Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Study Aid Review: The Ultimate Physics 2 Tutor Volume 1: Thermodynamics

 


This set is honestly, probably a bit overkill for the amount of Thermodynamics you are likely to be exposed to in Physics. Most physics curriculums tackle Thermo for a couple of weeks (at most) either at the very end of the first semester or the very beginning of the second semester. This will give you all the theory behind the concepts of Thermo and the equations that you will need in Physics. But, Thermo also comes up in the first year of Chemistry (at least part of which any engineering major will need to take) and is offered as a stand-alone engineering class that will either be required or an elective, depending on what area of engineering you are studying. While the examples that Jason goes over on this set are not exactly like the problems you would see in an engineering Thermodynamics class, the theory is the same, and will definitely help you.

The set is divided into three discs, each of which has several lessons/sections.

Disc One Contains:
Section 1: Thermometers and Temperature Scales
Section 2: Expansion and Contraction of Solids and Liquids
Section 3: Kinetic Theory of Gases

Disc 2 Contains:
Section 4: Heat
Section 5: Latent Heat and Phase Change
Section 6: Heat Transfer by Convection, Radiation, and Conduction
Section 7: Work, Heat, and PV Diagrams

And Disc 3 Contains:
Section 8: The First Law of Thermodynamics
Section 9: Heat Engines and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Section 10: Refrigerators
Section 11: Entropy

For me, the section on PV diagrams was very helpful, and it is probably the lesson that helped me the most in my engineering Thermodynamics class. We did not really discuss them much in physics but used them all the time in the engineering class. Like Jason's other sets, he breaks down each topic providing enough theory to make the topic understandable without getting bogged down in the minutia. Then he goes through examples to help solidify the topics. It is just him standing in front of a whiteboard giving a simulated lecture, however, and not everyone's style of learning is conducive to that. But, if yours is, this is a great set that will be helpful beyond just a physics class.

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