The last quarter-century has been marked by the extremely rapid growth of the solid-state sciences. They include what is now the largest subfield of physics, and the materials engineering sciences have likewise flourished. And, playing an active role throughout this vast area of science and engineer ing have been very large numbers of chemists. Yet, even though the role of chemistry in the solid-state sciences has been a vital one and the solid-state sciences have, in turn, made enormous contributions to chemical thought, solid-state chemistry has not been recognized by the general body of chemists as a major subfield of chemistry. Solid-state chemistry is not even well defined as to content. Some, for example, would have it include only the quantum chemistry of solids and would reject thermodynamics and phase equilibria; this is nonsense. Solid-state chemistry has many facets, and one of the purposes of this Treatise is to help define the field. Perhaps the most general characteristic of solid-state chemistry, and one which helps differentiate it from solid-state physics, is its focus on the chemical composition and atomic configuration of real solids and on the relationship of composition and structure to the chemical and physical properties of the solid. Real solids are usually extremely complex and exhibit almost infinite variety in their compositional and structural features.

This NATO Advanced Study Institute, held in Geilo between March 29th and April 9th 1981, was the sixth in a series devoted to the subject of phase transitions and instabilities. The present institute was intended to provide a forum for discussion of the importance of nonlinear phenomena associated with instabilities in systems as seemingly disparate as ferroelectrics and rotating buckets of oil. Ten years ago, at the first Geilo school, the report of a central peak in the fluctuation spectrum of SrTi0 close to its 3 106 K structural phase transition demonstrated that the simple soft-mode theory of such transitions was incomplete. The missing ingredient was the essential nonlinearity of the system. Parti cipants at this year's Geilo school heard assessments of a decade of experimental and theoretical effort which has been expended to elucidate the nature of this nonlinearity. The importance of order ed clusters and the walls which bound them was stressed in this con text. A specific type of wall, the soliton, was discussed by a number of speakers. New experimental results which purport to demonstrate the existence of solitons in a one-dimensional ferromagnet were presented. A detailed discussion was given of the role of solitons in transport phenomena in driven multistable systems, typified by a sine-Gordon chain.

The whole of Volume 22 is devoted to the kinetics and mechanisms of the decomposition and interaction of inorganic solids, extended to include metal carboxylates. After an introductory chapter on the characteristic features of reactions in the solid phase, experimental methods of investigation of solid reactions and the measurement of reaction rates are reviewed in Chapter 2 and the theory of solid state kinetics in Chapter 3. The reactions of single substances, loosely grouped on the basis of a common anion since it is this constituent which most frequently undergoes breakdown, are discussed in Chapter 4, the sequence being effectively that of increasing anion complexity. Chapter 5 covers reactions between solids, and includes catalytic processes where one solid component remains unchanged, double compound formation and rate processes involving the interactions of more than three crystalline phases. The final chapter summarises the general conclusions drawn in the text of Chapter 2-5.

The last quarter-century has been marked by the extremely rapid growth of the solid-state sciences. They include what is now the largest subfield of physics, and the materials engineering sciences have likewise flourished. And, playing an active role throughout this vast area of science and engineer ing have been very large numbers of chemists. Yet, even though the role of chemistry in the solid-state sciences has been a vital one and the solid-state sciences have, in turn, made enormous contributions to chemical thought, solid-state chemistry has not been recognized by the general body of chemists as a major subfield of chemistry. Solid-state chemistry is not even well defined as to content. Some, for example, would have it include only the quantum chemistry of solids and would reject thermodynamics and phase equilibria; this is nonsense. Solid-state chemistry has many facets, and one of the purposes of this Treatise is to help define the field. Perhaps the most general characteristic of solid-state chemistry, and one which helps differentiate it from solid-state physics, is its focus on the chemical composition and atomic configuration of real solids and on the relationship of composition and structure to the chemical and physical properties of the solid. Real solids are usually extremely complex and exhibit almost infinite variety in their compositional and structural features.

This handbook provides comprehensive treatment of the current state of glass science from the leading experts in the field. Opening with an enlightening contribution on the history of glass, the volume is then divided into eight parts. The first part covers fundamental properties, from the current understanding of the thermodynamics of the amorphous state, kinetics, and linear and nonlinear optical properties through colors, photosensitivity, and chemical durability. The second part provides dedicated chapters on each individual glass type, covering traditional systems like silicates and other oxide systems, as well as novel hybrid amorphous materials and spin glasses. The third part features detailed descriptions of modern characterization techniques for understanding this complex state of matter. The fourth part covers modeling, from first-principles calculations through molecular dynamics simulations, and statistical modeling. The fifth part presents a range of laboratory and industrial glass processing methods. The remaining parts cover a wide and representative range of applications areas from optics and photonics through environment, energy, architecture, and sensing. Written by the leading international experts in the field, the Springer Handbook of Glass represents an invaluable resource for graduate students through academic and industry researchers working in photonics, optoelectronics, materials science, energy, architecture, and more.