Does anyone have any advise on what to study for the first test? Up to this point I'm not sure what material I should be studying. He mentioned this past Wed that there will be 3 problems and sort of what they were going to be like. I would like to get a jump start this weekend...

9/9/2010 5:18:03 PM

study the notes and make sure you can do any hw problem

9/9/2010 7:02:33 PM

two questions should be fine like the hw/book and class/note problems but one will have something slightly different in it that he mentioned in class, like an exception or a nonstandard case or something similar. that is pretty much the MO of most of his tests. The average will be about a 65.

9/9/2010 11:08:52 PM

WOW, that's a horrible average.

9/10/2010 7:56:32 AM

he'll curve. Just do your HW and actually understand how you are solving the different types of problems on your HW and you will be fine. Show all your work, show your units, etc. on the test.

9/10/2010 8:24:52 AM

^^ haha well you will have some wake up calls in classes then. don't worry too much about the average on tests. the average in most engineering classes on tests are around 65-70. there are exceptions but the main big classes are like this.

^ and this

9/10/2010 10:38:52 AM

CalledToArms: thanks for the advice...

ScubaSteve: Ya, I've had tons of classes here already where the curve is like this. I understand the professors are under stress to have about a 70 average for the semester final grades, but when the average is this low, it really means the professors have not truly prepared the students... They prepare students just enough for the majority to nearly fail, and the brilliant ones to shine...

9/10/2010 1:44:05 PM

^ You really don't know what you're talking about. If you want to bitch and complain about low averages, drop MAE 301 with Boles and take it with Kleinstreuer (assuming he is teaching it this semester).

Boles is an excellent teacher, as well as Dr. Echekki. Boles will teach you the material in a more than adequate manner. You're expected to show up to class and to do the work.

You'll know by the end of the semester whether you have truly learned the material or not. I ended up with a C in Fluid Mechanics because I fucked up hard on the first test (I knew the material, but I got nervous and fucked up BADLY on the units, and the teacher was a pretty big douche when grading. If you made a mistake in section A and carried that mistake to section D, you would lose points in each and every section, even if you did B-D correctly as far as methodology goes). On the second test I got a 97 or so on it and I think I did decent on the final. By the end, even though I had a C in the class, I felt that I knew more than what that C had told me.

Now, with heat transfer, I had an awful teacher for that (Nancy Moore). She was a grad student. I worked hard at the class, and I did decent on her tests, but even though I got a B in the class, I still didn't feel confident that I had learned much from the class.

You are seriously underestimating the number of dumbasses that can be in these classes. And just because the average is a 65, doesn't mean that half the class failed the test. All it takes is a few fuck ups to take the average down. They're called outliers.

9/10/2010 2:11:04 PM

Merbig: LOL...

9/10/2010 2:28:21 PM

Yea, Boles is a great professor, Thermo is not hard, but with any entry level engineering course you have a lot of people in there bringing the average down who just aren't engineering material. As I said before: do his homework and if you understand that work you'll do fine in his class. I know that sounds like the advice for any class, but really, he doesn't throw big curve balls. He teaches the material thoroughly and his tests are really on what he covers.

9/10/2010 8:46:43 PM

CalledToArms: Thanks for the info.

9/11/2010 9:30:33 PM

Quote :

"when the average is this low, it really means the professors have not truly prepared the students"

many would disagree

[Edited on September 13, 2010 at 7:28 PM. Reason : in my experience, 65 is pretty normal (maybe a little above average) in MAE classes]

9/13/2010 7:21:28 PM

NRR and CalledtoArms are dead on..

don't just memorize the HW problems, actually try to understand the theory behind them. often he'll combine elements from two or three problems into one and ask you to analyze it

and UNITS

9/14/2010 2:57:17 PM

Test #1 done...

9/16/2010 8:43:32 AM

in this class right now. that shit was booty. at least a 90.

9/16/2010 3:16:36 PM

Ya, I felt good about it too, but we'll see. When I feel good it either means I did awesome or not so good. Did he say he would post the grades or do we just have to wait until class.

Those that took this class, does he curve the tests or just the final grade (or both)?

9/16/2010 6:03:54 PM

in the 3 classes i had with boles, you never knew your grade until he handed it back in class

he does not curve the test grades

[Edited on September 16, 2010 at 7:09 PM. Reason : never had an MAE professor who curved tests that i can remember]

9/16/2010 6:56:55 PM

^ as far as i can remember, any curving was done at the end of the semester, not on individual tests.

9/17/2010 12:57:06 PM

i don't think he really curved at the end either

he just gives everyone a straight letter grade based on their average (no plus or minus) and then uses plus and minus grades to bump you up if he saw improvement down the stretch or knew that you were really working hard and felt that your raw letter grade doesn't accurately reflect your effort.

in the 3 classes i had with him, at the end, he would always tell us "if you receive a plus or minus grade, that means i bumped you up. a B- does not mean that you missed a B, it means you received a high C and i felt that you had earned a higher grade so i bumped you to a B-."

[Edited on September 17, 2010 at 2:19 PM. Reason : with homework grade averaged in, it should not be difficult to pass this class]

9/17/2010 2:18:48 PM

WOW, I did horrible on the first test. I studied exactly what was told, but it looks like I screwed up an equation that was needed for like every calculation on the second problem. That sucks... I had the right idea on the last problem, but ran out of time.

9/28/2010 7:55:10 AM

I had Boles for 301 and 302 and he did very little curving. NeuseRvrRat pretty much nailed it on the head.

10/6/2010 11:14:48 AM

I'm having with a problem with two problems from the book if anyone can assist. I've looked back through the book and am not seeing this.

7-41) Refrigerant 134a is expanded isentropically from 800 kPa and 60 degrees C at the inlet of a steady-flow turbine to 100 kPa at the outlet. The outlet area is 1 m squared, and the inlet is .5 m squared. Calculate the inlet and outlet velocities when the mass flow rate is .5 kg/s.

7-49) Calculate the heat transfer, in kJ/kg, for the reversible steady-flow process 1-3 shown in figure P7-49. I know I can't put in the figure, but figured the math would be standard for something like this.

Any help would be appreciated.

11/8/2010 10:14:56 PM

OK, I got 7-49. I'm still stuck on the first. What I have come up with is:

m(dot) x (h_1 + KE) = m(dot) x (h_2 + KE)

I can't figure out how to get either of the velocities though...

11/8/2010 11:12:23 PM

I will just offer up what I help I can without opening a book or looking up any values and what not.

Couldn't you look up the density of the liquid (R-134a) at 800kPa and 60 C and the entropy?

With the density, mass flow rate and area, can't you just divide the mass flow rate by the density and the area to get the inlet velocity?

With the entropy and the exit pressure, look up what the density is at 100kPa at that entropy (I'm not looking at any property tables, so you will just have to look around).

With the density, just repeat the calculation for the exit as you did for the inlet using the exit area, the mass flow rate (same as before) and the new density.

11/8/2010 11:42:32 PM

Thanks Merbig.

That's what I was thinking too. I did try that and got a different answer than given. Maybe I screwed up. I'll have another look.

v=mdot / (density x A)

= .5/ (1443)(1)

= .0003465 (the answer given is .030)

11/9/2010 12:02:30 AM

Ok. I opened up my book.

First of all, this is superheated R-134a. The inlet area is .5 m^2. I get .030.

Let me note that it's been a while since I've had to read a thermo table. But in this case, at 800 kPa, the saturation temperature is 31.31 C. Anything above that temperature, and we're in the superheated region. Anything below that temperature, and we're just going to use the saturated values.

11/9/2010 12:35:38 AM

Ya, I saw I had the exit area rather than the inlet. I'll have to look through the tables again for the correct density this evening. It looks like I had the right idea initially, just all the wrong data.

Thanks for the description...

11/9/2010 6:17:55 PM

Ok, coming up on test 3 and I need any help I can get. I'm doing horrible in class. To prep I'm going to review the notes and work any problems within the notes. Work previous homework problems. Any other suggestions. I can complete the homework with no issues as long as I have resources to get me through them. I'm just not good enough yet with working them quickly on tests with no book. The professor suggested working out notes problems hiding the answers.

11/10/2010 11:24:21 PM

I can't find in my notes how to interpolate. Can anyone help out.

11/16/2010 9:17:35 PM

Ok, I figured out my previous question but I have another...

I need to find the mass of air needed to produce maximum work of 1000 kj assuming the air has a constant specific heat evaluated at 300k

t1 = 427 degrees c
p1 = 600 kpa
p2 = 100 kpa

in a piston-cylinder, expanding adiabatically

11/17/2010 1:32:17 AM

use ideal gas relations to get t2

no heat transfer in or out

change in enthalpy is just mass*C_p*delta_T

set that equal to the work you wanna get

solve for mass

change your major and head on over to nelson hall because this is about as fucking basic as thermo gets. nothing easier than ideal gas in a P-C device.

[Edited on November 17, 2010 at 6:25 PM. Reason : adfs]

11/17/2010 6:19:01 PM

Mind your F'n business NeuseRvrRat. If people already knew what was learned in college before it was taught there would be no point in going to school, moron. And of course this is basic Thermo, it's Thermo 1. Also this is test three material, so really, there is 1/2 a semester of material that is more basic than this. Are you really that dumb?

Reading through all of your comments you've posted here, you are obviously lost and have a lot to learn about the real world and how it works. No worries though, you may get there some day. Keep your head up kid...

11/17/2010 7:44:09 PM

you're welcome

11/17/2010 7:55:29 PM

Yes, thanks. I always love an opportunity to teach a child... You are our future!

11/17/2010 8:01:12 PM

why u mad tho?

11/17/2010 8:18:14 PM

Yeah dude if you can't learn from boles and clearly can't teach yourself... GET OUT NOW!

Or take the class 4 times and have this shit memorized.

Not trying to be a jerk... i've just been there before.

11/17/2010 8:37:33 PM

I'm fine with the material. This message board is in "study hall". When I have a question I ask. Ended up getting through the homework just fine without this help. The material is not hard for those of you with the false image that you are so much smarter than everyone else for have already taken the class and know a couple equations. Boles is smart, but not the best teacher by far.

11/17/2010 9:09:38 PM

/shrug. Boles was probably the best ME teacher I had

11/18/2010 9:00:47 AM

I graduated from the ME dept. this past spring. Now that I'm in grad school elsewhere, I had to take another thermo class covering MAE 301 and MAE 302 over again and, trust me, Boles is a great thermo teacher, but he's tough!

For the record, I'm not dissing you for asking here, these are normal questions for thermo, following the normal flow of the class!

[Edited on November 18, 2010 at 7:38 PM. Reason : ]

11/18/2010 7:33:22 PM

Any advice for Boles finals (besides studying like I know some jackass will say).

12/3/2010 7:31:44 PM

so go back and think about the different kind of questions he could've asked for each test

then look at which ones he actually did put on those

the ones he didn't put on the tests are likely to be on the final

then there will also be one or two questions that aren't much different than ones you had on the tests

is this 301 or 302?

12/3/2010 9:52:11 PM