The elements /

This handy reference provides quick access to data on the chemical elements. A double-page spread for each element is packed with information. Data are divided into five sections: chemical, physical, nuclear, electron shell, and environmental properties. As in its 1988 edition, this handbook allows easy access to information on an element's standard potentials, oxidation states, melting and boiling points, molar heat capacities, crystal structure, key isotopes, NMR properties, ionization energies, atomic spectrum lines, natural abundance, and more. Discoverer, date of discovery, and origin of name are also provided. New in this edition are data on the element's toxic and lethal intakes as well as levels found in human muscle, bone, and blood. Also included is available information on two new elements, unnilquadium and unnilpentium. An introductory key outlines organization of element data and references original data sources. End tables list elements in rank order by properties such as density, enthalpy, and abundance. Elements is not so extensive as the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (71st ed., CH, Sep'91), but this compact work would be useful to anyone needing element data. Libraries at any level.-N. C. Shlaes, Governors State University