CN2121 Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics is a 4 MC module that deals with enthalpy, entropy, gibbs free energy calculations, phase equilibria and chemical reaction equilibria. The concepts in this module are pretty abstract in my opinion as it deals with concepts like fugacity and chemical potential. Just know that one can never fully understand thermodynamics. However, for me, with sufficient practice and revision, I am able to better understand and comprehend the concepts (same with CN2122).
Assessment
20% Test 1 (Open Book)
20% Test 2 (Open Book)
60% Finals (2.5 hours, Open Book)
20% Test 2 (Open Book)
60% Finals (2.5 hours, Open Book)
Lecturer:
First half: A/Prof Yan Ning
Second half: A/Prof Kyle Phua Kok Loong
First half: A/Prof Yan Ning
Second half: A/Prof Kyle Phua Kok Loong
Tutor:
First half: A/Prof Yan Ning
Second half: A/Prof Kyle Phua Kok Loong
First half: A/Prof Yan Ning
Second half: A/Prof Kyle Phua Kok Loong
Textbooks/Readings
McGraw Hill's Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics 7th/8th edition - J.M. Smith, H. C. Van Ness, M. M. Abbott. It isn't a must to have the text book in my opinion as the lecture notes are pretty sufficient. The textbook is only recommended for additional question practices as the profs will upload the solutions to the textbook questions in IVLE. (Not a must to be honest as seniors have given us past year tutorials with detailed solutions and these are much more useful)
Lectures
McGraw Hill's Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics 7th/8th edition - J.M. Smith, H. C. Van Ness, M. M. Abbott. It isn't a must to have the text book in my opinion as the lecture notes are pretty sufficient. The textbook is only recommended for additional question practices as the profs will upload the solutions to the textbook questions in IVLE. (Not a must to be honest as seniors have given us past year tutorials with detailed solutions and these are much more useful)
Lectures
There were 2 lectures per week. One lecture is one hour long and the other is 2 hours long. There is webcast provided for this module but let me give some advice (which applies for the other modules that I'm gonna review for this semester, so I won't repeat again for those modules). It is wayyyy better to attend the lectures physically than to watch webcasts in my opinion. Plus, you can ask the lecturer questions immediately when you have any doubts. For me, I usually get distracted easily when watching webcasts, so I prefer to go to lectures.
Okay, back to the lecture itself. I have to say Prof Yan Ning is really good in explaining the concepts to us, especially since these concepts are new to us. He can get a littleee boring after a while but if you try to stay focused throughout, then attending his lectures ain't a big issue. Prof Kyle tends to stutter a little sometimes and sometimes sounds unsure of the content that he is teaching. I am not saying that he is not a good Prof because the concepts he is teaching is real abstract and is not easy to explain, as compared to Prof Yan Ning's content. For Prof Kyle's portion, I had to read the lecture notes a few times before I could fully understand (not exactly fully, one can never fully understand thermodynamics) all the concepts.
Okay, back to the lecture itself. I have to say Prof Yan Ning is really good in explaining the concepts to us, especially since these concepts are new to us. He can get a littleee boring after a while but if you try to stay focused throughout, then attending his lectures ain't a big issue. Prof Kyle tends to stutter a little sometimes and sometimes sounds unsure of the content that he is teaching. I am not saying that he is not a good Prof because the concepts he is teaching is real abstract and is not easy to explain, as compared to Prof Yan Ning's content. For Prof Kyle's portion, I had to read the lecture notes a few times before I could fully understand (not exactly fully, one can never fully understand thermodynamics) all the concepts.
Tutorial
Tutorials took place once a week, and they were 1 hour long. The tutors would usually have their own lecture slides with the solutions and they would go through the tutorial questions with us. One tutorial usually consists of about 3 - 5 questions, so it ain't that bad (as compared to CN2122). The Profs would usually summarise the content taught in lecture too before starting the tutorial questions, which is good. Since there is no tutorial participation for this module, attendance for tutorial is pathetic. There's usually like 8 - 9 students for each tutorial when the class size is 25? BUT LISTEN TO ME. ATTEND THE TUTORIALS. Because the profs would give exam tips and tell us what would be tested and what would not be tested. In my opinion, both profs teach well during tutorial. For both CN2121 and CN2122, the tutorial solutions usually have minor mistakes here and there (like careless math mistakes made by Profs haha) but yeah, ain't a big issue so long as I can understand the concepts behind it. After all, our Profs are human too and they do make mistakes occasionally. But for CN2121, the tutorial solutions are quite detailed, just that sometimes they skip the math.
Tests
Test 1 is based on all the content taught by Prof Yan Ning and Test 2 is based on first half of the content taught by Prof Kyle Phua. Both tests are open book (which isn't exactly a good thing haha).
Test 1 was really tough in my opinion. It consisted of 5 MCQ questions and 1 structured question. Prof Yan Ning tested very conceptual questions, rather than application questions. Which is bad hahaha. It is not easy to find the answers in the lecture notes too so it'll be good to read through the definitions of certain concepts like enthalpy and entropy during revision.
Test 2 was much better. Prof Kyle tested more application questions where we made used of the formulas we learnt in lectures and tutorials to calculate fugacity, enthalpy change etc. Although it is open book, I advise to write all the formulas needed on a piece or few pieces of paper so that you do not need to flip through the lecture notes during the test.
Tests
Test 1 is based on all the content taught by Prof Yan Ning and Test 2 is based on first half of the content taught by Prof Kyle Phua. Both tests are open book (which isn't exactly a good thing haha).
Test 1 was really tough in my opinion. It consisted of 5 MCQ questions and 1 structured question. Prof Yan Ning tested very conceptual questions, rather than application questions. Which is bad hahaha. It is not easy to find the answers in the lecture notes too so it'll be good to read through the definitions of certain concepts like enthalpy and entropy during revision.
Test 2 was much better. Prof Kyle tested more application questions where we made used of the formulas we learnt in lectures and tutorials to calculate fugacity, enthalpy change etc. Although it is open book, I advise to write all the formulas needed on a piece or few pieces of paper so that you do not need to flip through the lecture notes during the test.
Final Exam
Phew, final exam. 5 structured questions in 2.5 hours. Doesn't sound so bad at first because it means 1 question for 30 minutes. But it's bad when you don't really know how to start answering the question hahaha. Yet again, Prof Yan Ning's questions are tougher than Prof Kyle's questions. (The first 2 questions are Prof Yan Ning's, and the last 3 are Prof Kyle's) I am not sure whether the same Profs would be teaching this module for future semesters but I advise doing the easier questions first (which are the last 3 in this case). Plotting of graphs were needed during the exam; the graph paper is already printed inside the exam paper.
Overall, the questions require some thinking first because I was unsure what concepts to apply at first. Like the question won't ask "find the fugacity/enthalpy etc". It would be something like "Explain what is wrong with this system or whether this system is feasible" sooooooo I was unsure whether I approached the questions correctly. But at least I did finish the paper in time.
You can view my notes here. My notes for CN2121 were a little messy back then, pardon me for that.
Overall, the questions require some thinking first because I was unsure what concepts to apply at first. Like the question won't ask "find the fugacity/enthalpy etc". It would be something like "Explain what is wrong with this system or whether this system is feasible" sooooooo I was unsure whether I approached the questions correctly. But at least I did finish the paper in time.
You can view my notes here. My notes for CN2121 were a little messy back then, pardon me for that.
Expected Grade: A
Final Grade: A
Final Comments
An abstract module. Totally fine if you still don't really understand the concepts in this module at the end of the module. Thermodynamics is a continuous learning process. Prof Yan Ning told us that he has ex-students telling him that they don't really understand the module although they got A for the module. Sooooo yeap, that's how weird thermodynamics is hahaha.
I guess I managed to get my A because I did constant practice of past year and current tutorials. So I got used to using the formulas and applying it to different cases given.
I guess I managed to get my A because I did constant practice of past year and current tutorials. So I got used to using the formulas and applying it to different cases given.
Stay tuned for more updates.
- Alan
No comments:
Post a Comment