It's great to be back in college again, by the end of the first semester in second year i couldn't wait to get away but by the time i was going back to college i was well up for it. I'm about five weeks into semester two and nicely settled in. This semester again has a set of six new subjects. Only this semester they are very chemical engineering based rather than general science stuff that all science disciplines would be doing like in 1st year. One of the most interesting new subjects we are doing is a module called Bioreactor Design. I really like this subject which has only been introduced in the past year or two. Its all about engineering biology and calculating how long the life of this bacteria inside a container is going to live for without food, at what stage and time will this start producing our desired product. What type of conditions suit the growth and how would we design a reactor to facilitate these conditions for growth. It's a good interesting subject anyway. One of the strangest things about this semester is that we don't have engineering maths but instead we just have it in every other subject in one way or another, i honestly don't think there is a subject that we don't use maths in. It may sound horrible to some but its actually not too bad when you know that the maths you are doing is helping you out and your getting results that work. Other subjects we have are Physics of Materials, this is all about how to test materials for strength, what they're made of, what materials react with what and so on. I like it, its not the hardest thank god... Another new subject we have is called Particulate Systems, this is all about particles and how they act in different conditions and what type of solubility's they have and about different elements and common molecules. It pretty much ties in with the physics subject... We have a new young enthusiastic lecturer for particulates so it's only a matter of time until we sort out her enthusiasm!! ha ha. Na she's alright, we won't actually mean to break her spirit... I have a couple of more subjects that i want to give particular detail to in my next blog so I'll leave ye waiting at the edge of your seats... ha ha who am i fooling.... But one last thing, a student got in contact with me to ask a few questions about chem eng in college and stuff and i really appreciated the bit of feedback so if you have any questions about anything on chem eng in college feel free to email me on...
johnny-twomey@hotmail.comJohnny Twomey
2nd Year Chem Eng
Cork Institute of Technology
