Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry, Seventeenth Edition

The Gap This Book Fills

Every chemist, lab technician, or student knows the frustration of chasing scattered data across multiple sources — flipping through journal articles, online databases, and outdated textbooks just to find a single melting point or solubility value. Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry, Seventeenth Edition eliminates that inefficiency entirely by placing the most essential physical, chemical, and thermodynamic properties of over 5,400 compounds into a single, authoritative volume.

This is not a textbook you read cover to cover; it is a reference you reach for dozens of times a day — and it needs to be accurate, complete, and instantly accessible. The Seventeenth Edition delivers exactly that, with updated data and expanded coverage that keeps pace with modern chemistry.

What Is Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry, Seventeenth Edition? A Complete Overview

Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry is the gold-standard one-volume reference work for factual chemical data, now in its Seventeenth Edition (2017), published by McGraw-Hill Education and edited by Dr. James G. Speight. It compiles systematically organized tables, charts, and explanatory notes covering inorganic compounds, organic compounds, naturally occurring chemicals, and physical constants.

Unlike general chemistry textbooks that explain concepts, this handbook is built for rapid lookup: you open it to find the boiling point of an organic solvent, the density of a metal alloy, or the thermodynamic properties of a reaction. The Seventeenth Edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the latest atomic weights, safety data, and environmental parameters, making it a trusted resource for both academic and industrial settings.

Who Will Benefit Most

This handbook is designed for anyone who works with chemical data on a regular basis. It is most valuable for:

• Professional chemists in research, quality control, or process development who need fast access to verified constants and properties
• Chemical engineers who require accurate thermodynamic and transport property data for design calculations
• Laboratory technicians and analysts who perform routine testing and need reference values for identification and quantification
• Graduate and advanced undergraduate students in chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineering who need a reliable supplement to their textbooks
• Safety officers and environmental scientists who must look up hazard classifications, exposure limits, and regulatory data

Skills You Will Gain

The Seventeenth Edition of Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry equips you with a comprehensive arsenal of chemical data organized into logical sections. Here is what you will find inside:

• Physical properties of elements and inorganic compounds — atomic weights, melting points, boiling points, densities, and crystal structures for every element and thousands of compounds
• Organic compound data — systematic tables of over 5,400 organic substances with molecular formulas, molecular weights, refractive indices, and solubility parameters
• Thermodynamic properties — enthalpies of formation, free energies, entropies, and heat capacities for common substances and reactions
• Fluid properties — viscosity, thermal conductivity, diffusion coefficients, and surface tension for liquids and gases at various temperatures
• Electrochemical data — standard electrode potentials, conductivity of solutions, and dissociation constants for acids and bases
• Spectroscopic data — IR, UV-Vis, NMR, and mass spectrometry reference values for structural identification
• Safety and hazard information — flash points, explosive limits, toxicity ratings, and permissible exposure limits
• Conversion factors and mathematical tables — SI units, physical constants, and mathematical formulas essential for laboratory calculations

What Sets It Apart

No other single-volume reference matches the breadth and reliability of Lange’s Handbook. The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is a strong competitor, but Lange’s offers deeper coverage of organic compounds and more practical industrial data. Online databases like PubChem or NIST are free but require internet access and often lack the curated, cross-referenced organization of a printed or downloadable reference.

Lange’s advantage lies in its editorial rigor: every data point has been verified by Dr. Speight and his contributors, ensuring consistency across tables. The Seventeenth Edition also updates key values to the latest IUPAC standards, which older editions or competing references may not reflect. For a professional who needs a single source of truth that works offline, Lange’s is the definitive choice.

Author & Publisher Credentials

Dr. James G. Speight is a renowned chemist and author with decades of experience in energy and environmental chemistry. He has authored over 80 books and hundreds of research papers, and his editorial oversight ensures that the Seventeenth Edition maintains the rigorous standards set by earlier editions of this classic reference.

McGraw-Hill Education, the publisher, is one of the world’s largest and most respected academic publishers, with a history dating back to 1888. Their scientific and technical titles are trusted by universities, corporations, and professionals worldwide. The combination of Speight’s expertise and McGraw-Hill’s editorial infrastructure gives this handbook unmatched authority in the field.

Is It Worth It?

For any chemist, engineer, or student who regularly needs accurate chemical data, Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry is not just worth it — it is essential. The Seventeenth Edition’s updates to atomic weights, safety data, and thermodynamic tables mean you are working with the most current information available. At roughly 1,300 pages, it replaces dozens of separate references and saves hours of searching every week.

The investment pays for itself in time saved and errors avoided. Whether you are verifying a synthesis procedure, designing a chemical process, or preparing for an exam, having Lange’s on your desk (or your device) gives you confidence that your data is correct.

Get Your Copy Today

Stop wasting time hunting for chemical data across scattered sources. With Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry, Seventeenth Edition, you get instant access to verified properties for over 5,400 compounds — all in one expertly curated reference. Whether you are a professional chemist, a chemical engineer, or a graduate student, this handbook will become your most-used resource.

Order your digital copy today and start working with the most trusted chemical reference in the world. Published by McGraw-Hill Education in 2017, this edition is current and ready for immediate download.