Kinetics of electrode processes

465 data here, waiting to “spin-off”. The book progresses, from the aspects indicated above, to matters practical, and it is here that the reviewer, practical man though he imagines himself to be, lost interest somewhat. There is a healthy helping of regurgitated work of the later ‘6Os, mainly from U.S. sources. There is an irritating little section on electric vehicles which, one feels owes more to the PR man and the artistic draughtsman than to honest scientific or technological endeavour. The conference was obviously a genuinely international one, but scan this book as one will, read between the lines as best one can-there is no indication that the prophets of gloom (the reviewer is among them) are about to be confounded, however badly we stand in need of such devices. For those who did not know it, the G.M. “Electrovan” is priced out here at S320.000 for the fuel cells alone. The interesting section of fuel cells for medical power sources (implanted in the body) likewise shows that such a concept is not yet out of its infancy. The book is well produced (it is not typeset, but directly reproduced from the typewriter) and the main errors seem to be the mispelling of Gouy’s name right through one section. Four years from now, the subject will have moved on scientifically, and the trends of automotive styling will render obsolete the artists conceptions of vehicles that never were anyway. But at its price, the book is an excellent buy. There should be few electrochemists who could not find in it, ideas or techniques to translate to their own fields. A. T. K.

Kirzetics ofEZe.ctrode Proce.sse.s, by T. ERDEY-GRUZ,Adam Hilger, London, 1972, pp. 482, price L9.00.

There are now some ten or so books which set out to describe this subject to Honours Level, or perhaps slightly beyond, in English. The author of this latest one has his own place in the history of the subject, and his classical work with Volmer and others in the 1930’s is part of the accepted landscape in the evolution of the science as we know it today. Though we have seen little published work thereafter, the author has obviously maintained his interest in the field. The present volume, resembles quite closely in its coverage, the classical book by Professor Vetter. Thus the subject is treated in its fundamental principles, and more detailed aspects are subsequently examined. With the exception of electro-organic chemistry which the author specifically precludes, the field is well covered and copious use of interesting and important references adds to this. However, quite inexplicably and most irritatingly, all Russian references are written in Cyrillic. The net result to the average English reader is one of frustration and the virtual uselessness of such references. The reviewer, whatever his own views, recognises that most academic electrochemists will strongly deprecate the manner in which the author has introduced (or should one say appended) a consideration of the double layer. There is

466 no doubt that the latter has been far more studied in such circles than is justifiable. In the same manner-as the work described here well shows-it is astonishing how far one may proceed in a study of reaction kinetics and mechanisms without taking double Iayer effects into consideration, and the truth of this can only compound the feelings of the many students of double-layer phenomena. By and large the author has “racked-on” the whole question, very much as an afterthought. The author has drawn his references from all sources, and German, Russian and English language works are cited in equal amounts. But has he been sufficiently critical? Examination of section 4.1.1, for example, is not reassuring. Here (The Effect of the Metai on Electrode Kinetics) it is easy to see how the reader wouId fail to get the facts of the matter right. The irrelevance of the electronic work function in the first-order approximation in the reaction rate is not shown, and the seductive, but erroneous concept of comparing reaction rates on the “rational” scale of potential is not mentioned, though several references are quoted in which this fallacy was perpetrated. Other statements in which the physical properties of metals are discussed also insinuate that a dependance exists in the causal sense. What is undeniable is the reasonable price of the book. Though the paper

and binding are not first class, 1 know of no other book of comparable size at this price. For the private buyer, whose interests relate to reaction kinetics and mechanisms, and who wants a book with a value as a reference work as well as for instruction, this volume should rank among the foremost for consideration.

A. T. K. Magnetic Resonmzce, by K. A. MCLAUCHLAN,Oxford Chemistry Series, edited by

P. W. ATKINS,J. S. E. HOLKERAND 1972, pp. xii+ 105, price i1.20.

A. K. HOLLIDAY,Clarendon Press, Oxford,

This book introduces the principles of both nuclear magnetic resonance and electron spin resonance from a common basis and the phenomena of resonance and relaxations are explained for both techniques simultaneously. Their applications to studies of rate processes and structural determination are lucidly dealt with including a section on molecules partially oriented in liquid crystals. In view of the fact that dipolar interactions are dealt with in detail it seems surprising that the Overhauser effect is not mentioned at a11especially as this technique provides valuable structural information where nuclei are concerned. A further shortcoming of this book, like most others on magnetic resonance, is the fact that the origin of the magnetic moment of a particle is attributed to the dua1 properties of electrostatic charge and spin angular momentum. While this is readily visualized for both protons and electrons, the origin of the magnetic moment of the neutron is obscured since this particle has no charge. No explanation is offered and the inquiring reader is left at a loss. The problem may be readily