about me and 22fiftyseven
You may have seen my writing before on cfdAnywhere (or maybe not). That was for my now-defunct side biz Sandhill Analytics. But this project is non-commercial. This is for the challenge, the fun, and the growth that comes from doing something out on a limb. From doing something that might not work. To practice. To see what happens. It’s part of my constant quest to move up to a higher state. It’s my current 22fiftyseven project. If watching me stumble, fall, get up, keep going, only to stumble again isn’t for you, that’s cool. But if you want to tag along for a while…
Want a little more?
I’m papa to a 5-year. He’s one very cool dude. You might see me mention him on here every once in a while.
In the early 80s, the Forest Grove New Times asked a bunch of kindergarteners what they wanted to be when they grew up. You know the common responses: nurse, fire fighter, cop. One blurb read, “When I grow up, I want to be an engineer.” The kid that said that? You’re looking at him.
While I enjoyed living in Forest Grove, OR for a few years as a kid, I’m forever grateful we moved back to Albuquerque, NM when I was seven. My grandpa Ignacio taught me how to be an engineer. I’ll never forget building stuff with him in his garage.
Speaking of that garage…twice I came up short trying to win the science fair with projects that came out of there. A Rube Goldberg Machine and a Perpetual Motion Machine of the First Kind. I came in a distant 17th (or so) place because those projects “didn’t work.” Au contraire mon frère. They worked because I’m sitting here right now, writing these words.
J.P. Joule and Lord Kelvin are the gods of thermodynamics. How could they not be with names like that?
I got my Engineer in Training Certificate almost 18 years into the workforce. I recently passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam and am now a licensed Professional Engineer in Washington State.
One of my most challenging “22fiftyseven moments” was learning to ski a few years ago. Falling down as an adult, time after time over the course of multiple seasons, totally sucks!!! But it was worth the get-back-up.
Ice Cube once cut me off while boarding a plane from Newark to Seattle. A “scuse me bro” was all I got.
why 22fiftyseven?
Phase change. That’s what we’re talking about here. How much energy do you need to put in, day after day, to get to the next stop on your journey? To change from where you are today up to a higher state?
Think of boiling water. The input energy comes from the flames below the pot, slowly heating up the water from the cold tap to 100C (that’s 212F for you Imperial folks). You start to see some bubbles, maybe a little steam flowing off the surface. But the temperature of the water doesn’t change. It stays squarely at 100C the entire time, until all the liquid has evaporated.
The energy from the flames is breaking up bonds and expanding the fluid, not changing the water’s temperature. That’s the nature of phase change. If all you had were a thermometer, you might think you were toiling away, wasting time and effort, with no noticeable change to the number on the dial. In fact, you might think you’re going backwards, if all you’re monitoring is the volume of the liquid. That’s why they call it latent heat.
latent (adjective): present or potential but not evident or active
Well, that’s what I’m doing here with 22fiftyseven. Working on my latest phase change. You may not notice if you’re not really paying attention. But if you follow my writing closely, you’ll see my internal energy rising and my volume expanding, even if you don’t see my temperature changing.
BTW, you may be questioning my value of 2257 for the enthalpy of vaporization. Some folks reference 2256.4, but I’m pulling from my old Thermo textbook: Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics, 5th Edition, by Moran and Shapiro.