Thermodynamics and Engineering Physics

Full course description

Understanding thermodynamics is essential for any engineer as it is key to understanding the functioning of a wide range of mechanical and electronic devices, as well as the principles behind chemical reactions. This course requires the knowledge of Calculus and Linear Algebra as it provides the theoretical frameworks required to mathematically describe the basic concepts of many-particle systems in terms of their macroscopic quantities such as temperature, pressure and volume. The aim of this course is to comprehend the fundamentals of temperature and heat, thermal properties of matter, the laws of thermodynamics, entropy, enthalpy and free energy. These concepts are used to describe the properties gasses, liquids and ideal and non-ideal solids in terms of state functions. Lastly, these fundamental concepts are applied to understand the working mechanisms of basic reactor elements used in chemical engineering, including heaters, coolers, pumps and heat engines. Understanding of the abstract nature of these concepts is essential for further courses.