Molecular Theory of Solutions [Hardcover]

Arieh Ben-Naim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0199299692 | ISBN-13: 978-0199299690

This book presents new and updated developments in the molecular theory of mixtures and solutions. It is based on the theory of Kirkwood and Buff which was published more than fifty years ago. This theory has been dormant for almost two decades. It has recently become a very powerful and general tool to analyze, study and understand any type of mixtures from the molecular, or the microscopic point of view. The traditional approach to mixture has been, for many years, based on the study of excess thermodynamic quantities. This provides a kind of global information on the system. The new approach provides information on the local properties of the same system. Thus, the new approach supplements and enriches our information on mixtures and solutions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book will serve for decades as a major reference in the field."--Robert M. Mazo, University of Oregon

"..It will be useful not only as a research monograph but also as a text in advanced courses on the topic."--Physics Today

About the Author

ARIEH BEN-NAIM
Professor of Physical Chemistry
The Hebrew University
Givat Ram, Jerusalem, Israel
Temporary address for correspondence:

Departamento de Quimica
Universidad de Burgos, 09001
Burgos,Spain

[e-mail]
Born in Jerusalem, Israel. I did my Masters and PhD at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I did my post doctorate at the University of Stony Brook and at Bell Laboratories. I had been teaching at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 1967. During my numerous travels, I taught and collaborated in various universities and research institutes around the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199299692
• ISBN-13: 978-0199299690
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,303,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

CURRICULUM VITAE

Professor Arieh Ben-Naim

Born: July 11, 1934 in Jerusalem, Israel.
1957 Studied Chemistry at the Hebrew University,Jerusalem.
1964 Ph.D. subject of thesis: "Thermodynamics of Aqueous
Solutions of Noble Gases."
1965 - 1967 Postdoctoral fellow at the State of the University of
New York at Stony Brook, New York.
1967 - 1968 Research fellow at the Chemical Physics Dept.,
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey.
April 1972 Associate Professor, the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
1973 - 1975 Visiting Scientist at the Theoretical Molecular
Biology Section, LMB, NIAMDD, NIH, Bethesda,
Maryland, USA
Oct. 1974 Professor of Physical Chemistry, the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem.
I have visited many Universities and Research institutes.
For a complete CV see www.ariehbennaim.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New book on solutions, December 17, 2007

By 

Jay Rasaiah (Orono, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Molecular Theory of Solutions (Paperback)

This is an important book that provides a clear account of the molecular theory of solutions and mixtures based mainly on the Kirkwood-Buff theory that was developed many years ago. The theory could not have been fully exploited until Ben-Naim developed methods to calculate the Kirkwood-Buff (KB) integrals from experimental data rather than from the pair correlation functions.

The KB integrals, as well as some derived quantities, provide information about the local properties of the system, as opposed to their global properties described by the excess thermodynamic functions that were and are commonly used. Ben-Naim also introduced a new measure of the thermodynamics of solvation that does not depend on hypothetical standard states that were traditionally part of solution chemistry. The book is written very clearly and the arguments are carefully presented and illustrated with examples. It is strongly recommended for both the beginning graduate student and experienced scientist with interests in solutions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't hesitate, buy it!, March 26, 2008

By 

Nico van der Vegt - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Molecular Theory of Solutions (Paperback)

This is an excellent book that highly succeeds in explaining a difficult subject! Thermodynamics of solution mixtures has a long history and much has been written on this topic. I am amongst those of you that have been confused from time to time by the various definitions of excess functions, activity coefficients and reference states. In "Molecular Theory of Solutions", Ben-Naim introduces the reader to the elementary statistical mechanics of liquids and solution mixtures. A central theme of the book is the Kirkwood-Buff (KB) theory of solution, which, as originally shown by Ben-Naim, can be used to extract (local) molecular properties from (global) thermodynamic properties. Ben-Naim next uses KB theory to derive a thermodynamic formalism for ideal- and nonideal solutions. I was intrigued when first reading this newly derived formalism. Being educated to calculate "deviations from Raoult" (just numbers, nothing more), suddenly nonideality acquired a very clear microscopic significance. Beautiful! I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in the subject, in particular to those of you that teach it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is necessary for biochemistry, October 24, 2007

By 

Victor Danilov (Institute of Molecular Biology&Genetics, Kiev) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Molecular Theory of Solutions (Paperback)

This book is very important and necessary for the chemistry and biochemistry. The special interest presents a new definition of solvation. In the traditional definition one needs to specify the standard state for the solute in the ideal gas and liquid phase. It is the reason of some confusion concerning the "standard state" that exists in the literature. The confusion arises from the fact that the solvation Gibbs energy Äìs* is determined experimentally in a similar way as one of the conventional standard Gibbs energy of solvation. The latter does involve a choice of standard state. Moreover in all the conventional processes the standard quantities apply only to very dilute solutions of solute in the system, i.e. it could be studied only in the concentration range when Henry's law is obeyed. This is a very severe restriction on the applicability of the standard quantities. In Ben-Naim's definition of a new process of solvation there is no need to specify any standard state for the solvation. This is quite clear from the definition of the solvation process. In addition the process of Ben-Naim's solvation and the corresponding thermodynamic quantities can be defined for the concentrated solutions and pure liquids.