Engineers and Socially Awkward?

Most people when they think of engineers see balding guys in white shirts, pocket protectors, slacks, and glasses. While they may have been at least passable in the past now when you talk about engineers they are normal people who aren't all nerds. Some are athletes, dancers, musicians, and so on and so forth. What brings us to this point of deciding to be engineers is more often then not the challenge and love we have for our field. There are not many people who could deal with the work load to become an engineer if they didn't like the field that they were in. Anyways today is light on words since I need to pack and get ready to leave for school tomorrow. I may or may not post tomorrow, we will see but hey it's almost 2011.

Chemical Engineers vs. Electrical Engineers

So today is the beginning of a several part series on chemical engineering vs. some other engineering. So the big difference between chemical engineers and electrical engineers is the really the chemistry level and some other classes for each of our majors. When you think about it, it makes sense we need more and harder chemistry since our major has the word chemical in it. The other thing that separates us is going to be pay. This may not seem like a big deal, but hey when you can get paid more, why not? The average chemical engineer is paid $63,000 while an electrical engineer is making $59,000. So not much of a difference, but There is a whole new field opening up for chemical engineers and it's going to be making some of them rich. That field of coarse is nanotechnology. Then again, where else can you find a job where you are to play with chemicals and have fun in and out of the lab.

Lab Partners

Time for a story on why correctly picking your lab partner is probably the most important thing you can do. There are various types of lab partners the lazy one, the smart one, the smelly one, the stupid one, and the creepy psychopathic I'm probably stalking you right now one. Just guess which one I ended up with, but before we get to that let's go over why some are bad and only one is good. The lazy one will not be any help in doing the lab so if you feel like spending all three hours doing it, pair up with them. The smelly one, well you're pretty sure he will burst into flames if you let him light the Bunsen burner. The stupid one is just as bad as the lazy one, because you'll spend more time explaining it all to them on top of doing all the work. The smart one is good, but may know more than you and consider you stupid, deal with it you'll be out of their fast. Lastly my experience is with the psychopathic one. More or less it starts with her seeming smart and continuing to be smart, but her beginning to bump into you slightly or standing and looking over your shoulder and you don't think anything of it. Asking to study with you just to have you explain it well, because you do it so well. You only realize she nuts when you're burning sulfur in a crucible and she decides to start trying to play grab ass. Then you turn around and you see some major crazy eyes. Then you realize you are stuck for the rest of the term or another five weeks being around said crazy girl not only in your three hour lab but three one hour classes and a one hour recitation. So remember always pick your lab partner wisely or you'll have to end up dealing with some crazy girl for seven hours a week for five weeks.

1.21 Gigawatts

The ultimate science reference in my opinion, 1.21 gigawatts or 1,210,000,000 Watts. Enough to power 20,166,666 60 watt light-bulbs. Seriously, Doc Brown really needed some juice for his time machine, on top of putting it in a DeLorean. This just goes to show us most people may not know much about science, but what they do know usually comes from science fiction movies. This also inspires the children of the time. Did you know the cell phone was actually inspired by Star Trek's communicator. It's things like that you never think about anymore. I mean a cell phone is incredible and can out do super computers from when my dad was a kid. It's just mind blowing and to think that only in the last ten years have we really had a boon in the tech. world. I can only imagine what the next ten years holds for us, personally I'm hoping for some real holographic displays, that you can manipulate with touch. That's just what we need right now to have even cooler computers. So to trail us out I think only one quote can do it, "Great Scott!"

It's Time for the Top-Down Approach

When we look at a top-down approach in nanotechnology we see that we are limited by what we have and cutting it down until it fits into what we want. This is useful in one sense, but it's very wasteful. So we more often try to use the bottom-up approach. In the end it's very important that we do look into finding ways of mass producing in the bottom-up approach. One reason this is important is in the development in the mass production of very high tensile strength carbon nanotube ribbon. This is important because it could drastically reduce the cost of space travel, and allow us to conquer the heavens just like we conquered this planet. Well I just went to Powells and bought a bunch of books so I'm going to be busy for awhile.

There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom

Today's topic is brought to us by the "Godfather" himself Richard Feynman. Back in 1959 Dr. Feynman theorized and gave a presentation on what would later be known as nanotechnology, or the "I want it now" technology. This marvelous little bit of development has allowed us to push the envelops of science even further than before. Nanotechnology is defined as materials from 1 nm to 100 nm. Let's do a reference with a photo of what that's like.

So, what's this got to do with Christmas. Well only that Santa's elves must obviously have perfected a bottom-up approach with nanotechnology to have created so many toys for the good little girls and boys of the world. I mean come on all he has to do is take some basic components like large quantities of snow for hydrogen and oxygen and possibly kelp for his carbon, nitrogen, and phosphates. Then he only needs some metals, which he probably forces the elves to mine for him at the rate of like half a cookie an hour. This brings him all he needs to build those toys we all love and receive. So Merry Christmas, I'm off to enjoy my gifts and I'll give you one last one for the evening, another comic.

The Third Law of Thermodynamics

The third law of thermodynamics tells us, "As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a minimum." So, in other words absolute temperature is the absence of any kind of motion in the sub-atomic particles. Which means nothing is happening, but since absolute zero is impossible this is fine. Well it's Christmas Eve now and that means tomorrow is going to be a fun day. Also I'm heading back to school in a week, so good news there. Also my laptop should be coming back sometime after next week. Let's hope so, because I hate borrowing this one. It takes about a minute and half to load a browser and then it's slow after that for well until I turn it off. So lets see time to recap the laws of thermodynamics, because I plan on starting a new topic tomorrow, oohhhh ahhhh, what could this new mysterious topic be. Well wait no more it's going to be ..... A SUPRISE. In other words I haven't decided. So let's do that recap of thermodynamics.

First Law of Thermodynamics: You do not talk about Thermodynamics.
Second Law of Thermodynamics: You DO not talk about Thermodynamics.
Third Law of Thermodynamics: If the temperature is at absolute zero then if any process "continues" or has entropy, the universe is over.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics tells us, "When two isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium in itself, but not in equilibrium with each other at first, are at some time allowed to interact, breaking the isolation that separates the two systems, and they exchange matter or energy, they will eventually reach a mutual thermodynamic equilibrium. The sum of the entropies of the initial, isolated systems is less than or equal to the entropy of the final exchanging systems. In the process of reaching a new thermodynamic equilibrium, entropy has increased, or at least has not decreased." This is a pretty cool thing, because what it does is it allows to show that time travel is going to get really wonky fast. So let's say a boy receives a pocket watch from an old lady, eventually he develops a time machine and goes back in time. He meets a beautiful women and gives her the pocket watch. She outlives him and eventually gives said pocket watch to a nice little boy. So we have two points in time that are important here. Point A is the point in time where she gives the boy/man the pocket watch and  Point B is the point in time were he gives it to her. So the Watch must be the same at Point A and Point in B in all respects, the problem is that entropy which will always increase will be different at every point thus showing that it's impossible for this situation to exist. Also speaking of time travel, only two more days until the Christmas Special of Doctor Who. Also if you go to OSU or are in the surrounding area know there are attempts to bring Deadmau5 to OSU, which is pretty exciting. Tomorrow will be time for the Third Law of Thermodynamics so until then enjoy my favorite comic about the Second Law.


 

The First Law of Thermodynamics

The first law of thermodynamics tells us, "Energy can not be created or destroyed, that it can only change from one form to another." So lets jump into more of the point of what I'm doing here. I'm here to teach you some, talk about my life, and hopefully get some money if you enjoy this enough.Every bit helps, even pennies or nickels, because hey they add up. So it's Christmas time and of coarse there are some important things about this time of year. Having a real Christmas tree is paramount, I can't stress this enough. Fake trees are for those who hate Christmas. Next you need to watch some Christmas movies. Finally do not get stuck in an Embassy Suites in El Paso the day after Christmas. You will most likely be stuck there from then until after New Years and if you've never been to El Paso, don't. I can't express how boring and dull this town actually is. I'm pretty sure Pullman, Washington is more entertaining. I mean we resorted to getting around one hundred of those plastic army men with parachutes and going up to the top floor and tossing them off, until the hotel manager came and yelled at us. So remember Christmas is awesome, El Paso is not, and that energy can not be created or destroyed, that it can only change from one form to another.

The Beginning It's Like Navier-Stokes Equations

So, I think this is a lot like doing Navier-Stokes equations, which look like this just so you know.


 Pretty much it's crossing out what doesn't apply and then integrating what does. So moving on, I'm a first year Senior in chemical engineering at Oregon State University. I do a lot outside of my major. This makes life pretty hectic at times, but hey where are we without all that fun and craziness, it's college right. Anyways I figured I'd start writing all this out to take you through the scpecial times I have with some crazy people, and some awesome adventures. I think I'll do some recaps of times long past, to tell you of several crazy times, like that one in Vegas (Yes it's a real story, but it involves ice cream and not strippers.). So let's see, the more people who start subscribing and donating (Yes, I'm asking for donations to help buy a new laptop and pay for school. I'm actually writting this on a friends laptop since mine is being fixed as we speak. Again for like the sixth time this year.), the more I'll post and do. So, I'll end with a funny picture.



(President Obama with a t-shirt that deals with Navier-Stokes)