Title:  Chemistry Connections (TheChemical Basis of Everyday Phenomena)

Authors: Kerry K. Karukstis

               Gerald R. Van Hecke

Publisher:  Harcourt Academic Press

                  2000 (1st paperback edn.)

Level of Difficulty: General public

Reviewed by: Kevin Longo Undergraduate

Review:

Let's set the scene:  You are seated in front of five professors in a darkened room, and you've just answered the toughest questions about your research.  You are quite pleased with yourself and you stand up to shake hands.  But then the professor who has surprised you by her leniency says

"Just a minute.  I've got one more  question."  You sit back down, swallow, and prepare for the hardest physical chemistry question you have ever heard.

"Tell me," she says, "Why are light bulbs sometimes referred to as 'Halo-

gen Lamps'?  What is the halogen doing inside a light bulb?"

At first, you are relieved at the "everyday-ness" of the question.  But then you realize that your research was far removed from light bulbs.  In fact, you have never really found the answer to that question.

As if to reassure you, she says, "I just want to make sure that our graduates can deal with the public in a way which reflects an understanding of everyday chemical principles."

Then you wake up, relieved that your ordeal is just a dream, but unable to

get back to sleep until you answer her question.  Luckily, Homer Babbidge

library has a copy of Chemistry Connections, a small-enough-to-be-readable compendium of chemical explanations of this and other commonly-encountered phenomena.

The book is divided into eleven chapters, with such titles as "Connections to Medicine" and "Connections to the Theater and the Arts."  Each entry is posed as a question, which is answered in two sections: The Chemical Essence and The Chemical Specifics. It is not always easy to distinguish the material in the Essence section from the material in the Specifics. You may find chemical equations in both sections, or in neither.

If you are curious about the details of the chemistry which occurs in the modern world, or if you want to be able to answer questions that your friends expect you to know as a chemistry major, then this is your book! It is particularly strong in its explanation of surface tension, an often-mentioned but less-often-explained property of liquids.

This book is also good for the undecided high school senior who is considering choosing chemistry as a major in college.  Each subject it covers is essentially an argument in favor of the relevance of chemistry as a discipline, and as a ready source of answered, and sometimes unanswered, questions.