Syllabus for ChE 527

Macroscopic Thermodynamics

Spring, 2006

Instructor: Reid Miller, EE/ME B49, 335-4001, millerrc@wsu.edu

Class Meetings: MWF 10:10-11:00

Text: Thermodynamics and Its Applications, 3rd Ed., Tester and Modell, Prentice Hall (1997)

Topical Outline:

Basic Laws of Classical Thermodynamics (Chap. 1 - 5)

Equilibrium and Stability Criteria (Chap. 6 - 7)

Properties of Gas and Liquid Mixtures (Chap. 8 - 9)

Theories of Solutions (Chap. 10 - 13)

Phase and Chemical Equilibrium Calculations (Chap. 15 - 16)

Grading:

Midterm Exam  20%

Final Exam        40

Homework        20

Project              20

           100%

All grades will be assigned on a percentage basis. An average course grade of above 80% will result in an "A", 70-80% a "B", 60-70% a "C", 50-60% a "D", and below 50% an "F". The instructor may assign "+" and "-" grades in marginal cases.

Homework Assignments:

Problems from the text or other sources will be assigned to individual students or small groups of students. Solutions must be developed using software available to all class participants, such as Word, Excel, or Mathcad. Problem solution files will be posted to the WebCT homepage for this course, with the initiation of a discussion.  These must be done by a posting due date indicated for each problem set. All students (and the instructor) will review the posted solutions and provide comments back to the authors on each. The authors can revise their solutions at any time prior to the final due date, clearly indicating the revisions in the solution files. The instructor will assign a homework grade for each student based on the quality of their solutions at the final date.  The quantity and quality of the comments provided to other authors during the process of solution refinement will be taken into account in the assignment of final homework grades for the course.

 

Project:

 

Group projects will be assigned by midterm in the course.  Each group will select a topic from “Part III Applications” in the text, which must be approved by the instructor.  Research will be done on the topic, and a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation developed, posted to the WebCT site, and presented to the class as an instructional module.  Each member of the class will evaluate the presentations of the other groups using a rubric developed for this purpose.  The instructor will assign a grade based on the peer evaluations and the instructor’s personal evaluation of the presentations.