Hey guys, welcome back! And just like that we’re into lockdown 2.0. Lucky for you that hopefully means I’ll be a bit more active on here the next few weeks. Thought for this one I’d give you a rundown on all the details of the papers from sem 1 with a few tips and tricks thrown in there.
CHEMMAT 201: Introduction to Process Engineering
This course is fundamental to the CHEMMAT degree and builds on from the basics you were taught in ENGGEN 140. You’re going to be drawing a lot of block flow diagrams and doing heaps of mass and energy balances. The appendix of tables is going to become your best friend and something else to look forward to is learning how to read 8 axis psychometric charts (yay!). Just make sure you stay on top of the material and understand everything as you go in this course because it’s is going to be crucial moving forward in your degree (the sem 2 courses are Energy and PROCESSING, Transfer PROCESSES and PROCESS Design).
CHEMMAT 204: Materials
This course is essentially a carry on from CHEMMAT 121 and is all about materials science. You’re going to learn heaps more about steel and the good old iron carbon phase diagram. There’s also a module on materials characterisation which I personally really enjoyed and some more in-depth content on vacancies, diffusion, nucleation, and annealing. And don’t worry, Steve makes a comeback in the last section of the course where you’ll learn about tensile testing, mechanical and fatigue failure, creep, and non-destructive testing methods. There’s also a huuuggeee lab report so I would 10/10 recommend trying to get as much of that done in the break as possible and not leave it until the last week. It’s going to be a lot more time consuming than you think. Trust me.
CHEMMAT 206: Applied Chemistry
A big portion of this course is revision of high school chemistry (if you haven’t done level 3 I would recommend learning a bit of this over summer otherwise things are going to move very quickly for you through the first section of the course). The first module is all about chemical thermodynamics, kinetics, and equilibrium before moving on to some analytical chemistry with Thomas. You then cover the basics of electrochemistry and organics before Ashton comes in and spends the last few weeks trying to sell you his F-Wave polymer roofing tiles. Haha he actually covers conducting polymers, biosensors and polymer roofing but makes these lectures a lot of fun!
ENGSCI 211: Mathematical modelling
You guessed it, this course is just a carry on from ENGSCI 111. There’s a lot of ODEs, some multivariable calculus and then more stats (cry) in the data analysis module. You’ve got to do a bit of coding (MATLAB and R) so don’t think you’ve escaped that now first years over. This is the only coding you’ve got to do as a CHEMMAT student in sem 1, but don’t worry, there’s more MATLAB coming for ya in sem 2.
Just another tip- all three CHEMMAT courses are very paper heavy. You get given sooo many handouts so make sure you keep them all organised so you don’t lose any when it comes to exam study time. I went through sem 1 as a pen and paper gal but was eventually convinced by nearly all of friends who had iPads to make the purchase for sem 2 and it has honestly been the best decision I’ve made.
Thanks for reading, catch ya next time!