Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics

Reviewed by Sean Moroney, Lecturer, Windward Community College on 12/24/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text builds outward from the basic concepts and definitions of the underlying physics, guiding the reader through thermodynamic properties and introducing the subject of gasses. From there, the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics are explored in some depth.
Each Chapter and Section begins with some introductory text, followed by Examples. It is noted that the Solutions to the Examples seem to be written for students with some familiarity with Engineering Thermodynamics; this appears to be inconsistent with the book’s title, which is Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics. It is recommended that the Sections be reviewed and edited to provide a sequence of problems of increasing complexity, with all steps delineated, for the training of the students in this field.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content of the subject of Classical Thermodynamics has, since the science developed, has, in its most basic level, not been subject to change, and, at the level of this text, is unlikely to ever change.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content of the subject of Classical Thermodynamics has, since the science developed, has, in its most basic level, not been subject to change, and, at the level of this text, is unlikely to ever change.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is generally clear and easy to follow; the prose is accessible for any reader. As mentioned above, under Comprehensiveness, the Solutions for the Examples might need to be revisited with the view of making the steps, and their logic, more accessible to the student.

Consistency rating: 5

The Sections of each Chapter are formatted according to a consistent framework. The terminology, once defined, is used consistently. A Glossary is available for the user to check definitions of terms.

Modularity rating: 5

In using this book in a course, it would be fairly easy to define Reading and Problem assignments from specific Sections. Under the Chapter headings, there are Sections that are arranged in a logical and sequential order. The Sections contain text, followed by examples which are, in turn, followed by an external link to a website that contains Practice Problems. It should be fairly easy to assign the Sections in an Academic Calendar.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book was quite well organized. It began with basic definitions and moved along quickly to a presentation of the two Laws of Thermodynamics with a number of applications.

Interface rating: 3

The Left Menu provides for easy navigation from one region of the book to any other region.
There was a large amount of white space throughout the book. For example, Chapter 3. Ideal and Real Gasses began on p. 80 with only the title at the top of the page; the following page was blank. The text of the Chapter began with the first Section on p. 82.
The Appendices were the place where the Tables of Thermodynamic values were to be found. Some Tables, as in Appendix A, were long enough to spread over a number of pages. The students would then have had to retrieve values from these tables; they would have been inconvenienced by the absence of the column headings on each page; the headings were only to be found at the top of the first page.
Some Tables, as, for example, Table B1: Saturated Ammonia, had its sixth and perhaps other columns terminated at the right edge of the page in the pdf display; only 2 digits of the values there were visible.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors (e.g., spelling, sentence structure, or the like) were detected.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There were no humans, or life-forms for that matter, anywhere in the book. It was strictly a technical book about thermodynamic concepts.

Comments

At the end of all the Sections, there is a link to one or more interactive H5P elements containing up to 10 Practice Problems. The Problems may be True or False Questions, text-based Multiple-Choice Questions, or mathematical Multiple-Choice Questions. A student may try one of these Problems and can select a wrong answer. The Problem will then respond with a blue button saying “Show Solution”. If the student has selected True and this is wrong, the Problem will then respond with the word “False”. This is not helpful for learning. Showing the Solution should involve presenting a complete rationale for why the original statement is indeed False. Similarly, a mathematical Question which is marked incorrect will simply have the correct answer displayed without any of the calculations leading to the answer. Clearly, this is unhelpful for students who are receiving this course as an Introduction.