THE NATURAL SELECTION OF THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS The Environment and Life's Chemistry

Williams, R. J. P. & J. J. R. Fraústo Da Silva

ISBN 10: 0198558430 / ISBN 13: 9780198558439

Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996

About this Item

Very Good- in boards. Damp staining to bottom corner throughout. ; 10 X 8.10 X 1.80 inches; 672 pages.

Seller Inventory # 75589

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE NATURAL SELECTION OF THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS The Environment and Life's Chemistry
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198558430
• ISBN 13: 9780198558439
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Geography, Environmental Studies and Global Aff...
  • Discounted
  • misc sale
  • Other

About this title

Synopsis

The central thesis of The Natural Selection of the Chemical Elements is that the inanimate environment and living organisms are intimately connected, and that the evolution of both has been interactive and interdependent: the environment and life developed together. The authors show that this can be explained in terms of the properties of the chemical elements and their compounds, especially as compounds have developed with time. The first part of the book discusses the physical and chemical balance between ordered and disordered systems and then analyses organisation in both the animate and inanimate worlds. Appropriate thermodynamic and kinetic principles are given to support this analysis. The application of these principles to the development of both inorganic (geographical) and organic chemical systems is then described, providing a basis for understanding the evolution of life in terms of the interaction of both types of chemistry within ever more complex organisations. This book is intended for all scientists active in chemistry, biology, and the earth and environmental sciences, particularly natural scientists interested in the problems of life and the environment

Review

From the cloth edition: Chemistry is a wonderful subject.The Natural Selection of the Chemical Elements is a wonderful book ... The result is a tour de force, a major textbook of general chemistry ... remininscent of Pauling's The Nature of the Chemical Bond.Nature