This course, Engineering: The challenge of temperature, looks at the impact of changes in temperature on a variety of objects and looks at the problem of how to boil water.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Relate the temperature of a solid to the mean kinetic energy of its atoms
• Use models for thermally induced effects that involve linear, exponential and step changes
• Use exponentials, logarithms and graphical methods to interpret data from a thermally activated process in terms of Arrhenius's law
• Identify the changes of phase taking place in a variety of critical phenomena
• Provide examples of gradual, accelerating and sudden changes in the properties of materials that accompany changes in temperature.