The History and Use of Our Earth's Chemical Elements: A Reference Guide [Hardcover]

Robert E. Krebs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0313301239 | ISBN-13: 978-0313301230

All aspects of the chemical elements are presented in this easy-to-use reference for high school and college students. This one-volume work covers the development of chemistry as a science and the growth of the Periodic Table from pre-history to present day. Included are descriptions of the most recently discovered elements, which provide information on each element usually found only by consulting different sources. This information includes symbol, atomic number, common valence, atomic weight, natural state, common isotopes, characteristics, abundance, history, common uses, examples of common compounds, and hazards. Schematic diagrams of each of the elements through number 103 accompany their descriptions. Krebs introduces the user to the background of how we came to know and understand the chemical nature of Earth and everything in the universe. He also examines the present concerns about the effects of chemicals on the Earth's environment. The elements are arranged according to their placement on the Periodic Table, which enables the user to examine the similarities and differences of elements found in different groups, periods, and series of the Periodic Table. A comprehensive glossary as well as appendixes and an index provide easy access for student users.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This work is a hybrid, combining a textbook treatment of the history of chemistry, atomic structure, and periodic-table theory with a reference handbook on the individual elements. Elements are arranged in their groups, with physical properties, history of discovery, sources, uses, and common compounds described for each element, along with basic hazard information. Krebs includes the most recently discovered elements and attempts currency by discussing the controversy over their names (unresolved at the time of publication), as well as essays on the hole in the ozone layer and on radiation. He also appends a glossary and a table of the electron configurations of all known elements. The author is a former administrator in higher education and an author of educational software, which may explain the disproportionate number of software titles in the selected bibliography. Appropriate for high school and community college libraries.?Wade Lee, Univ. of Toledo Lib., Ohio
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Krebs offers an excellent book likely to prove very useful to both instructor and student....this is a marvelous reference.”–Choice

“This work is a hybrid, combining a textbook treatment of the history of chemistry, atomic structure, and periodic-table theory with a reference handbook on the individual elements. Appropriate for high school and community college libraries.”–Library Journal

“Fans of Mr. Wizard, and librarians helping with assignments on the elements, will like this book. Krebs has written a lot of intructional material and it shows. His popular style...makes his book accessible for its intended audience of students and general readers....This new volume will be a good purchase for school and public libraries for homework assignments and ready-reference....”–Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

“Krebs has authored an interesting accurate work on the chemical elements....I highly recommend The History and Use of Our Earth's Chemical Elements for school and public libraries.”–Reference & User Services Quarterly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (January 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313301239
• ISBN-13: 978-0313301230
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,098,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The History and Use of Our Earth's Chemical Elements: A Reference Guide (Hardcover)

I wanted so much to like this book-- there is such need for a good tome of this sort. Unfortunately this book doesn't satisfy that need. I had hoped it would give much in-depth knowledge of each element. It does not: it is remedial, and, sadly, that in the truest sense. Now, even a remedial book of this sort would be nothing to sneer at, and I would have rated it much, much higher were it not for the fact that, not only does it offer but a smidgeon of information about each element, but that information is badly written (often quite prolix), and worse, replete with the most glaring inaccuracies and downright errors! I found myself scribbling corrections and refutations in the margins, I was so annoyed! One could quote literally dozens -- almost every little element-entry contained one or more flat inaccuracies. The definitions of technical terms alone are so poor I can only surmise the author has but a poor understanding of his subject. And indeed the information he presents seems to be an uneven patchwork of data gleaned from all over, some from old books now quite out of date. (He, for example, writes that Thorium is "like hafnium above it in Group IVA of the periodic chart"-- and that's no longer the case as of the 1940s. He says that Iodine "has no naturally occuring isotopes" -- and his definition of an isotope is an element "with more than the normal neutrons" in its nucleus). He writes that Helium was one of the elements "predicted by the periodic chart" -- totally wrong: far from being predicted by the chart, the discovery of the Noble Gases in toto, from 1895 to 1899, came as a complete surprise to all. In fact, no one had the slightest clue that an entire group of the chart remained to be discovered. I could go on-- and on-- AND ON --- with this litany of error, but why? Better to look for an old copy of Hammond's "Encyclopedia of the Chemical Elements", or Greenwood & Earnshaw's magisterial "Chemistry of the Elements", than wasting your money on this.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fulfilled all my needs, December 1, 2002

By 

Prithi Pal Singh (Fairfax, Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The History and Use of Our Earth's Chemical Elements: A Reference Guide (Hardcover)

I used it for my project, great book. I reccommednt it for 8th graders or middle schoolers.