Includes bibliographies and index.

Dr. Swallow's Radiation Chemistry is intended for final year undergraduate students of chemistry, for those taking graduate courses in the appropriate subjects, for those beginning research in radiation chemistry, and for specialists in related fields who wish to obtain a general knowledge of the subject. It is assumed that the reader will have a general knowledge of chemistry, and especially chemical kinetics, at approximately second year B.S. or B.Sc. level. The book starts with a survey of the various sources of radiation on earth and in space, and goes on to cover the physical mechanisms by which radiation interacts with matter. Radiation generally acts by exciting and ionizing the molecules with which it interacts. The chemistry of the unstable species produced, and of the free radicals to which they give rise, is outlined together with methods of investigation specific to radiation chemistry. Methods of defining and measuring the extent of irradiation are discussed. Dr. Swallow discusses briefly the irradiation of metals and other inorganic solids; this is normally regarded as a branch of solid-state physics. He continues with a discussion of the effects of radiation on chemical substances under various conditions. Gases, water and aqueous solutions, organic compounds, polymeric systems and substances of biological interest are all covered. The approach of combining a general coverage with more detailed treatment of particular systems will be found of special value for the real insight given into this increasingly important discipline.