With the economy the way it is, I suggest getting as many degrees as you can. Really learn the material. If you really want to be an engineer, have the practical knowledge to back up your book learning. Design-build-fly extra-curriculars are good. Or get experience riveting or doing...
Thanks, gasgiant. That's the type of thing I was looking for, but if there's anything else out there I'll read those too. I was too lazy to parse the large number of google hits I was getting, but my searches may not have been specific enough. I picked up a cheap generic ChemE handbook also...
Canard: Boeing's unfortunately abandoned Sonic Cruiser would most likely have been a canard. The problem was not controllability: it was keeping the canard from hitting the jetway. Further, the instability of canards can easily be overcome with modern digital control systems.
3-surface: Check...
VASIMR is low-thrust, high-specific impulse, in-space propulsion. It will not be used in an atmosphere. There will not be a nuclear launch engine for at least 2 generations. Space reactors aren't "hot" until after they are on an earth-escape trajectory.
Quite simple Mach number calculations:
T_0/T = 1 + [(g-1)/2]*M^2
where T_0 is stagnation temperature, T is static (ambient) temperature, M is Mach number, g is specific heat ratio.
g can be approximated by (n+2)/n where n is the degrees of freedom of the gas, which increases with temperature...
I'd like to learn the basics of air separation to be able to converse better with a friend of mine. I do not understand most of the Chem-E specific jargon I read in this group, but I've got a MSME in high temperature gases and fluid mechanics and undergrad in Aerospace Eng. So I'll need...
