Principles of Chemical Kinetics, by James E.House.pdf

Principles of Chemical Kinetics

Chemical kinetics is an enormous Weld that has been the subject of many
books, including a series that consists of numerous large volumes. To try to
cover even a small part of the Weld in a single volume of portable size is a
diYcult task. As is the case with every writer, I have been forced to make
decisions on what to include, and like other books, this volume reXects the
interests and teaching experience of the author.
As with the Wrst edition, the objective has been to provide an introduction
to most of the major areas of chemical kinetics. The extent to which
this has been done successfully will depend on the viewpoint of the reader.
Those who study only gas phase reactions will argue that not enough
material has been presented on that topic. A biochemist who specializes
in enzyme-catalyzed reactions may Wnd that research in that area requires
additional material on the topic. A chemist who specializes in assessing the
inXuence of substituent groups or solvent on rates and mechanisms of
organic reactions may need other tools in addition to those presented.
In fact, it is fair to say that this book is not written for a specialist in any
area of chemical kinetics. Rather, it is intended to provide readers an
introduction to the major areas of kinetics and to provide a basis for further
study. In keeping with the intended audience and purposes, derivations are
shown in considerable detail to make the results readily available to students
with limited background in mathematics.
In addition to the signiWcant editing of the entire manuscript, new
sections have been included in several chapters. Also, Chapter 9 ‘‘Additional
Applications of Kinetics,’’ has been added to deal with some topics that do
not Wt conveniently in other chapters. Consequently, this edition contains
substantially more material, including problems and references, than the Wrst
edition. Unlike the Wrst edition, a solution manual is also available.
As in the case of the Wrst edition, the present volume allows for variations
in the order of taking up the material. After the Wrst three chapters, the
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remaining chapters can be studied in any order. In numerous places in the
text, attention is drawn to the fact that similar kinetic equations result for
diVerent types of processes. As a result, it is hoped that the reader will see
that the assumptions made regarding interaction of an enzyme with a
substrate are not that diVerent from those regarding the adsorption of a
gas on the surface of a solid when rate laws are derived. The topics dealing
with solid state processes and nonisothermal kinetics are covered in more
detail than in some other texts in keeping with the growing importance of
these topics in many areas of chemistry. These areas are especially important
in industrial laboratories working on processes involving the drying,
crystallizing, or characterizing of solid products.
It is hoped that the present volume will provide a succinct and clear
introduction to chemical kinetics that meets the needs of students at a
variety of levels in several disciplines. It is also hoped that the principles
set forth will prove useful to researchers in many areas of chemistry and
provide insight into how to interpret and correlate their kinetic data