5 replies to this topic

[jimmy01]

I am in undergrad. I have done calculus, and differential equations.


My thermodynamics teacher is not even a chem-e. He told us the unit of entropy was Joule/ Second (Because of T) and wrote Pressure = F X A. Need I say more?

I have decided to study thermo myself. And it's not particularly easy for me. Another teacher, (Awesome teacher + former Engineer) told me to study Smith's thermodynamics. It's really tough! The book is bone dry - No concept building. I once took it for reference book!


My question is: Is thermo really worth all this effort? I can barely give time to other subjects.


And: Should I study Smith's thermo or is there any other book more suited to self-study?

[Art Montemayor]

Jimmy:

Don’t take Thermodynamics lightly. It may save your engineering career in the future. Without a complete and dominant position in Thermo, you wouldn’t stand a chance in understanding and applying such important principles as: Fluid Mechanics (fluid flow), compressible flow, gas compression, cryogenics, gas turbines, steam cycles, refrigeration cycles, Kinetics (chemical reactions and their control), energy conversion, work generation, etc., etc., etc. and on, and on…..

Smith is a very good Chemical Engineering Thermo book. I still refer to my 1956 edition from time-to-time. There are many more good authors out there today. You should be taking a complete saturation exposure in thermodynamics in your Chemical Engineering courses. I took, and was exposed to, Thermo in the following courses back in 1957-1960: Mechanical Engineering Thermodynmics, Physical Chemistry (2 courses), Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, Physics (2 courses), Unit Operations, Kinetics, and most all of the other ChE courses I took. You should be doing the same today - or possibly more. You don’t just take ONE Thermo course and hang it up – as you do differential and integral calculus. You live with it, sleep with it, and work with it for the rest of your life as a professional Chemical Engineer. It’s tough and demanding – but welcome to Chemical Engineering. It doesn’t get any better than that.

[breizh]

Jimmy ,

I'm 100% in agreement with Mr Montemayor!

From the internet, I got these resources which may support your query.

Hope this helps .

Breizh

[kkala]

I had difficulty in understanding thermodynamics as student, which has been restored to some extent by exercises. Instructor knew the subject well, but we were finding it rather theoretical. "Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics" by Smith and Van Ness was the recommended book (at that time, 1970) by Instructor. However I have not studied any book systematically, putting more weight to exercises and going to a book when I wanted to understand something.
As already written in previous posts, other engineering courses (apart from the one named "Thermodynamics") supply a background to thermodynamics, whose basic knowledge should be understood by the Chemical Engineer.
Probably thermodynamics, like Mathematics, cannot be adequately understood without systematic exercises. Schaum's "Theory and Problems of Thermodynamics" by M Abott & H Van Ness might be a good book to start. There is "solutions to the problems" of Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics by Smith, as it can be seen in http://www.bookfinder.com , now in pdf/word (in printed form in 1970s). See http://www.abebooks....r=para&para_l=0

Edited by kkala, 19 March 2011 - 03:23 PM.

[Zauberberg]

It may sound funny, but one of the best Thermo books I have read, is written by Y.A. Cengel: "Thermodynamics - An Engineering Approach". Its concept is very much down-to-earth, and it provides clear relationship between thermodynamics and the real world, which makes the reader being more interested in what he/she is reading about. Highly recommended.

Edited by Zauberberg, 19 March 2011 - 04:01 PM.

[CristianG]

Totally agree with Zauberberg! Cengel's book is excellent!