Improving Engineering Thermodinamics learning with Mathematica

Abstract

[EN]Sophomore students from the Chemical Engineering Degree at the University of Salamanca, are involved in a Mathematics course during the first semester and in an Engineering Thermodynamics course during the second one. When they participate in the latter they are already familiar with mathematical software to solve numerical methods problems, including non-linear equations, interpolation or differential equations. On one hand, we present in this paper some of the materials elaborated in both courses with the Wolfram Mathematica package, and on the other, the didactic organization of the Engineering Thermodynamics course. The objective of the experience is to increase the interrelationship between different subjects, to promote transversal skills, and to make the subject closer to real working procedures the students will find in their future careers. The satisfactory results of the experience are exposed in this work.