In today's JACS ASAP is a review of the 90th edition of the CRC Handbook. This thing has been around for so long that it never occurred to me that I didn't know what CRC stood for, until my octagenarian coworker asked to borrow my "rubber book". When he saw my confusion, he explained that the rubber book was a reference put out by the Chemical Rubber Company.
This huge tome may be the best know of all science reference books. I was actually really surprised to see a review of it. To me it seems that if you like reference information in book form, it's fairly obvious you need this book. I mean it's been out for 95 years, how could you not know about it?
As a side note, they seem pretty good about adding things to it, and seldomremoving old info. Sometimes the internet isn't the best place to find old information, but if it's chemistry and physics it's in the CRC handbook. They even take out errors from older versions. A collegue wanted to remove some water via an azeotrope that he found in the CRC. I thought it sounded like it wouldn't work (azeotropes tend to form between polar and nonpolar liquids, not polar and polar - good bit of minutiae to know), and after a little looking we found out it was a mistake that was removed from later versions.
13 comments:
they're on edition 90 now? damnnnnn i have the 56th ed. a collectors item i'm sure.
azeotropes are one of the most useful things i find in there, including... the pH of food. apples are at the most acidic end. 2.9-3.3, and salmon is at 6.1 - 6.3
I thought this blog was supposed to be about cheese?
This isn't cheesy enough for you?
You're quite demanding, Dr. Jim.
Unrelated question:
What the hell is that thing in the first set of pictures on the ASAPs for Org. Lett? Is it supposed to be a hedgehog?
That damn picture has been creeping me out every day when I go to read ASAPs.
Apparently cattle get like that when you interrupt their Sonic Hedgehog pathway.
I read somewhere a few years ago that they wanted to rename some of the more flippantly names pathways like Sonic Hedgehog, so that, in the brilliant genome info laden future, when someone goes to the doctor the doc doesn't have to say things like "Sonic Hedgehog" and make the health issue/illness sound silly.
Personally I think they're just pussies.
Without an internet search, who here knows what the Hinsberg test is? Steve brought it up in group meeting yesterday.
Never heard of it. My guess is either that's one of the things he loves to keep around to stump people (like Bohlmann bands), or he was reading something that mentioned it recently.
Who knows maybe he actually did it a while ago, and happens to remember it.
So, is it a cow head?
Sorry John, I'm in a group that doesn't have group meetings so I don't have to know stuff like that. It is probably one of the tests for something in the back of Steve's book.
Nobody knew what it was but he ended up explaining it, and it can probably be found in any qual organic book.
Yup, cow head.
I googled the Hinsberg test, and it looks like something from the days of yore, and not too useful now. However some of those old zany reactions can be used in times of dire need, or you can add a small change to it, call it the best thing ever and win awards and accolades as a junior professor.
Ah yes, the good ole Qual book
Who is Qual anyway?
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