Atkins' Physical Chemistry [Paperback]

Peter Atkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2001

This major revision of the world's leading textbook of physical chemistry has maintained its tradition of accessibility but authority and has brought it thoroughly up to date. The new author team has introduced many innovations. There are new or rewritten chapters on the solid state, on molecular interactions, macromolecules, and electron transfer. Almost every chapter has at least one Box showing the relevance of the material to modern chemistry. All the chapters now conclude with a check list which includes definitions and key equations. The authors have paid special attention to the presentation of mathematical derivations and to the physical interpretation of equations. They have also ensured that the text is highly modular, so that it can be used in different sequences, either atoms first or thermodynamics first. The art program has been redrawn and extended, new Discussion questions have been added, and the Further Information sections have been recast to provide the necessary background in mathematics and physics. The text is fully geared to the web, with full media support. SUPPLEMENTS AND SUPPORT MATERIAL: 1. Web site featuring ; Living Graphs (about 150). Dynamic, interactive graphs that allow experimentation and hands-on learning; Web links to sources of data and other information, as referred to in the book.; 2. Student's Solutions Manual containing worked solutions to half the end of chapter exercises and problems in the parent text. ; 3. Instructor's Solutions Manual, FREE to adopters of the parent text, containing worked solutions to the other half of the end of chapter exercises and problems in the parent text. Contains a CD-ROM with all the illustrations from the text, for use in presentations. ; 4. MathCad/Mathematica supplement book with CD-ROM to take all living graphs further. ; NEW TO THIS EDITION: - New co-author Julio de Paula, a biophysical chemist, strengthens the text's coverage of biological applications. - Margin notes provide help with mathematics just where it is needed. - Boxes added to every chapter to cover biological applications, environmental, materials science and chemical engineering. Each box has two problems, and suggestions for further reading. - Important equations and definitions added to the 'key concepts' section of every chapter. - Microprojects used to be separate sections at end of every Part. These (most of them) have been integrated into the appropriate chapter's end-of-chapter exercises. - More help with the mathematical development of derivations: marginal notes are provided, many derivations now include more steps (justifications), the section on mathematical techniques in Further Information sections has been rewritten, as has the Further Information section on concepts of physics. - Fully integrated media support. The new feature of Living Graphs are flagged by an icon in the textbook, and marginal notes refer the reader to the web links to be found on the book's free web site. - The chapters are modular so that they may be read in different orders for different courses. Road Maps are provided that suggest different routes through the text for the following types of course organizations: (a) thermodynamics first, (b) atoms first (quantum mechanics first). - There is a separate section in of end-of-chapter exercises specifically for applications. - End-of-chapter problems for which solutions are provided in the Student's Solutions Manual are now indicated by colour.; MODERNIZATION - More coverage of modern topics throughout the text. ; Some examples, by section of the book:; PART 1: ; Illustrations of partial derivatives added; Added Boxes, more practical and more biological applications; PART 2:; Chapter 14 includes computational chemistry; Enhancements to quantum mechanics coverage: addition of materials science in Chapters 22 and 23; More modern spectroscopy, more computational chemistry; Chapter 21: new chapter on molecular interactions; Chapter 22 on macromolecules emphasizes polymers and biological polymers; PART 3:; Organized to make selective use easier (made more modular); Chapter 29: more modern treatment of electron transfer theory in solutions, biological systems, and solid state; For a complete list of changes to the book since the last edition, see the web site at www oup.com/pchem7

Editorial Reviews

Review

`Review from previous edition "... it is not possible ... to write a review of textbooks in physical chemistry without making a comparison with the market leader in the field, Physical Chemistry by Peter Atkins."' THES March 2001

`"I am still the proud owner of a first edition of Physical Chemistry, which I bought in 1979 just after it was first published, in the third year of my chemistry course...I believe this book achieves a good balance between coverage and detail while still retaining a reasonable size...invaluable guide to physical chemistry both for teachers and students. If you are only going to own one physical chemistry textbook then this has to be the one."' Jeremy G. Frey/Education in Chemistry May 1999

`"... an excellent undergraduate textbook."' New Scientist (Inside Science), No. 79, February 1995

About the Author

Peter Atkins is professor of chemistry at the University of Oxford and fellow of Lincoln College, where he is tutor in physical chemistry. After graduating from the University of Leicester, he was a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund, which he spent at the University of California, Los Angeles, and then took up his current position at Oxford in 1965. He was awarded the Meldola Medal by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1969 and was Nyholm Lecturer in 1999. He sits on the Physical Chemistry Division Committee of IUPAC and is a member of IUPAC's Committee on the Teaching of Chemistry. Julio de Paula is professor of chemistry at Haverford College, where he teaches general chemistry, physical chemistry, and biophysical chemistry, and conducts research in photochemistry and photobiology. After obtaining a doctorate in chemistry from Yale University, he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Michigan State University, and then took up his current position at Haverford in 1989. He was awarded a Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 1998. .

Product Details

• Paperback: 1180 pages
• Publisher: Oxford Higher Education; 7th edition (December 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198792859
• ISBN-13: 978-0198792857
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,789,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good coverage of material; lousy binding, pics, and ancillaries, January 29, 2007

By 

Nate (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Physical Chemistry (Hardcover)

As with other editions of Atkins' P-Chem (I own 4th, 5th, & 7th), the topics are covered rigorously and at a level that I think is appropriate for a solid junior undergrad course in P-chem.

For a text that keeps up quite admirably with advancements in science, the diagrams and ancillaries (e.g., living graphs) continue to be weak and well behind the pedagogical innovations that make p-chem more accessible to students.

The quality of the binding is unacceptably poor. Like others on this page, I too have a copy of the text with the cover that has come apart. Freeman ought to republish the text with improved binding. This text should serve as a reference for students to use for many years to come. It absolutely cannot serve that function with the quality of the binding in this version.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The most poorly edited textbook I have ever read., November 14, 2007

By 

Surly Student - See all my reviews

This review is from: Physical Chemistry (Hardcover)

For all the money you're paying for this book, you'd think that de Paula and Atkins could hire someone to actually READ the thing before it was published. There's at least one typo on nearly every page (and more on others). Some of these errors are innocuous, but others completely obfuscate what the authors are trying to say. To make things more of a mess, the examples and mathematical derivations often gloss over several key points that make it difficult for students to follow. And don't even get me started on the problems, which make use of magical values that are nowhere to be found in the book. The solutions are even worse - it's as if the authors mixed up the numbers of the problems in the 7th edition without bothering to update the corresponding solutions.

The representation of units is questionable at best. Who uses dm^3 instead of L as their de facto unit of volume? The authors take their cockamamie unit scheme one step further by representing all numerical values as unitless entities. For example, instead of R = 8.31 (J / mol * K), they'll divide both sides by the units and depict it as R / (J / mol * K) = 298. This baffling treatment of units is unnecessary, inconsistent, and, worst of all, distracting from the material at hand.

In a word, terrible. Since this is my first physical chemistry course I have no frame of reference for judging the content (which is decent, as far as I can tell), but the presentation is awful. If you MUST get this book for a class, look for the International edition - the only difference is that the images in the International edition aren't in color. Take the money you save and purchase a separate book that actually presents the material clearly.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good text, if you want to hate physical chemistry and not learn anything, November 11, 2010

By 

J. A. Hansen "kraute und ruben" (Lincoln, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Physical Chemistry (Hardcover)

I can understand the frustration over buying a book and having the binding/printing not very good. Even more frustrating, however, is buying a book to learn something from only to find that you've been hoodwinked in this department as well.

I used this textbook when I first took physical chemistry as an undergraduate. Physical chemistry is a subject that most students struggle with enough, without having to add on top of it explanations that make no sense and nonsensical 'justifications' which are very lousy hand-waving 'proofs' done in an attempt to 'show' the student where certain quantities/formulas are derived from. Even in it's eighth edition the authors have not taken the time to clean up the myriad mistakes that riddle this textbook and pepper the minds of students with an indelible hatred of what they think is physical chemistry.

This textbook does not teach nor even present physical chemistry, rather it presents a wonderfully displayed modern version of the emperor's new clothes. Going in the student thinks they are going to be taught physical chemistry, and trustingly they use this textbook as their fabric, the weaver being their teacher. When they emerge they are stark naked to the physical chemistry community having learned no actual physical chemistry, other than possibly the names of a few functions.

I have taught several physical chemistry courses and we have used the textbooks by Simons and McQuarrie (my favorite) and another by Engel and Reed which does only slightly better than this one.

The only reason I can find that people still use this textbook, other than they know or met Atkins, is that it provides a complete solutions manual-albeit with MANY glaring mistakes-and there are not always enough physical chemists to teach physical chemistry. But then again, Simons and McQuarrie also has a complete solutions manual-it has a few minor mistakes. The mystery remains...