Surfaces, Interfaces, and Colloids: Principles and Applications, 2nd Edition
Surfaces, Interfaces, and Colloids: Principles and Applications, 2nd Edition
By Drew Myers
Publisher: Wiley-VCH
Number Of Pages: 501
Publication Date: 1999-05-10
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0471330604
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780471330608
Binding: Hardcover
From the reviews of the First Edition: "The book has admirably met its stated goal. The whole gamut of surface and colloid science has been presented in a comprehensive manner without any undue oversimplification. The author should be congratulated for his clarity." -Advanced Materials Now in its second edition, this work remains the single most useful introduction available to the complex area of surface and colloids science. Industry expert Drew Myers walks readers through concepts, theories, and applications-keeping the mathematics to a minimum and presenting real-world case studies to illustrate key technological and biological processes. He substantially reorganizes and updates the material to reflect the current state of knowledge in the field, offering new chapters on absorption and biological systems in addition to the important areas of colloid stability, emulsions and foams, monolayer films, surfactants, and wetting. This revision also boasts an improved index, more than 200 new line drawings, general and specific chapter bibliographies, and end-of-chapter problems. Geared to scientists, technologists, and students dealing with colloidal and surface systems and their numerous industrial applications, the book imparts an understanding of the fundamental aspects of surfaces, interfaces, and colloids, which is essential for effective solutions in diverse areas of chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, engineering, and material sciences.
Summary: EXCELLENT TEXT
Rating: 5
I used this book as a supplement to my main text for a graduate level course in colloids and surface physical chemistry. It was by far one of the best texts to use for this area. It makes things easier to understand without all the math in some other texts. Excellent.
Summary: A thorough general introduction
Rating: 4
Surfaces, Interfaces, and Colloids: Principles and Applications, 2nd Edition, by Drew Myers, Wiley-VCH
I have used this book for a course I teach at a technical university on surface and colloid science. The students are typically seniors or beginning graduate students in chemistry, chemical engineering, or materials science. For this group of students, I would like a book which covers the wide scope of this field at an intermediate level, giving the basic theory but with a wealth of applications to demonstrate the utility of this subject in the real world. The book by Myers does not quite satisfy those criteria, but it comes close. Few other books cover such a wide range of topics, from the basic stuff such as chapters on the origin of surface tension to detailed treatments of applications in emulsions, aerosols, friction, and adhesion. I can think of a few other books with such a breadth of treatment - Hunter's "Foundations of Colloid Science" or Adamson and Gast's "Physical Chemistry of Surfaces", but these are somewhat encyclopedic in nature and hard for first time readers to really benefit from. The detail of the treatment is somewhat light on the mathematical side, as compared perhaps to Hiemenz and Rajagopalan`s text. But the latter book has been judged too mathematically challenging by the students of my classes - a view I don't really share. What I like best about Meyer's book is the effectiveness, at least in my view, with which it gets all of the important ideas across. Though short on equations, the author uses careful explanations and helpful diagrams to cover the area in a very detailed way. Many topics explained, such as the dynamics of wetting and competitive wetting, are not even mentioned in higher level textbooks. And the explanations are complete, not abbreviated or simplified, and with may practical examples illustrating the concepts. The one complaint I hear the most from students is that the text doesn't give much help with solving the homework problems which the author has placed at the ends of each chapter. To be fair, this complaint really only applies to the more difficult of the problems, which account for roughly half of them. But the students are correct in that these problems sometimes do not provided needed data (it is often not even in the book) and often call for a level of analysis which is above the level of the relevant chapter. A few worked examples, especially in Chapters 4-10 where the basic material is presented, would have been very helpful. While this shortcoming may be a detriment towards self-study, I feel that the breadth of coverage and effectiveness of the explanations makes this a good book to have on your shelf for the next time you need to brush up on your colloid and surface science.
