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Engineering: The challenge of temperature
Engineering is about extending the horizons of society by solving technical problems, ranging from the meeting of basic human needs for food and shelter to the generation of wealth by trade. This free course, Engineering: The challenge of temperature, looks at the impact of changes in temperature on a variety of objects and looks at the problem of how to boil water.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- relate the temperature of a solid to the mean kinetic energy of its atoms
- use models for thermally induced effects that involve linear, exponential and step changes
- use exponentials, logarithms and graphical methods to interpret data from a thermally activated process in terms of Arrhenius's law
- identify the changes of phase taking place in a variety of critical phenomena
- provide examples of gradual, accelerating and sudden changes in the properties of materials that accompany changes in temperature.
First Published: 10/08/2012
Updated: 23/05/2019
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