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Groundwork on the Troposphere Myths of Mars 402 NATURE VOL. 323 2 OCTOBER 1986 ------------BOOKREVIEWS------------ example, the ozone and the oxides of techniques for determining rate constants Groundwork on nitrogen that are features of photochemi­ in the gas phase, in solution and on solid cal smog are important species in the surfaces, together with descriptions of the troposphere troposphere remote from man's activities methods for the generation and detection Richard P. Wayne and air pollutant emissions, and sulphur of reactive reaction intermediates. compounds and hydrocarbons are re­ Similarly valuable accounts are given of leased to the atmosphere by natural techniques for monitoring pollutants, the Atmospheric Chemistry: Fundamentals biogenic processes. The authors there­ use of environmental ("smog") chambers and Experimental Techniques. By fore review the chemistry of the natural and the analysis of particles. Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts and James N. troposphere as a special topic. By any standards this book is a major Pitts, Jr. Wiley: 1986. Pp. 1,098. £57.45, Roughly half of the book is devoted to work. It is authoritative and comprehen­ $59.95. presenting the principles of kinetics, spec­ sive. The text abounds with tables and troscopy and photochemistry that are ap­ figures of factual data to back up the TwENTY-five years ago Philip Leighton's plicable to atmospheric chemistry, and to themes presented, and the references pro­ seminal monograph The Photochemistry the kinetics and mechanisms of important vide an overview of research published up of Air Pollution was published. Leighton specific gas phase reactions in real and to mid-1985. Atmospheric Chemistry will applied basic chemical kinetic, photo­ simulated atmospheres. Other important long remain a valuable text and reference chemical and spectroscopic concepts to parts of the book deal with modelling stu­ book describing the chemistry of the problems of tropospheric air pollution. A dies, and with the physics and chemistry gases, droplets and particles present in the striking development of the 1950s had of aerosols and the mechanisms of their natural and polluted troposphere. D been the recognition that photochemical formation. I particularly appreciated the reactions initiated by sunlight could con­ descriptions throughout the book of how Richard P. Wayne is University Lecturer in Physical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry Labor­ vert relatively innocuous primary pol­ experiments are really performed. For atory, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, lutants into substances that created health example, there is a comprehensive discus­ Oxford OX] 3QZ, UK, and Dr Lee's Reader in hazards, nuisance and economic loss. One sion of flow, flash, modulation and static Chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford. of Leighton's outstanding contributions was in bringing together the available knowledge about chemical processes and own. It seems that whenever we have had absorption rates in the atmosphere in an Myths of Mars a chance, we have interpreted our data in attempt to describe the conversion of the James Trefil such a way as to produce a picture of an initial pollutants to final products, the Earth-like Mars. underlying motivation being not only the In the modern debate over the existence scientific interest of the problem but also To Utopia And Back: The Search for Life of extraterrestrial intelligence, this proc­ the possible applications to the control of in the Solar System. By Norman H. Horo­ livity has been elevated to something cal­ pollution. witz. W.H. Freeman: 1986. Pp.168. Hbk led the "Principle of Mediocrity", which Since 1961, an enormous amount ofre­ $17.95, £17.95; pbk $11.95, £11.95. states that the Earth does not occupy a search has been conducted in the labora­ special place in the cosmos. This principle tory on chemical transformations, and in "THE idea of an inhabited Mars occupies a is accepted without proof - indeed, for the field on sources and concentrations of special place in our culture." With this some writers it has taken on the mantle of pollutants. Computer models have made comment, Norman Horowitz touches off dogma. Yet, as Horowitz shows, when it is possible realistic chemical bases for pollu­ a short but fascinating discussion of the applied to the one body of which we have tion control strategies. Jim Pitts and Bar­ process by which our modern view of Mars extensive knowledge, it fails miserably. In bara Finlayson-Pitts have been major con­ was forged. As the former head of the a masterly summary of the search for life tributors to much of this research. Their bioscience section of the Mariner and on Mars by the Viking landers, he discus­ new book is a worthy successor to Leight­ Viking missions, he had a ringside seat ses each of the experiments carried out on's, adopting a similar approach that is during that exciting period in the 1970s and shows how they establish that Mars, strongly grounded in laboratory chemical when the human race, for the first time, with its highly reducing environment, is experiments. sent probes to the surface of our sister far more hostile to life than we had ever The atmospheric chemistry treated is planet. imagined. concerned mainly with the Earth's tropo­ This is not, however, a dry recitation of Of course, a few diehards refuse to give sphere, although the impact of tropo­ technical achievements, although the set­ up the ancient myth of an inhabited Mars. spheric chemical processes on strato­ ting up of a chemistry laboratory capable Horowitz dismisses their theories, rightly spheric ozone is considered briefly. The of operating and sending back useful in­ I think, as "daydreams", and variations of thrust of the book is clearly directed to­ formation over interplanetary distances is the "blue unicorn theory". wards the sources, chemistry and control surely one of the great technical feats of all All in all, this is a well-written, non­ of air pollution. The particular topics time. Instead, Horowitz takes us on a tour technical book. Anyone who, like myself, discussed include photochemical smog, of the development of our ideas about the has followed Martian exploration at a dis­ acid deposition, toxic volatile organic origin of life, from spontaneous genera­ tance, and, would like to have a clear, compounds, airborne mutagenic polycy­ tion to chemical evolution, showing at concise summary of what we now know, clic aromatic hydrocarbons, and primary each step how misconceptions about life will find it makes excellent reading. I only and secondary particles in the atmos­ tricked people into believing that all the wish that Horowitz had told us a little phere. However, the authors show that planets of the Solar System were popu­ more about his own emotions and reac­ there is a close interrelation between these lated by living beings. He deals with and tions as this crucial step in mankind's various manifestations of pollution, the sets the record straight about things such knowledge of the Solar System was photochemical and thermal reactions of a as the canals of Mars and Percival Lowell's made. D relatively small number of species making widely read views on Mars as an abode of up the overall complex chemistry and phy­ life. He then carries this discussion for­ James Trefil is a Professor in the Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, sics. In many cases, the "polluted" tropo­ ward into the 1960s, when a prestigious Virginia 22901, USA. His latest book is Medita­ sphere shows in exaggerated form the panel assembled by NASA stated that the tions at 10,000 Feet (Charles Scribner's Sons, chemistry of the natural troposphere. For Martian atmosphere was similar to our 1986). © 1986 Nature Publishing Group.
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