Common Science

How Chemical Engineering Is Like Calculus

If you are not familiar with chemical engineering, you may have the impression that it is a narrowly-focused degree intended to train you to design and operate equipment that you might find in chemical plants such as pumps, reactors, and distillation towers. While chemical engineers are certainly taught these things, the foundation of the degree is a much broader study of the application of chemistry and physics to real world phenomena. Thus it can be and is used by graduates in many non-chemical industry jobs. There is also a strong emphasis on data analysis and problem solving. As a result, chemical engineers tend to have quite varied careers.

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Mercury Rising

As I noted last week in Of Minerals and Men, the journal Nature recently reported that the concentration of mercury in the upper zone of the world’s oceans has more than tripled since the start of the Industrial Revolution. I...

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All About Electricity

The fatal flaw in solar roads is that they generate direct current (DC) power which is difficult to transmit over long distances without significant loss of power. Alternating current (AC) power can be transmitted over long distances with only a small loss of power. This difference in transmission losses explains why electricity transmission around the globe uses AC rather than DC.

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