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Environmental Chemistry, Second Edition
Peter O’Neill. Chapman and Hall: New York, 1993. x + 268pp. Figs. and tables. 13.8 × 21.5 cm. $33.95 PB.
O’Neill has written an environmental handbook ofthe elements with chemical principles integrated into thetopics, which, he states, is appropriate for first-year Brit-ish college students. His presumed competence in vir-tually all aspects of chemistry will challenge most U.S.students at this level despite the informative asides.O’Neill uses cycle diagrams for elements and their com-pounds in nearly every chapter, which clearly summa-rize their chemical relationships with the environment.He includes a 10-page glossary—generous in such asmall book—and an appendix on chemical bond forma-tion that is a model of brevity and conciseness.
The body of the book is divided into four parts: TheOxygen Rich Planet, Major Elements Found in LivingMatter, Major Elements in the Earth’s Crust, and Mi-nor Elements and Environmental Problems. Withinthese sections O’Neill includes discussions of atmo-spheric chemistry, biochemistry, electrochemistry, elec-tromagnetic radiation, geochemistry, geology, mineralogy,nuclear chemistry, and toxicology. Environmental con-cerns addressed include expected topics like the green-house effect and ozone depletion and unexpected topicslike the effect of hard water on heart disease and alu-minum uptake by Alzheimer’s patients. His discussionof iron solution chemistry includes several Pourbaix(“Eh-pH”) diagrams rarely seen in elementary texts butexcellent for summarizing a profusion of data succinctly.On the down side, there are no problems or exercises,few source references, and no use of photos or color.
This book will probably find the greatest use in theU.S. as the text for a one-semester, special topics coursein environmental chemistry at the sophomore or jun-ior level. For such a course it is pretty much perfect.With access to its built-in reference materials, studentswill have to leave the text only for instructor-suppliedproblem sets.
Robert F. DrakeBronx Community College, Bronx, NY 10453-3102
Environmental Chemistry
Colin Baird. W. H. Freeman: New York, 1995, xix + 484pp. Figs. and tables. 18.8 × 24 cm.
Written for students with an introductory chemistrybackground, Colin Baird’s new text does a superb job incovering environmental chemistry while also building onchemical principles developed in earlier course work.This book is truly written from a chemist’s perspective.Baird defines environmental chemistry as “being con-
cerned with the chemical aspects of problems that hu-man beings have created in the natural environment”.
The text focuses on four major areas: atmosphericchemistry (three chapters on stratospheric chemistry,tropospheric chemistry, and global warming), toxic or-ganic substances (an organic chemistry overview anda 71-page chapter on toxic organic chemicals), waterchemistry and concerns (three chapters on contami-nation and purification, acid-base chemistry of the car-bonate system, and heavy metals/soil chemistry), andenergy (one chapter on energy production and its envi-ronmental consequences).
Indicative of the thoroughness of the text is the firstchapter (after the introduction) on stratospheric chem-istry. The author covers photochemistry, ozone produc-tion, noncatalytic and catalytic ozone destruction, Lewisstructure of free radicals, heterogeneous-driven Antarc-tic ozone depletion, CFCs, CFC replacements, and in-ternational agreements. It ends with a summary of prin-ciples that govern stratospheric processes. Studentsfound this effective, since it condensed the many reac-tions into the coherent framework of principles that tiedthe subject together.
Baird incorporates inset boxed sections to focus onrelated areas. The stratospheric chemistry chapter ex-amines Lewis structures of free radicals, rates of freeradical reactions, formulas and codes for carbon com-pounds (including CFCs), supersonic aircraft and ozonedepletion, and recent research on ozone destruction. Thekinetics discussion links reaction rates to enthalpychanges. Endothermic reactions necessarily have acti-vation energies at least as large as their endothermicityand thus occur slowly (since a characteristic of these re-actions is that activation energy exceeds theendothermicity by a small amount). Correspondingly,exothermic reactions have large rate constants. Thechapter summary identifies relative bond strengths forstratospheric species containing loosely bound oxygenatoms. Students thus have the tools to predict enthalpychanges and relative rate constants for many importantstratospheric reactions.
At times, Baird devotes the first half of a chapter toa discipline overview, followed by more detailed discus-sions. For example, the tropospheric chemistry chapterintroduces acid rain, photochemical smog, particulates,indoor air pollution, and outdoor air pollution. The lasthalf spirals back to examine reactivity principles, meth-ane oxidation mechanisms, photochemical smog forma-tion mechanisms, and acid rain formation (both homo-geneous gas phase and aqueous phase oxidation of sul-fur dioxide) mechanisms. Students found this approacheffective in better understanding the context in whichspecific mechanisms have importance.
Baird does not assume students have completed or-ganic chemistry; he devotes one chapter to organic fun-damentals. This is directly followed by an extensivechapter on toxic organic chemicals. This section aloneis well worth the price of the book. Topics include pesti-cides, organochlorine insecticides (DDT and analogs, tox-aphenes, chlorinated cyclopentadienes), organophosphate
Reviews
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and carbamate insecticides, natural insecticides, herbi-cides (triazines, paraquat, phenoxy), dioxin contamina-tion of herbicides and preservatives, dioxin sources,PCBs (structure, properties, uses) furan contamination,toxicology of PCBs dioxins, and furans, and finally PAHs.Baird traces the evolution of pesticide structure as wellas the specific physiological effects. This historical andbiochemical perspective provides the necessary back-ground to readily understand environmental research in-volving anthropogenic organics in the environment.
Baird addresses quantitative concepts in a chapteron the acid–base chemistry of the carbonate system. Thecarbon dioxide/water and carbonate/bicarbonate equilib-ria are examined separately and then together. The fi-nal system involves Henry’s law, weak acid equilibria,weak base equilibria, and solubility equilibria. Combinedequilibria calculations are surprisingly close (in spite ofnot using activities) to the calcium and bicarbonate con-centrations commonly observed in calcareous regions.This chapter provides an exceptional opportunity for stu-dents to integrate many of the concepts covered in thelatter half of general chemistry. The results provide in-sights into the underlying chemical basis for the mainionic constituents of natural waters.
For a first edition, the text has few errors—Bairdand the reviewers have done meticulous work. Eachchapter has quantitative exercises for students withinsections. End-of-chapter problems are nonquantitativeand can be answered by referring back to the appropri-ate paragraph. It would be nice to see more quantita-tive problems in each chapter’s problem set (includingseveral that involve spreadsheets).
The book is extremely readable—its clarity receivedthe highest student ratings I have ever seen. This pro-vided time in class to examine related issues, since thereis less need to explain what is already discussed so well.One distraction was the author’s use of the Beer-Lam-bert equation in a form different from the conventionused in analytical courses.
Overall the selection of topics is exceptional. Aftercovering the entire text in a semester, student feedbackindicated that all topics covered were relevant and im-portant. I found that all lessons involved issues I hadroutinely encountered in the environmental field. Whiletoxocology is indirectly discussed a number of times;there is, unfortunately, no separate section on toxicol-ogy to discuss principles such as dose–response curves,toxicological testing, routes of entry, epidemiology, anddetermination of health limits.
If ever a case could be made for requiring majors tocomplete environmental chemistry, Baird’s selection ofenvironmental topics represents a compelling argument.The fundamentals so eloquently discussed are ideas thatall graduates should well understand.
This is a book hitting on all cylinders. Every so of-ten, you find a text ideally organized and artistically puttogether to fit a discipline particularly well—I believethe two that best match this description are Dan Harris’sQuantitative Analysis, and Colin Baird’s Environmen-tal Chemistry. The latter is certainly a winner that I
highly recommend, particularly for those developing anew course in environmental chemistry.
Patrick M. OwensWinthrop University, Rock Hill, SC 29733
Aquatic Chemistry: Chemical Equilibria andRates in Natural Waters
Third Edition. Werner Stumm and James J. Morgan. AWiley-Interscience publication in Environmental Scienceand Technology (Series Editors, Jerald L. Schnoor andAlexander Zehnder), John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1996.xvi + 1022 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.8 × 23.6 cm. $79.95(hard cover) ISBN 0-471-51184-6. $59.95. (paperback)ISBN 0-471-51185-4.
Aquatic chemistry deals with chemical reactions andprocesses affecting the distribution and circulation ofchemical species in natural waters. This textbook/mono-graph focuses on physicochemical principles as they per-tain to the identification of pertinent variables that de-termine the composition of natural aquatic systems. Thestudent will discover that such basic processes as disso-lution and precipitation, oxidations and reductions, andacid–base and complexation interactions in natural sys-tems are very similar to those experienced in a chemi-cal laboratory.
Following the 2nd edition published over twelveyears ago, this text Aquatic Chemistry continues to em-phasize the pedagogical approach from two fronts: (i)basic chemical principles in the quantitative treatmentof the composition of natural waters, and (ii) the use ofconcepts of chemical equilibrium, rates of processes, andchemical reactions, to lay down the foundation for mod-eling natural systems. By comparison, this third editionis a greatly improved version due mostly to significantadvances made during the last decade in the understand-ing of natural systems. In its teaching approach it em-ploys general concepts and methods of problem solvingso that the student may apply them to other aquatic sys-tems. Every chapter has a bibliography of suggestedreadings and a list of relevant problems and answers.In addition, a hefty list of references (40 pages) is given atthe end of the book along with various appendices of rel-evant tabulated thermodynamic data.
Several novel features are worth noting in this thirdedition. A new chapter (Chapter 5) has been added thattreats interactions between the atmosphere and water;it also shows the interconnection between land, water,and air environments. For even though water is a mi-nor component in the atmosphere, it nevertheless playsa significant role in chemical reactions in clouds, fog, andrain. In the treatment of solid/water interfaces, the au-thors have brought several major revisions. Surfacechemistry is emphasized in the quantitative treatmentof rate laws in geochemical processes (Chapter 13),
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whereas Chapter 14 shows how essential surface chem-istry is for a proper interpretation of the behavior of col-loidal systems in particle–particle interactions. The sig-nificant progress in concepts and experimental ap-proaches made during the last few years is summarizedin Chapter 9. For example, adsorption interactions of sol-utes with solid surfaces are characterized by (i) forma-tion of surface complexes (chemisorption) and (ii) hydro-phobic adsorption of nonpolar solutes to the solid sur-face. These two notions form the backbone for an un-derstanding of the various processes in natural systems.In Chapter 6, treatment of metal ions and aqueous co-ordination chemistry have been updated to provide agreater understanding of metal ion speciation and com-plexation kinetics. Chapter 10 pays particular attentionto the cycling and the biological role of trace metals innutrition and in the toxicity of aquatic systems. Impor-tant advances in the understanding of mechanisms ofredox processes are presented in Chapter 8, while novelinterpretations of rates of electron transfer processes areconsidered in Chapter 11, and Chapter 12 presents pho-tochemical principles and analyzes several importantlight-induced and photocatalyzed processes.
Pedagogically, this text is divided into two parts. Thefirst part comprising chapters 2 through 9 represents acore of topics for an introductory course for advancedundergraduates and first-year graduates in environmen-tal science and engineering, earth sciences, and oceanog-raphy, and would definitely be a relevant and rewardingelective course for chemistry majors. The second part com-prising chapters 10 through 15 treats more advanced anddetailed topics: (a) trace metals, (b) kinetics of redox pro-cesses, (c) photochemical processes, (d) kinetics at thesolid/water interfaces, (e) particle–particle interactions,and (f) regulation of the chemical composition of natu-ral waters.
It is relevant to examine the core chapters briefly.Subsequent to an introductory chapter (Chapter 1) onterminology and various fundamental constants, chap-ter 2 on Chemical Thermodynamics and Kinetics de-scribes the principles and applications of two alterna-tive models to treat natural waters: thermodynamic mod-els and kinetic models. It is succeeded by a chapter onAcids and Bases, which depicts how interactions betweenacids and bases influence the composition of naturalwaters: it’s been said that an ocean is the result of a gi-gantic acid–base titration. The distribution of CO2,H2CO3, HCO3
} and CO32} in natural waters is consid-
ered in Chapter 4 (Dissolved Carbon Dioxide) togetherwith an examination of CO2 exchange between the at-mosphere and the waters, with an evaluation of the buff-ering mechanisms of fresh waters and seawater, andwith a definition of their capacities for acid and base neu-tralization. In Chapter 5, some important reactions atthe gas/water interface are described and the partition-ing of molecules between the gas phase and the aque-ous phase (Henry’s law) is discussed extensively. Thechapter also treats processes that affect wet and drydeposition and the composition of atmospheric waterdroplets (clouds, fog, rain, snow, dew) and illustrates howpollutants released into the atmosphere are transferredback to the soil. Chapter 6 entertains several aspects of
coordination chemistry and metal ions in aqueous solu-tions, while Chapter 7 (Precipitation and Dissolution)sets forth principles that concern reactions between sol-ids and water utilizing equilibrium relations. Chapter 8on redox equilibria and microbial mediation stresses thestability relations of pertinent redox components in natu-ral water systems. Chapter 9, the last chapter in the coreprogram, deals with solid/solution interfaces. It empha-sizes the action of water on minerals that produce veryhigh surface areas and reactive and with catalytic ma-terials in surface environments.
This book on Aquatic Chemistry is highly recom-mended for course adoption for a 1- to 2-semester coursein fields dealing with natural water environments. Stu-dents and seasoned workers interested in naturalaquatic environments and, by extrapolation, in thedetoxification of environmental pollution will find thistext/monograph an excellent companion to an earlierone, Environmental Organic Chemistry (Wiley-Interscience; 1993; ISBN 0-47-83941-8), and a good ad-dition to one’s personal library.
Nick SerponeConcordia University, Montreal, PQ H3G 1M8
Introduction to Environmental Chemistry
Nigel Bunce. Wuerz: Winnipeg, MB, Canada, 1993. xiv +559 pp. Figs., tables, photos and color plates. 17.4 × 24.7cm. $48 PB.
Bunce’s book is almost a general chemistry text withintegrated environmental applications and examples. Iuse the word “almost” because even the author admitsin the preface that bonding and other topics have beenleft out to accommodate the applied environmental top-ics. (A comprehensive supplemental chapter on atomictheory and bonding by Bunce is available from the pub-lisher to adopters.) Actually, many basic chemistry top-ics are included, but some of them are not particularlycomplete. Polar molecules are not mentioned until page248, in a chapter on water. Until then, compounds areeither ionic and soluble or covalent and not. In an earlydiscussion of acids he avoids mentioning the partial ion-ization of weak acids. In fact he avoids the use of theequilibrium arrow until page 127, in a discussion of equi-librium vapor pressure. Equilibrium is not defined, how-ever, until Chapter 8 (page 187), in a discussion of gas-phase equilibria. complete solution equilibria discussionsappear even later (Chapters 11 and 12).
There are a number of small errors which will, nodoubt, be corrected upon revision. An osmotic pressureapparatus diagram has the higher level on the wrongside. Line-art figures in some chapters are not numberedand not referenced. Terms are sometimes used beforethey are defined, and no glossary is provided as a sec-ondary reference. Hydrate and aggregate “dots” are ren-dered, idiosyncratically, as decimal points throughout.
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On the positive side, Bunce writes with a clear style,setting off definitions and rules from the text with globeicon markers. His environmental topics are well-selectedand interesting, and the problems associated with themare challenging, although the discussion of the environ-mental chemistry of iron would have benefitted from theuse of Pourbaix (“Eh-pH”) diagrams. Chapters on topicsnot usually found in a general chemistry text are stra-tegically placed through it, including Industrial Pro-cesses, Photochemical Smog and Ground Level Ozone,Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, and Metals and Mining.In addition there are unusually complete chapters on Wa-ter and Acid Rain. Illustrative exercises are set off fromthe body of the text with a gray shading, and the manychapter problems are grouped according to chapter section.
This text should appeal to those favoring an appliedapproach to teaching general chemistry at a level wellbeyond that of liberal arts “consumer chemistry” texts.It may have limited appeal to many potential adoptersbecause of its “engineering flavor”. This is unfortunatebecause an applied approach to chemistry was very wellreceived by students in Australia, at the high schoollevel. A text as this might be exactly what is needed toengage reluctant students.
Robert F. DrakeBronx Community College, Bronx, NY 10453-3102
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