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Gases at high densities and temperatures
645
BOOK REVIEWS
the novice in the field can obtain his basic introduction to the subject here. At the same time the book belongs in the library of the organic chemist, both theoretical and industrial, because of the extensive fundamental data made readily available. There are over 1500 references to the original literature in the text. For the biological chemist, interested in lipid metabolism, this is a valuable source book of information. In general, the series makes a major contribution to the field of lipid chemistry. Samuel Natelson, Department of Biochemistry Roosevelt Hospital New York, New York
Microanalysis
by the Ring Oven Technique.
HERBERT
WEISZ.
Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry, Volume 1, R. Beleher and L. Gordon, general editors. Pergamon Press, New York and London, 1961. 112 pp. $5.00.
International
This handy booklet is the first volume of an international series of monographs on analytical chemistry edited by R. Belcher and L. Gordon. It contains a summary of the technique of working with the ring oven and of the applications made up to this time. The ring oven, which may be made of metal or glass, serves for evaporating solutions in a narrow circular zone. The possibility of confining the residue into a predetermined narrow area renders efficient the performance of filtration, washing, and extraction in the plane of the filter paper. It also may be used for improving the sensitivity of spot tests. Weisz discusses identification without and with preliminary separation, systematic schemes for the separation of metal ions, practical applications, approximate estimation of quantity, and combination of the ring oven technique with electrography, autoradiography, and chromatography. The limits of identificaCon of spot tests for cations and anions, which can be obtained with the ring oven technique (about 0.15 pg. on the average), are collected in two tables. A. A. Benedetti-Pichler Queens College Flushing, New York
Gases at High Densities and Temperatures. Translated by H. K. ZIENKIEWICZ. and London, 1961, 52 pp. $4.50.
Yu. N. RYABININ.
Pergamon Press, New York
This monograph concerns itself chiefly with reporting on the researches of the author. He devotes the first chapter to a description of the production of high pressures and temperatures by the method of isentropic compression. The method consists essentially of compressing a gas contained in a closed tube by
646
BOOK
REVIEWS
rapidly accelerating a piston driven by a compressed “driver” gas. The maximum pressure obtained by this method was 10,000 kg./cm.z and the temperature ranged from 1500 to 9000”K., depending on the composition of the gas. The advantage of this method is that the times involved are so short that the compression is essentially adiabatic, and little if any heating of the walls of the containers has time to occur. The author devotes the second chapter to the light emission from gases thus compressed and the third chapter to the electrical conductivity of such gases. The fourth and last chapter is devoted to comparing the experimental data for real gases under these conditions with the calculated values for an ideal gas. The book should prove quite interesting and informative to physicists and chemists concerned with high temperatures and pressures. It also should be interesting to those studying the kinetics of reaction in gases at high temperatures, since the same techniques can be used. A41though the book is produced by offset from typed copy, the total effect is quite pleasant and readable. This is an achievement by the publishers that is to be commended. Robert Ginell Brooklyn College Brooklyn, New York
Ternary Systems. G. MASING. Dover, New York, 1960. lation.)
Translated by B. A. ROGERS. 173 pp. $1.45. (Reprint of 1944 trans-
In many ways the study of the Phase Rule has become a study in esotericism. It has its devotees and enthusiasts and a vast circle of semi-informed who feel it is important and that they should know more about it, but somehow they have never been properly initiated into its mysteries. The unfortunate part of the whole matter is that the semi-informed are correct; Phase Rule is important and they should be better informed, since it offers insights into complex behaviors But somehow the professors of physical that are not attainable otherwise. chemistry find the attraction of other phases of the subject more enchanting and the only part of Phase Rule that is usually taught is the material on binary systems. Ternary and higher systems are usually dealt, with in a rather cavalier fashion. One need not seek far to find a cause for this behavior. Most of the emphasis, rightly or wrongly, of the average physical chemistry professor is on theoretical material and the Phase Rule is not a theoretical subject. While Willard Gibbs is acclaimed as the father of the subject of heterogeneous equilibrium and the whole subject is named after his famous Phase Rule, nonetheless, the matter examined in the subject named Phase Rule studies make verv little use of the formal phase rule. As a study of the subject will show, phase rule studies are essentially a study in geometric and empirical relationships. MICROCHEMICAL
.IOURNAL,
VOL.
V. ISSUE
4
BOOK REVIEWS
the novice in the field can obtain his basic introduction to the subject here. At the same time the book belongs in the library of the organic chemist, both theoretical and industrial, because of the extensive fundamental data made readily available. There are over 1500 references to the original literature in the text. For the biological chemist, interested in lipid metabolism, this is a valuable source book of information. In general, the series makes a major contribution to the field of lipid chemistry. Samuel Natelson, Department of Biochemistry Roosevelt Hospital New York, New York
Microanalysis
by the Ring Oven Technique.
HERBERT
WEISZ.
Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry, Volume 1, R. Beleher and L. Gordon, general editors. Pergamon Press, New York and London, 1961. 112 pp. $5.00.
International
This handy booklet is the first volume of an international series of monographs on analytical chemistry edited by R. Belcher and L. Gordon. It contains a summary of the technique of working with the ring oven and of the applications made up to this time. The ring oven, which may be made of metal or glass, serves for evaporating solutions in a narrow circular zone. The possibility of confining the residue into a predetermined narrow area renders efficient the performance of filtration, washing, and extraction in the plane of the filter paper. It also may be used for improving the sensitivity of spot tests. Weisz discusses identification without and with preliminary separation, systematic schemes for the separation of metal ions, practical applications, approximate estimation of quantity, and combination of the ring oven technique with electrography, autoradiography, and chromatography. The limits of identificaCon of spot tests for cations and anions, which can be obtained with the ring oven technique (about 0.15 pg. on the average), are collected in two tables. A. A. Benedetti-Pichler Queens College Flushing, New York
Gases at High Densities and Temperatures. Translated by H. K. ZIENKIEWICZ. and London, 1961, 52 pp. $4.50.
Yu. N. RYABININ.
Pergamon Press, New York
This monograph concerns itself chiefly with reporting on the researches of the author. He devotes the first chapter to a description of the production of high pressures and temperatures by the method of isentropic compression. The method consists essentially of compressing a gas contained in a closed tube by
646
BOOK
REVIEWS
rapidly accelerating a piston driven by a compressed “driver” gas. The maximum pressure obtained by this method was 10,000 kg./cm.z and the temperature ranged from 1500 to 9000”K., depending on the composition of the gas. The advantage of this method is that the times involved are so short that the compression is essentially adiabatic, and little if any heating of the walls of the containers has time to occur. The author devotes the second chapter to the light emission from gases thus compressed and the third chapter to the electrical conductivity of such gases. The fourth and last chapter is devoted to comparing the experimental data for real gases under these conditions with the calculated values for an ideal gas. The book should prove quite interesting and informative to physicists and chemists concerned with high temperatures and pressures. It also should be interesting to those studying the kinetics of reaction in gases at high temperatures, since the same techniques can be used. A41though the book is produced by offset from typed copy, the total effect is quite pleasant and readable. This is an achievement by the publishers that is to be commended. Robert Ginell Brooklyn College Brooklyn, New York
Ternary Systems. G. MASING. Dover, New York, 1960. lation.)
Translated by B. A. ROGERS. 173 pp. $1.45. (Reprint of 1944 trans-
In many ways the study of the Phase Rule has become a study in esotericism. It has its devotees and enthusiasts and a vast circle of semi-informed who feel it is important and that they should know more about it, but somehow they have never been properly initiated into its mysteries. The unfortunate part of the whole matter is that the semi-informed are correct; Phase Rule is important and they should be better informed, since it offers insights into complex behaviors But somehow the professors of physical that are not attainable otherwise. chemistry find the attraction of other phases of the subject more enchanting and the only part of Phase Rule that is usually taught is the material on binary systems. Ternary and higher systems are usually dealt, with in a rather cavalier fashion. One need not seek far to find a cause for this behavior. Most of the emphasis, rightly or wrongly, of the average physical chemistry professor is on theoretical material and the Phase Rule is not a theoretical subject. While Willard Gibbs is acclaimed as the father of the subject of heterogeneous equilibrium and the whole subject is named after his famous Phase Rule, nonetheless, the matter examined in the subject named Phase Rule studies make verv little use of the formal phase rule. As a study of the subject will show, phase rule studies are essentially a study in geometric and empirical relationships. MICROCHEMICAL
.IOURNAL,
VOL.
V. ISSUE
4