History, list of editions, and translations to non-English languages
The third edition of the Green Book ( ISBN978-0-85404-433-7) was first published by IUPAC in 2007. A second printing of the third edition was released in 2008; this printing made several minor revisions to the 2007 text. A third printing of the third edition was released in 2011. The text of the third printing is identical to that of the second printing.
A Japanese translation of the third edition of the Green Book ( ISBN978-4-06-154359-1) was published in 2009. A French translation of the third edition of the Green Book ( ISBN978-2-8041-7207-7) was published in 2012. A Portuguese translation (Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese) of the third edition of the Green Book ( ISBN978-85-64099-19-7) was published in 2018, with updated values of the physical constants and atomic weights; it is referred to as the "Livro Verde".
A concise four-page summary of the most important material in the Green Book was published in the July–August 2011 issue of Chemistry International, the IUPAC news magazine.
The second edition of the Green Book ( ISBN0-632-03583-8) was first published in 1993. It was reprinted in 1995, 1996, and 1998.
The Green Book is a direct successor of the Manual of Symbols and Terminology for Physicochemical Quantities and Units, originally prepared for publication on behalf of IUPAC's Physical Chemistry Division by M. L. McGlashen in 1969. A full history of the Green Book's various editions is provided in the historical introduction to the third edition.
The second edition and the third edition (second printing) of the Green Book have both been made available online as PDF files; the PDF version of the third edition is fully searchable. The four-page concise summary is also available online as a PDF file. External Links (below).
Handy content
In addition to the obvious data on quantities, units and symbols, the compilation contains some less obvious but very useful information on related topics.
Quantity calculus
Unit conversion is a notorious source of errors. Many people apply individual rules, e.g. "to obtain length in centimeters multiply the length in inches by 2.54", but combining several such conversions is laborious and prone to mistakes. A better way is to use the factor-label method, which is closely related to dimensional analysis, and quantity calculus explained in sections 1.1 and 7.1 of this compilation.
Scientific typography
Section 1.3 explains the rules for writing scientific symbols and names, for example, where to use capital letters or italics, and where their use is incorrect. The typographical rules are extensive, including even such detail as whether "20°C" or "20°C" is the correct form.
Atomic units
Section 3.8 introduces atomic units and gives a table of atomic units of various physical quantities and the conversion factor to the SI units. Section 7.3(v) gives a concise but clear tutorial on practical use of atomic units, in particular how to understand equations "written in atomic units".
Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, IUPAC Green Book, third editionArchived 2019-04-17 at the Wayback Machine ( E.R. Cohen, T. Cvitas, J.G. Frey, B. Holmström, K. Kuchitsu, R. Marquardt, I. Mills, F. Pavese, M. Quack, J. Stohner, H.L. Strauss, M. Takami, and A.J. Thor, Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, IUPAC Green Book, Third Edition, Second Printing, IUPAC & RSC Publishing, Cambridge (2008))
A year is the time taken for astronomical objects to complete one orbit. For example, a year on Earth is the time taken for Earth to revolve around the Sun. Generally, a year is taken to mean a calendar year, but the word is also used for periods loosely associated with the calendar or astronomical year, such as the seasonal year, the fiscal year, the academic year, etc. The term can also be used in reference to any long period or cycle, such as the Great Year.
The mole (symbol mol) is a unit of measurement, the base unit in the International System of Units (SI) for amount of substance, a quantity proportional to the number of elementary entities of a substance. One mole contains exactly 6.02214076×1023 elementary entities (approximately 602 sextillion or 602 billion times a trillion), which can be atoms, molecules, ions, or other particles. The number of particles in a mole is the Avogadro number (symbol N0) and the numerical value of the Avogadro constant (symbol NA) expressed in mol-1. The value was chosen based on the historical definition of the mole as the amount of substance that corresponds to the number of atoms in 12 grams of 12C, which made the mass of a mole of a compound expressed in grams numerically equal to the average molecular mass of the compound expressed in daltons. With the 2019 redefinition of the SI base units, the numerical equivalence is now only approximate but may be assumed for all practical purposes.
The dalton or unified atomic mass unit is a non-SI unit of mass defined as 1/12 of the mass of an unbound neutral atom of carbon-12 in its nuclear and electronic ground state and at rest. The atomic mass constant, denoted mu, is defined identically, giving mu = 1/12m(12C) = 1 Da.
Relative atomic mass, also known by the deprecated synonym atomic weight, is a dimensionless physical quantity defined as the ratio of the average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a given sample to the atomic mass constant. The atomic mass constant is defined as being 1/12 of the mass of a carbon-12 atom. Since both quantities in the ratio are masses, the resulting value is dimensionless. These definitions remain valid even after the 2019 redefinition of the SI base units.
In chemistry, the standard state of a material is a reference point used to calculate its properties under different conditions. A degree sign (°) or a superscript Plimsoll symbol (⦵) is used to designate a thermodynamic quantity in the standard state, such as change in enthalpy (ΔH°), change in entropy (ΔS°), or change in Gibbs free energy (ΔG°). The degree symbol has become widespread, although the Plimsoll is recommended in standards, see discussion about typesetting below.
ISO 31 is a superseded international standard concerning physical quantities, units of measurement, their interrelationships and their presentation. It was revised and replaced by ISO/IEC 80000.
A mass spectrum is a histogram plot of intensity vs. mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) in a chemical sample, usually acquired using an instrument called a mass spectrometer. Not all mass spectra of a given substance are the same; for example, some mass spectrometers break the analyte molecules into fragments; others observe the intact molecular masses with little fragmentation. A mass spectrum can represent many different types of information based on the type of mass spectrometer and the specific experiment applied. Common fragmentation processes for organic molecules are the McLafferty rearrangement and alpha cleavage. Straight chain alkanes and alkyl groups produce a typical series of peaks: 29 (CH3CH2+), 43 (CH3CH2CH2+), 57 (CH3CH2CH2CH2+), 71 (CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2+) etc.
In chemistry, the amount of substance (symbol n) in a given sample of matter is defined as a ratio (n = N/NA) between the number of elementary entities (N) and the Avogadro constant (NA). The entities are usually molecules, atoms, or ions of a specified kind. The particular substance sampled may be specified using a subscript, e.g., the amount of sodium chloride (NaCl) would be denoted as nNaCl. The unit of amount of substance in the International System of Units is the mole (symbol: mol), a base unit. Since 2019, the value of the Avogadro constant NA is defined to be exactly 6.02214076×1023 mol−1. Sometimes, the amount of substance is referred to as the chemical amount or, informally, as the "number of moles" in a given sample of matter.
Gaussian units constitute a metric system of physical units. This system is the most common of the several electromagnetic unit systems based on cgs (centimetre–gram–second) units. It is also called the Gaussian unit system, Gaussian-cgs units, or often just cgs units. The term "cgs units" is ambiguous and therefore to be avoided if possible: there are several variants of cgs with conflicting definitions of electromagnetic quantities and units.
Many letters of the Latin alphabet, both capital and small, are used in mathematics, science, and engineering to denote by convention specific or abstracted constants, variables of a certain type, units, multipliers, or physical entities. Certain letters, when combined with special formatting, take on special meaning.
Chemical nomenclature is a set of rules to generate systematic names for chemical compounds. The nomenclature used most frequently worldwide is the one created and developed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
ISO 31-8 is the part of international standard ISO 31 that defines names and symbols for quantities and units related to physical chemistry and molecular physics.
The mass-to-charge ratio (m/Q) is a physical quantity relating the mass (quantity of matter) and the electric charge of a given particle, expressed in units of kilograms per coulomb (kg/C). It is most widely used in the electrodynamics of charged particles, e.g. in electron optics and ion optics.
The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is a comprehensive one-volume reference resource for science research. First published in 1914, it is currently in its 104th edition, published in 2023. It is sometimes nicknamed the "Rubber Bible" or the "Rubber Book", as CRC originally stood for "Chemical Rubber Company".
The milli mass unit or (mmu) is used as a unit of mass by some scientific authors even though this unit is not defined by the IUPAP red book nor by the IUPAC green book. It is a short form of the more formally correct "milli unified atomic mass unit" (mu) and equivalent to 1⁄1,000 of the unified atomic mass unit (u). A more modern name is the millidalton (mDa) since the "unified atomic mass unit" is more and more displaced by the unit dalton.
Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry, commonly referred to by chemists as the Blue Book, is a collection of recommendations on organic chemical nomenclature published at irregular intervals by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). A full edition was published in 1979, an abridged and updated version of which was published in 1993 as A Guide to IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Compounds. Both of these are now out-of-print in their paper versions, but are available free of charge in electronic versions. After the release of a draft version for public comment in 2004 and the publication of several revised sections in the journal Pure and Applied Chemistry, a fully revised edition was published in print in 2013 and its online version is also available.
The Compendium of Analytical Nomenclature is an IUPAC nomenclature book published by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) containing internationally accepted definitions for terms in analytical chemistry. It has traditionally been published in an orange cover, hence its informal name, the Orange Book.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) publishes many books which contain its complete list of definitions. The definitions are divided initially into seven IUPAC Colour Books: Gold, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange, White, and Red. There is also an eighth book, the "Silver Book".
The Compendium of Macromolecular Nomenclature, by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), provides definition of polymer related terms and rules of nomenclature of polymers. It is referred to as the Purple Book. It was published in 1991 (ISBN 0-63202-8475) by Blackwell Science. The author of this book is W.V. Metanomski.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has published four sets of rules to standardize chemical nomenclature.
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