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Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997. xviii + 605 pp. ISBN 0 13 654203 4. $51.50.
This laboratory textbook presents 38 physical
chemistry experiments that are designed to reinforce the material
presented in lecture. It is a stand-alone book, containing a thorough
theoretical treatment and a detailed and logical statement of
procedures, safety precautions, and data analysis for each
experiment. Preceding the experiments are sections on
keeping a laboratory notebook, the treatment of experimental data, practical temperature, pressure, and voltage measurements, and the
application of computers in the laboratory.
The experiments are logically organized by topic. First,
the thermodynamics of gases is covered by four experiments. This
is followed by two bomb calorimetry experiments
exposing students to thermochemistry, and three experiments on the
thermodynamics of solutions. The thermodynamics of phase
equilibrium and solution properties are treated next, with
seven experiments. Thirteen experiments on transport properties
and kinetics provide the instructor a wide choice of experiments to select
from. Colloidal systems and polymers are treated next, with two experiments each. The final topic, photophysics and
molecular spectroscopy, is represented by five experiments.
An interesting feature of this book is a duplicate set of data sheets at the end of each experiment. These are designed
as fill-in-the-blank worksheets to help the student organize and structure a laboratory notebook. The author suggests that
these data sheets, similar to the ones found in many general chemistry laboratory textbooks, can be appended to the student's
own laboratory notebook.
I found the textbook highly readable. Each experiment was logically presented, with ample equations and figures to
help the student understand the background, objective, and
methodology of the experiment. Unfortunately, in this
edition there are typographical errors and omissions, which detract from the overall quality of the presentation of experiments. For example,
in experiment 5, a bomb calorimetry experiment, "gas bobbles" should obviously be replaced by "gas bubbles". More
critically, in experiment 33, Figure 2 showing the apparatus used to measure elastomer deformation is missing. Another example is
the missing tilde over the frequency symbol in equation 6 of experiment 34, to indicate wavenumber rather than
frequency. These and other typographical errors require that the instructor carefully read
through each experiment in the textbook and relay
any corrections to the students in advance. I hope that in the next edition these errors will be absent.
In any laboratory textbook, there are choices of the experiments and topics included or excluded to maintain a
reasonable size. This book excludes a few topics (such as applications of NMR and Raman spectroscopy, measurements of electric and
magnetic properties of molecules, and a discussion of electronic devices) but replaces them with experiments such as
determination of the critical micelle concentration, viscosity effects on luminescence quenching rates, and Henry's law constant
determined by headspace gas chromatography.
Except for the annoying typographical errors, this is a well-written laboratory textbook. The 38 experiments cover a
wide range of traditional and nontraditional physical chemistry topics and experiments. The theoretical background for each
experiment should help the student understand the labs
as well as provide a resource for understanding and
reviewing topics covered in lecture.
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