BookCourse Purpose

The job of this Thermo BookCourse is to equip you with two capabilities.

1. Describe the main ideas of thermo, how they relate to each other, and how they relate to the real world.
2. Apply these ideas to do useful things: design, solve problems, estimate, model, make decisions, and so on.

Rewards from Learning Thermo

Apply concepts about energy, work, heat, and power to countless systems: engines, motors, chain-saws, rockets, power plants, refrigerators, heat pumps, the human body, medical devices, solar-systems, and so on

Have a deep and useful understanding of energy that is akin to love as in “this is super cool.”

Path

1. Describe Thermo

Capabilities → Rewards

Rewards: Recognize what competent thermodynamic thinking looks like and feels like. Confidently perform simple, real-world heating and cooling calculations for water and spaces. Experience what it is like to think and act like an engineer working with energy.

Capabilities: Describe success with Thermo. Find the energy content of common fuels. Find the energy content of batteries. Do energy calculations for the heating and cooling of water. Size heaters for applications. Describe energy, heat, power, work, and temperature.

Lessons → Tasks with Feedback → Applications → Rewards

Lessons

1. Success with Thermo.

2. The Essence of the First Law

3. Heating an Cooling of Water

4. Finding the Energy of Fuel.

5. Power = Energy/Time = Work/Time = Heat over Time

6. Joule Heating

7. Finding the Energy of a Battery

8. Designing with Batteries

9. Making Electricity from Steam (How Power Plants Work)

Measurement of Learning

WIP, eh?

2. Apply First Law (Closed Systems)

If the first law is not the most useful equation in all of engineering, it is in the top three. It is amazing how much work this three term equation can do for you.

Capabilities: Relate work and power. Apply first law in rate form and amount form. Select systems. Apply Joule heating. Calculate latent and sensible thermal energy changes.. Model chemical reactions. Model nuclear reactions.

3. Model Canonical Systems

Capabilities: Model a piston, refrigeration system, heat pump system, or heat engine (power plant). Apply the idea gas law. Model standard processes: adiabatic, isochoric, isothermal,

4. Find Properties

Capabilities: Find properties with thermo tables. Find properties with python and Refprop. Find gas properties. Describe thermo properties: enthalpy, quality, …

5. Apply First Law (Control Volumes)

6. Apply Second Law

7. Do Advanced Thermo Stuff