Resumen de Book Review of Introduction to Materials Chemistry
Allcock says the text focuses on a large spectrum of topics rather than in-depth coverage of a few topics, and on chemical concepts rather than equations. This approach makes the text a flexible book because students do not necessarily need to have two-three years of chemistry to take a course that uses it. Parts of the applications chapters as well as the descriptions of polymers, ceramics, and glasses could be brought into general chemistry courses. The text has a broader appeal than just to chemistry students. Any student with a year of introductory chemistry or physics who wishes to learn about materials science could learn something from a course in which Introduction to Materials Chemistry was used.
My own experience with materials science has involved mainly structure and bonding, physical properties, and spectroscopy.
For me, sample preparation involved picking up the telephone to order whatever adsorbates or substrates I needed, so most of Chapter 2, Basic Synthesis and Reaction Chemistry, was new. This chapter in particular has added an additional dimension to the way I think about teaching materials science, and it has given me some new ideas to bring in to my general chemistry classes (for example, Figure 3.4, which shows how oil leads to polymers).
Each chapter ends with approximately a dozen study questions.
Rather than the typical problems one might find in a chemistry text, these are conceptual questions. Some questions probe key vocabulary words: for example, Chapter 3 has questions that ask students to define “magic angle spinning”, “elastic modulus”, and “compliance”. Other questions are more open ended and may require some additional research. These study questions would all be great for starting classroom discussions.
Starting with Chapter 6, Polymers, each chapter has a section called Future Challenges In... or Unsolved Problems In.... These are the most interesting sections to read because they are quick snapshots of current research trends in each area.
Incorporating sections like these in textbooks seems to be a new trend (if one can say a sample size of two constitutes a trend), but I like it. I think this is a great way to start exposing undergraduate students who may have to do a senior thesis project to research.
I enjoyed the last three chapters the most (Surface Science of Materials; Biomedical Materials; andMaterials in Nanoscience and Technology) because they were the most readable. The author's broad brushstroke approach at the expense of depth makes the first 14 chapters a rather dry read. The early chapters are more encyclopedia-like. For example, Chapter 6, Section F is eight pages long; in these eight pages, key features and properties of approximately 24 polymers are described. These eight pages were very informative, but they did not capture my interest in the way the last three chapters or the sections on future challenges did.
I think Introduction to Materials Chemistry is a great text for looking up a specific topic and getting a quick snapshot of that topic. Its encyclopedic style reminds me of Herzberg's three volumes on molecular spectroscopy (1). In graduate school, I read all three volumes because they were on the reading list for a class. My professor told me no one ever reads Herzberg; they use it as a reference book. While I understood far more of Introduction to Materials Chemistry than I did when I read Herzberg for the first time, it was not an engaging read.
For example, I would not recommend this text for a conventional course in which students are expected to read Chapter 1 and come to class prepared to discuss it. However, I think this book would work well in the hands of an instructor who could bring it to life by picking out some of the endof- chapter questions and asking students to come to class prepared to discuss them. I also think it would be interesting to base a course only on Part III: Materials in Advanced Technology and discuss these chapters in some depth while using the first two parts as the reference or background material.
This is a book I would be happy to have on my bookshelf.
I would use it for supplemental material or place it on reserve for students. I am not certain that I would adopt it as a stand-alone text for a course in materials chemistry. I am reasonably confident that I will not pack this book to take with me on vacation, but as with Herzberg's text, I am glad I read Allcock's Introduction to Materials Chemistry once, and I know where to find it when I need it.
