Thinking about becoming an chemical engineer

[sxandr6]

So I'm looking a my school schedule for next semester and have been toying with the idea of becoming a chemical engineer, but I really don't know very much about it. So I'm thinking that I'll take intro to chemistry but the only way it'll fit into my schedule is taking it online. I'm kind of worried that it's a class that really should be taken in a class room. Should I wait, or is taking it online not going to be that bad? Thoughts.

[UC]

Just a heads up: Being a ChemE is a lot of math and not a lot of chemistry. You do some chem early on, but the higher level material is all fluid dynamics, properties of materials, etc.

 

Basically, the job description is to design and maintain equipment used in chemicals processing. This could be an oil company, a smaller company that produces inks or pharmaceuticals, or even a food production plant.

 

If you like tinkering with flasks and reactions, it's not the place for you.

[greenprogrammin]

If the class is Chemistry 101 it is ok to take online. It is a lot of general information and introductory stuff.

 

General Chemistry develops an understanding of how to use math to determine quantities of atoms, molecules, energy (as heat, calories, etc...).

 

When you are trying to apply the math to the reaction then you will want to make sure and understand the big picture.

 

Depending on the quality of the online class will depend on if you want to take these classes online. If there are plety of video lectures I would consider it. If they expect you to search YouTube yourself instead of listing all the links themselves, I would not take it. Basically, gen chem books suck and are very hard to get the understanding needed.

 

You may consider online organic and bio- chemistry classes.

 

As far as learning chemical engineering you will need to understand many different reactions, reagents, substrates, enzymes, processes, and so much more.

 

You may also want to determine the type of chemistry you want to pursue. If it is biochemistry or organic chemistry you may be working with a lot of cultures, DNA, RNA, protiens and much more.

 

I think right now you could make a lot of money if you have a patent for a Zebra Mussel control agent. They are taking over the lakes in many US States.

 

To really figure out what works will require an understanding of Zebra Mussel anatomy, physiology, neurology, etc...

 

This is one of the things I would be interested in... lol

Edited November 12, 2009 by greenprogrammin

[A Tripolation]

 

You may consider online organic and bio- chemistry classes.

 

This is something I would definitely advise against. I took organic chem 1 & 2 online and it was a horrible experience. You are basically trying to learn on your own, and the instructor can only provide minimal guidance. Maybe I just suck at chemistry, but to me, Organic Chem is one of the classes that needs to be taken in person.

 

But you should be fine taking General Chem as an online course. I didn't even attend most lectures, as it was mostly stuff I covered in 10th grade, so I'm guessing it will be like that for you too.

[CaptainPanic]

I agree with UC that "chemical engineering" doesn't include much chemistry.

 

I have a MSc in it, and I never do any labwork. I design factories for a living... and we don't get started until somebody in the lab has worked out something new - or unless the market demands an improvement of a process.

 

Typically, the oil and energy (increasingly also sustainable energy) markets are the biggest. Petrochemistry, plastics, steel and other metals, food and pharma are pretty big too.

 

The cool thing is that there is hardly a material around you that doesn't come from a factory that was designed by a chemical engineer. The plastics, paints, paper, coatings, metals, foams, glass - all the materials come from big factories. They're all expected to be high quality and low price goods... and chemical engineers do the optimization of the factories to achieve and improve that.

 

It's the coolest job in the world

[insane_alien]

of course thats not to say that a decent background in chemistry isn't vital.

 

you really do need to be quite comfortable dealing with chemical equations and so on.

 

I'm studying chemical engineering(graduate this year). i'm also an amateur chemist i just muck about with it in my spare time, mostly just trying to make lab grade chemicals from household materials at the moment. varying success.

[hermanntrude]

I'm a pure chemist, and I think chemical engineering is a wise choice if you can handle all the physics and math involved. There are a dozen chemical engineer jobs for every one chemist job.

 

As for taking chemistry online I'd say it's not impossible but it will be harder for you this way. It takes a lot of motivation to study onoine to a reasonable standard, and it's quite frustrating being "taught" by a guy who sends an email once a week and expects you to do the rest for yourself.

[sxandr6]

Hey everyone, thanks for the information, it's much appreciated.