People tend to associate Science and Engineering with fact and numbers, graphs and charts, symbols, formulas & equations, very straight forward, not flexible.. or perhaps, rigid. Well, how should I say? To some extent, I agree with that statement.. but there are many occasions where engineering concepts are better described using very soft and simple analogy based on the daily life.
One of the analogies that I like most, used to describe the concept of 'Reversible process' as an 'Ideal process' under the Second Law of Thermodynamics..where it relates to our daily life.
"In daily life, the concept of Mr. Right and Ms. Right are also idealizations, just like the concept of reversible (perfect) process. People who insist on finding Mr. or Ms. Right to settle down are bound to remain Mr. or Ms. Single for the rest of their lives. Likewise, a person who insist on perfection in friends is bound to have no friends." -Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 7th ed. p291
Look, engineering concept seems to be very beautiful and attractive if we are able to describe them in much simpler words..
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2 comments:
Naz, entry yg menarik!
Tanya sket. Dalam '2nd Law of Thermo', reversible tu adalah ideal and in practical it cant ever be realised 100%. Itu ke maksudnya? (Cuba untuk memahami from engineering context. Dari segi daily life context tu, I understand and take note. Yes, a good advice).
Yup, that's true. Reversible means ideal, perfect process that can't be achieved practically. But we always assume that a process is reversible just to simplify the analysis, also as a reference to the actual process. Otherwise, the analysis will be very complicated.. Hoped the info helps you..:-)
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