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Quantitative Chemical Analysis
Author:
Daniel C. Harris
Publisher:
W.H. Freeman & Company
Genre:
Science
My Rating:
:
4.5 (17 votes)
Location:
IIT
Summary:
Quantitative Chemical Analysis is a text intended for the first semester of Analytical Chemistry, which is known as Quantitative Analysis at my school. It is a course that is usually required for chemistry, chemical engineering, and biochemistry majors, as well as chemistry minors. This course follows second semeter general chemistry and broadens on the topics covered in that course. It is heavily based on calculations, however the calculations do not require any mathematics beyond basic algebra but do require extensive use of the quadratic formula for equilibrium problems.
The book is not visually very impressive because it is in black and white with orange highlights, but this is understandable considering the small market for a text like this one. Chapters 0 - 5 of the text cover introductory material like stoicmetry, error, and statistics, and probably will not be covered in class. Chapters 7 - 25 are the heart of the material for most Quant classes. These chapters can be grouped into a few categories: chemical equilibrium, titrations, electrochemistry, and instrumental techniques such as chromatography and spectrophotometry. The book treats these subjects well and devotes enough material to specific concepts to make the information clear to the reader. Many useful examples and problems are given, and the excellent solutions manuel contains detailed answers to ALL of the problems in the text book. Harris also gives several shortcuts for solving problems. In particular, his explanation of the streamline equation for titration problems was very useful and made these problems much less tedious. He also includes information about topics of interest to biochemistry, and features textboxes about the applications of analytical procedures. I'd say that this is a great text for analytical chemistry.
The main problem with a first semester analytical chemistry class is not that the problems are very difficult, it is that they are VERY tedious. This is obvious because in this book there are four chapters on chemical equilibrium and another four on titrations. Some instrumental techniques may require less calculations, but most probably will not be covered in the first semester other than chromatography and this is not the most interesting subject. The professor that taught my class even implied that titrations and such were tedious and not what real analytical chemists do for a living. My advice for a class such as this is to expose yourself to as many problems as possible. The problems in this text are helpful but you have to do them and understand how you worked them. Just do the problems, then do them over again, then it you need to, do them once more. If you follow this advice, such a course should not be too difficult. But if you do not do the problems then you will be completely lost and it will only be your own fault.
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