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Topic: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?  (Read 60432 times)

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Offline kingofxbox99

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #60 on: May 19, 2014, 06:05:08 AM »
Thanks, curiouscat! I think I'm fairly confident I want to go into Chem Eng. :)

I can't wait until next year! :P

Offline curiouscat

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #61 on: May 19, 2014, 06:16:11 AM »
Thanks, curiouscat! I think I'm fairly confident I want to go into Chem Eng. :)

I can't wait until next year! :P

I'll just caution you, be ready for surprises. :)

Of the people I knew, barely 50% stuck to the major they had planned on while entering college. So, while it's good to know what you want to do, keep an open mind.

Offline kingofxbox99

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #62 on: May 19, 2014, 06:18:29 AM »
As much as I agree with you, I can't see myself doing anything other than engineering. I've been set on engineering since I was young. They toughest part was deciding which field to go into, but I like the sound of chemical.

Do you take a fair amount of organic chem courses in chem eng?

Offline curiouscat

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #63 on: May 19, 2014, 07:41:22 AM »
As much as I agree with you, I can't see myself doing anything other than engineering. I've been set on engineering since I was young. They toughest part was deciding which field to go into, but I like the sound of chemical.

Fair enough.

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Do you take a fair amount of organic chem courses in chem eng?

Some. But not as much as a Chem. Major. Depends on the univ. I only took two O. Chem classes & two O. Chem. Labs.

Offline eazye1334

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #64 on: May 19, 2014, 11:49:52 AM »
Do you take a fair amount of organic chem courses in chem eng?
Just to confirm what curiouscat said, I only had two courses and two labs as well. And really, I didn't have to take the second course, it just depended on the concentration I was interested in.

Offline curiouscat

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #65 on: May 19, 2014, 01:35:01 PM »
Do you take a fair amount of organic chem courses in chem eng?
Just to confirm what curiouscat said, I only had two courses and two labs as well. And really, I didn't have to take the second course, it just depended on the concentration I was interested in.

Yes,  Che. involves a lot less Chemistry than people usually assume.

Offline kingofxbox99

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #66 on: May 19, 2014, 05:28:28 PM »
I guess people assume that you need to know all specific details and such about chemicals you're working with, but is a lot of that the role of the chemist in the project?

Also, what kind of chemistry DO engineers deal with? Like I know it's not as much of theory stuff.

Thermodynamics? Organic reactions (if you're in oil/gas and pharma)? What other things are primarily chemistry-oriented?

Offline curiouscat

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #67 on: May 22, 2014, 01:52:06 AM »

Also, what kind of chemistry DO engineers deal with? Like I know it's not as much of theory stuff.


All kinds. Just nowhere as much as a real chemist does.

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Thermodynamics? Organic reactions (if you're in oil/gas and pharma)? What other things are primarily chemistry-oriented?

Yes. Lots of thermo. Organic too.

Offline eazye1334

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #68 on: May 22, 2014, 07:25:15 AM »
Fluid dynamics and p-chem, too. Process design and process control aren't "chemistry", but you'll see those as well.

Offline thelastone

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #69 on: June 05, 2014, 04:04:08 AM »
The thruth is that a title "chemical engineer" or " chemist" it's just a word in a paper hanging on the wall, you can go for any of them and when you finish your education reinforce wathever field you like the most.

Personally I'm a chemical engineer that has ended up leading a control quality Lab in a pesticide company, so as you can imagine I had to learn A LOT of organic chemistry + Analytical chemistry, which was a pleasure: Actually I'm going to be a chemist also, in one of those distance learning universities.

PS.: I respect and listen to the chemists, and the engineers of other fields mit whom I have to work, and I believe that  I'm not superior to them in nothing, and yes, they usually come to see me when there is a problem with the equipment.

Offline TyPie

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Re: Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering?
« Reply #70 on: July 14, 2014, 07:17:28 PM »
I had a professor from India who taught a manufacturing course.  I got the book for the course ahead of time, and read through half of it before summer was over.  It turned out to be one of the hardest classes that I ever had.  We went through the full 1200 pg. book in 1 semester.  At the end of the semester it was all about getting the perfect tools to do the job as efficiently as possible.  At the end of the course, only 1 person made an A.  A lot of the people were failing, but he said if they came by his office for an hour at least each day he would give them a C.

I learned that there are so many small things to save pennies in manufacturing, and that these pennies really begin to add up.

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