Thermo is cooler than it is scary.

The problems that we see in the thermodynamics class ,just like physics, are all based on a couple of laws (equations). Everything we do for homework is based on manipulations of those few equations. We just got into the second law of thermodynamics which, to me, is like the first law of cynicism. Not really, but it does give an equation that defines the absolute most efficiency that is possible. How depressing. Truthfully, even that is practically unattainable. This guy Carnot was the first person to put this idea together, and so now we know we'll never have the perfect engine. Bummer. In the lamest of layman's terms, if the hottest you can get is the melting temperature of the material out of which you build your engine, and the coldest you can get is just a few degrees below 273 Kelvin, then you'll never get 100% out of your engine. Oh yeah, you'd also have to eliminate friction and a host of other impossible things. On the other hand, this all implies you have some moving parts. What if you had no moving parts...

I kicked Thermo's Butt!!

Here's the update on my Test Wave #1. We're still waiting on the Circuits grade, the EGRM 215 test is Wednesday, and Calc III test #2 is next Tuesday. Calc III test #1: 91% - A, Deformables test #1: 93% - A, Thermodynamics #1: 87% - A. I've been sweating over that class. It's the "weed-out" class. When Dr. Tepper showed up today to return the tests, he looked sad. He began to go over the spread of grades and told us it was the worst average he's ever seen. I wrote down the spread because I was terrified. 3 students >90, 4 students between 80 and 90, 6 students between 70 and 80, 9 students between 60 and 70, 10 students between 50 and 60, 17 students between 40 and 50, 22 students between 30 and 40, 26 students between 20 and 30, and 8 students below 20 (including several students who scored in the single digits). I included the entire spread here to explain why I have never been happier to receive an 87. Huzzah!!!!!!!

Exams: First Wave

Exams always come in waves. ...Horrible Tsunamis of Pain ...or no big deal. I've been keeping up with my work, so I guess I should be prepared. I already got my Calc III exam back and I got a 91. I lost points because I couldn't remember the equation of a sphere. ...stupid, stupid, stupid. That was the easiest part! Anyhoo, an A is good by me.
I have my Deformables test Thursday, and I have a little bit of studying left. I should be fine. Monday I have Thermodynamics. The professor has a funny habit of calling every exam a "midterm." How many middles does this semester have?! I've been keeping up with the work, but this class has so many brand new concepts. I guess nothing is really brand new, but I've never really seen problems worked this way. The good thing is that everything is pretty logical. oh yeah, the test is open book!! Sweet. That scares me; you know the test is going to be extra hard if it's open book.
Friday, Feb 20th I have Circuits. The test starts at 7:30 am. I need to wake up at 5:30. Ick.
Wednesday, Feb 25th is Engineering Computation and Design.
All in all, they did a better than average job of staggering the tests. I've had two in one day before, and I wanted to die!

So far, so good

Grades are starting to roll in, and they seem pretty good. Every class is challenging but nothing seems unreasonable, yet. The biggest nuisance seems to be circuits lab. Six hours of lab write-up chews too much study time, but we really only have six more this semester. The other labs are in a circuit design software called Pspice. My laptop is gradually turning in to a math/science nerds delight. It started with Excel, then Matlab, then Pspice, and now I have Maple, too. I even have software for thermodynamics that automatically pulls up the thermo tables and phase diagrams and solves all kinds of problems using thermodynamic properties. The first new property I learned is specific volume which is nothing more than the inverse of density, we spent today going over enthalpy and specific heat. Next, we learn how to make rabbits appear out of thin air. That's going to be cool!!
Calculus III has been mostly review thus far, so that makes life a little easier. Mechanics of Deformables has just been an extension of Statics. In Statics, you learn to resolve forces about a rigid body like a steel beam, but you neglect all the forces internal to the beam. Now we actually analyze those internal forces that can make a beam fail, or bend, or "deform".
EGRM 215 has mostly been fun with Excel, but now we're getting into some really cool funtions of Matlab. I've been using Matlab for a while now, but there's always so much to learn.
At some point I was planning on keeping this blog less boring, but everything I do in school is boring to anyone who is not studying the same thing. That's all I do!! There's nothing else to talk about. You can see all the cool stuff going on at home on Sonya's blog. Stay tuned here to get your nerd on.

Where were you?

Today was one of those rare moments. I made this list of others.

Space Shuttle Columbia - April 12, 1981 - Mom and Dad's room at 4999 Burton St., Grand Rapids, MI - 5 years old

Reagan's Second Inauguration - Monday, January 21, 1985 - Ms. Adam's Third Grade portable classroom - 8 years old

Challenger Disaster - January 28, 1986 - Ms. Capero's Fourth Grade Class (Oliver Hoover Atrium) - 9 years old

1st Gulf War - August 2, 1990 - Living room at 8025 sw 153 ct, Miami, FL - 14 years old

World Trade Center - September 11, 2001 - Dad's House, Country Walk, Miami, FL - 25 years old

Columbia Disaster - February 1, 2003 - Ginny Song's Apartment, Brooklyn, NY - 26 years old

2nd Gulf War - March 20, 2003 - Somewhere between Miami and Grand Rapids driving overnight with dad to Aunt Rose's funeral - 26 years old

Barack Obama Nominated President - November 4th, 2008 - At home in bed with Sonya sleeping next to me - 32 years old

Barack Obama Swearing-In - January 20, 2009 - VCU School of Engineering East Hall Atrium - 32 years old

I must have forgotten something.

Day Two

I had Mechanics of Deformables this morning with Dr. Mital. I'm pretty sure he is younger than me, but that's o.k.. He's likable. Today we covered the syllabus and some Statics review. I actually felt very comfortable with the material, which is good, because I had Statics a year ago. We took a pop quiz! He made a comment about having pop quizzes when people leave early, and somebody left early. What a way to begin. I hope that early-leaver drops.
I have Multivariate Calculus in a couple hours. Her syllabus claims that anyone who did worse than a C in Calculus I & II will find the course "challenging." I can't help but think that it will be challenging even if you had an A in Calculus I & II. This is my last math requirement from the math department, but I still have two more math courses to take. STAT 541 "Applied Statistics" and EGRM 321 "Numerical Methods" are next semester, and I must admit to being a little nervous that a graduate level course is my foray into statistics. Most people I know who have taken statistics say it is boring, so maybe a graduate class will be more thrilling. HA!

Day One

I'm back in school and glad to be there. I fixed the last little hiccup with my Circuits Lab, and now my schedule looks pretty good. My Engineering Graphics & Computation professor said her class is not a "weed-out" class, but she did say Thermodynamics is a "weed-out" class. I sincerely hope I am not a weed.
The first day of Thermo was just covering the syllabus and the professor assigned some light reading.
Circuits was a regular class section, but it was mostly review of some Physics II concepts.
Tomorrow I have Multivariate Calculus and Mechanics of Deformables.
Yippy for me!