Useful Links

• ChemCAD tutorials
• How to get CHEMCAD for your PC
• Link to BlackBoard
• Homework list
• Virtual Computer Lab (Note to Mac users: you must create a directory /Users/username/Temp for MATLAB to start)
• MATLAB files

Software

Please note that all software required for this class is available on campus in the Chemical Engineering computer lab and the open PC labs in Martin Hall; some MATLAB libraries developed by the instructor also will be made available.

Grading

Grade scale: A+: 95-100%; A: 90-94%; A-: 85-89%; B+: 82-84%; B: 78-81%; B-: 75-77%; C+: 72-74%; C: 68-71%; C-: 65-67%; D+: 62-64%; D: 58-61%; D-: 55-57%; F: 0-54%

Homework/projects: (30%) is due at the start of the Friday discusssion period; weekly homework will be assigned on or before the Thursday class periods. Only hardcopies of homework turned in on time will be accepted. Homework/exam solutions will be discussed only in the Friday discussion section and will not be posted. All homework must be done individually. Some team projects may be assigned during the semester; however, each student is responsible for understanding all the material covered in such projects.

Exams (70%) Four exams (three regular, one final) will be given; all exams are open book/notes. Exams during the semester will be scheduled on THURSDAYS; exams will be discussed on Friday. NOTE: Grades will be determined using the final exam grade (30%) and the 2 highest exam grades received during the semester (40% total); no make-up exams will be given.

No credit will be given to any assignment and exam that is not signed with the university honor code.

Course Content

This course will focus on a small number of speciallzed topics in thermodynamics to stress some of the fundamental aspects of the topic and to illustrate its use in real engineering problems. At this time, I see us spending a significant amout of time using the tools of thermodynamics to do comparative studies of the efficiency of competing alternate energy generation technologies (especially solar), advancing our understanding of thermodynamic concepts through the use of microscopic simulations of phase change and gas mixing, and to study in-depth reaction thermodynamics to understand the operation of fuel cells and selected manufacturing technologies based on chemical reactions.

Schedule