| The aim in this edition, as in the first, is to present an introduction to the essentials of physical chemistry without too much mathematics. I have had students of life sciences particularly in mind while preparing this revision, but the text should be useful to anyone wanting an introduction to the subject.
Where relatively lengthy or calculus-based derivations are appropriate, I have introduced them in Justifications. Where I judge it important to provide some background material--such as on classical physics or electromagnetic radiation--I have written a Further Information section. Because this background material may be relevant to more than one section of the text, I have collected it at the end of the book.
The second edition has been improved in a number of ways: I have added "Strategy" sections to the Worked Examples to help readers collect their thoughts before embarking on a solution. The number and variety of end-of-chapter Exercises have also been increased. A number of these exercises have been given a more interesting context and in many cases a more biological slant.
I strongly believe that good illustrations help enormously, and I have put a great deal of effort into improving this aspect of the text by redrawing almost the entire art program and expanding it to mre than 300 illustrations. There is much new material, some trimming of old, some lengthening of others, and a lot of detailed rearrangement and elucidation.
As always, there is a difficult line to tread between providing an account of the broad principles of the subject, which are largely timeless in so mature a field, and showing that the subject is still lively by importing new and currently fashionable topics. To broaden the appeal of the text, I have strengthened the spectroscopy sections, with more detailed accounts of rotational and Raman spectroscopy, and have taken magnetic resonance as far as a brief introduction to magnetic-resonance imaging. Other additions in the spectroscopy sections include circular dichroism and the spectroscopic analysis of mixtures. These changes will make the text more useful to students who need to know how techniques are applied.
P.W.A. Oxford June 1996 |