Foreword

The success of the precursor to this book, originally published in 1992, has led to this revised work. As I wrote in the foreword to the former: "If your department. . . wants to learn more about the applications of materials commonly used in constructing scientific equipment, buy this book." This work still stands alone as a unified source of information on laboratory materials; fundamentals of measurement, and the laboratory equipment involved in making measurements; the components and materials involved in fabricating glass apparatus for normal and reduced pressure manipulations; the handling of laboratory gases; and work at high and low temperatures. Let me direct your attention to two sections, either one of which will well repay the cost of this volume in just a single application. The first is a one-page checklist on "How to Destroy a Vacuum System"; of course the author's expectation is that you will read this as a manual of what not to do around a vacuum system! The second is the section on "Leak Detection and Location," an eminently practical compilation that will save many laboratory workers hours of frustrating labor.

In his years of dedicated service to the science faculty of California State University, Los Angeles, Gary Coyne has saved many of us those frustrations and has led us to a better appreciation of the design, construction, and operation of laboratory equipment. Scientists everywhere can now be grateful that he continues to share the wisdom of his experience with them through the medium of this book.

HAROLD GOLDWHITE

Professor of Chemistry, California State University, Los Angeles

and Director, California State University Institute for Teaching and Learning