Thermodynamics is the subject I most wish I retained more of from college. Studied just enough to pass, then promptly forgot most of it. And since it’s a subject that basically never comes up afterwards unless you’re doing pretty specialized work, it’s pretty much all gone.
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I’d like to make much better versions of joking-but-not-joking meta-shitposts like this. Complete with Gibbs free energy calculations, shitposting efficiency etc.
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fwiw (imo) the right way at thermodynamics is from statistical mechanics / information theory so you have to reteach yourself thermo a lot if you do use it
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I don’t think there’s one right way. I like the traditional mechanical engineering path through heat engines/pumps etc
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yeah, all of that is important and practical :D i guess this is latent foundation theory bias coming through on my end 😅
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It is actually extremely impractical! Nobody ever uses Carnot cycles etc after the textbook intro. But it’s like the Turing machines in CS. Shows you the bones of the real thing. The statistical mechanics side is no more foundational than the engines side. Just different tack.
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haha, well, almost no one, i ended up using an ‘ericcson’ cycle (isothermal compression and expansion, isobaric heat addition / extraction) in energy storage, some of the textbook stuff like Ts diagrams come in handy
stat mech justifies 2nd law, so i think it’s more foundational
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