduction of some of the terms is abrupt, such as the equilibrium constant on page 6, and while some of the concepts are expressed in naive terms other treatments are surprisingly sophisticated. The book makes very interesting reading, and presents a new approach to the subject. The trouble is that this treatment can only really be appreciated if one understands the normal approach to the subject and one suspects that at some later stage in his career a student will have to adopt the conventional method anyway. D. D.
Absorption
Volume XVI, edited by Kiad6, Budapest, 1972, pp_ 423, price L7.00_
Spectra in the UItravioIet and Visible Region,
L. LANG, Akademiai
This volume of an extensive series of compilations published by Akad&miai Kiad6 has contributions from forty-one Eastern European spectroscopists with those responsible for editing centred at the Spectroscopy Department, Institute of Atomic Physics, Technical University, Budapest. No systematic attempt has been made in this volume to group the compounds and their absorption spectra into various categories. This is perhaps a failing common to all the volumes of this series. Any compilation of this type requires some definite format and a little more information so that the interested researcher is not completely bored after turning over the tist few pages or on looking through the first page of the subject index. It would be of benefit if the subject
172
index had (a) some order to the types of compounds included and (b) an indication of what class of compound they belong to, i.e. such as alkaloids or organometailics, etc. It is impossible to summarise the compounds which receive attention for this reason and because such a range of compounds are dealt with. Any compilation such as this is of value but since little structural information can be obtained from ultraviolet and visible spectra of organic compounds it has much less appeB1 than a similar infrared or NMR index or atlas. P. J. B.
Collision Broadening of Spectral Lines by Neutral Atoms, by W. R. HINDMARSH JUDITH M. FARR, in Progress in Quantum Electronics, Vol. 2, Part 3, edited
AND
by J. 3. SUNDERSAND S. STENHOLM, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1972, pp. 70, price flzl.00. The authors state quite clearly that this article deals mainly with progress in theory and experiment since 1957 and that it is by no means a comprehensive review. The section of classical theory of collision broadening is excellent and should be appreciated by people not working directly in the field. On the other hand, quantum theory of collision broadening is dispatched so quickly that one wonders why it was included. The article proceeds to deal quite nicely with the classical path approximation followed by the last theoretical section on the use of the Lennard-Jones potential. The experimental section shows quite nicely how the Lennard-Jones approach in many cases approximates to that found experimentally, at the same time showing the inadequacy of the Van der Waals approach. Workers in the field and on the periphery of the fieid must find the experimental section absorbing reading. However, one feels that workers on the periphery may find this volume slightly overpriced compared to its usefulness. T. W. W.