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Simples and Compounds

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Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC
From the journal Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC Volume 27 Issue 3

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Up for Discussion |A forum for members and member organizations to share ideas and concerns.

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Simples and Compounds

No more "emf"

As a follow-up to Vladimir Simeon's question about replacing the term "electromotive force," published in the November-December 2004 CI, p.18, Christopher Brett, vice president of the Physical and Biophysical Chemistry Division, informed CI that the issue has been a concern of the former Commission on Electrochemistry since the publication of the 2nd edition of the "Green Book"* in 1993. As Simeon rightly pointed out, the name is inconsistent with its meaning and the word "force " is misleading, since potential differences are not forces.

Beginning in 1997,an extensive revision of the Electrochemistry section of the "Green Book " was carried out by the Commission on Electrochemistry. The revisions include the removal of "electromotive force" and "emf." In referring to an electrochemical cell, only the terms "cell potential" or "potential difference of an electrochemical cell" are recommended.

The 3rd edition of the "Green Book " in which the revised section on Electrochemistry will appear, is highly anticipated. The Green Book will clarify this and other issues and be an important aid and source of recommended terminology and symbols, both for electrochemists and for the wider chemical community.

*I. Mills, et al, IUPAC Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 2nd ed., Blackwell, Oxford 1993.

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Page last modified 21 April 2005.

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Published Online: 2009-09-01
Published in Print: 2005-05

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Articles in the same Issue

  1. From the Editor
  2. Contents
  3. Looking Back and Pondering the Future
  4. Joseph Priestley: Radical Thinker
  5. CHEMRAWM XII: Exploring Solutions to Africa’s Food Crisis
  6. Emerging Issues in Developing Countries
  7. Simples and Compounds
  8. The IUPAC Poster Prize Program
  9. Making an imPACt
  10. Subcommittee Members Teach Short Course on Medicinal Chemistry
  11. Remembering Prominent IUPAC Members
  12. Public Understanding of Science: Identifying IUPAC’s Niche
  13. Uncertainty Estimation and Figures of Merit for Multivariate Calibration
  14. A Joint OPCW–IUPAC Project on Education and Outreach Regarding Chemical Weapons
  15. Categorizing Hydrogen Bonding and Other Intermolecular Interactions
  16. Comparable pH Measurements by Metrological Traceability
  17. Equilibria in Solution: A Software Aid
  18. Provisional Recommendations
  19. Practical Guide to Measurement and Interpretation of Magnetic Properties (IUPAC Technical Report)
  20. An Ontology on Property for Physical, Chemical, and Biological Systems
  21. Spectroscopy of Partially Ordered Macromolecular Systems
  22. Coordination Chemistry
  23. Polymer Networks 2004
  24. Trace Elements in Food
  25. Chemical Education and Sustainable Development
  26. Chemistry for Agriculture
  27. Chemical Thermodynamics
  28. Analytical Spectroscopy
  29. Radiochemistry
  30. Ionic Polymerization
  31. Polymer Science
  32. Mark Your Calendar
https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2005.27.3.12

Articles in the same Issue

  1. From the Editor
  2. Contents
  3. Looking Back and Pondering the Future
  4. Joseph Priestley: Radical Thinker
  5. CHEMRAWM XII: Exploring Solutions to Africa’s Food Crisis
  6. Emerging Issues in Developing Countries
  7. Simples and Compounds
  8. The IUPAC Poster Prize Program
  9. Making an imPACt
  10. Subcommittee Members Teach Short Course on Medicinal Chemistry
  11. Remembering Prominent IUPAC Members
  12. Public Understanding of Science: Identifying IUPAC’s Niche
  13. Uncertainty Estimation and Figures of Merit for Multivariate Calibration
  14. A Joint OPCW–IUPAC Project on Education and Outreach Regarding Chemical Weapons
  15. Categorizing Hydrogen Bonding and Other Intermolecular Interactions
  16. Comparable pH Measurements by Metrological Traceability
  17. Equilibria in Solution: A Software Aid
  18. Provisional Recommendations
  19. Practical Guide to Measurement and Interpretation of Magnetic Properties (IUPAC Technical Report)
  20. An Ontology on Property for Physical, Chemical, and Biological Systems
  21. Spectroscopy of Partially Ordered Macromolecular Systems
  22. Coordination Chemistry
  23. Polymer Networks 2004
  24. Trace Elements in Food
  25. Chemical Education and Sustainable Development
  26. Chemistry for Agriculture
  27. Chemical Thermodynamics
  28. Analytical Spectroscopy
  29. Radiochemistry
  30. Ionic Polymerization
  31. Polymer Science
  32. Mark Your Calendar
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