Prevalence of chemistry in Mechanical Engg.

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>I was wondering how important is chemistry in mechanical engineering. I don't have much trouble with the topics that overlap physics and chemistry both (like thermodynamics). I'm talking about the acids/bases, organic chemistry, etc part. I do have some trouble with those parts.</p>

<p>So, how important do are these concepts in university for a mechanical engineering major? </p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>in general not much. i can personally think of two areas where chemistry might be useful

  1. the more direct method would be if you are doing a chemical function. like building a water treatment plant or something. but that also borders on civil/chemical eng.
  2. material science applications. the behavior of various substances might be really important. say you work a lot on thermo/fuel cells/batteries. maybe your boss says he wants you to look into a new substances to be used in the battery? what are the behavioral aspects of the various new substances? maybe it preforms better, but will not hold a charge after about a month. how would it work at extremely low temps? these are questions that can be answered/supplemented with a basic understanding of chemistry.</p>

<p>but topics like acids/bases and o. chem, not really… tend more to care about the physical chemistry aspect of chemistry.</p>

<p>edit: found this thread for you
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/118835-amount-chemistry-mechanical-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/118835-amount-chemistry-mechanical-engineering.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;