Which is harder at university: engineering or chemistry?

[ShawnD1]

Currently I'm in mechanical engineering. On the physics midterm about static equilibrium; the average for the entire mechanical engineering group was about 48%. The average for the class I'm in was 52%. Of all the mech engineers, only 46% of us got a passing grade (no bell curve); I was not one of those lucky enough to pass.
I've never seen physics this insanely difficult. Is chemistry any easier? If I can pull off passing grades for the rest of the year, I can take my credits and transfer into chemistry. The question is should I? I like physics (engineering) and chemistry about the same amount so either way I'd be on a good career path. I've seen some of the work that the third year engineers do and it's just crazy. Would chemistry be any easier?

Surely some of the members here went to university, hopefully at least one of the members majored in chemistry.

[Joost]

I don't know about chemistry, but I do know that physics sometimes looks more difficult then it is. I am an applied physics student(Msc), and it happens very often that some course looks impossible to pass, but appears passable when you take it step by step and work hard.

If you really think chemistry is just as much fun as physics, and someone would tell you that it is easier, then you could decide to switch. However, I assume, and can imagine, that you prefer physics, as that was your first choice 2 years ago. Therefore I think you should only switch if you really are convinced that you no longer like physics or if you are convinced you will never ever pass.

Such a decision can in my opinion not be taken right after acquiring a poor result. The result is btw not so poor after all, since you are clearly not the only one that didn't pass.

Joost

[Joost]

Oh, and you should also take into account the possible negative impact on you self image when switching to something easier, when you are not entirely convinced that pysics is undo-able or that you no longer like it.

[shahani]

Well, I completed a MS in Mechanical Engineering at IIT, Chicago. Class of 1983.

All I can say is Chemistry at the level necessary for Engineering is learnable as is Physics.

Its the Math that will be challenging. Specially Variational Calculas as well as some purely engineering subjects like Strength of Materials.

It depends on aptitude. Some people find Organic Chemistry very difficult. Its very systemmatic and once you grasp the principles and logic its a breeze. Like geometry.

On the other hand, some mathemetical concepts, though equally logic driven, are simply too esoteric for Joe Average to assimilate. A triple closed integral used to solve certain partial differential equations in Entropy come to mind. As do certain aspects of RF (radio frequency) plasma characterisation equations.

Go by your aptitude and interest in the long term. After 20 years I have forgotten all this and am a banker now. Don't do a course based on how easy it will be to get through. To my mind, a liberal arts education should be a breeze. But then how will you find a job?

My son faces the same dilemma and based on his aptitude and interest has decided to persue a Bio-chemistry type of program leaning towards Pharmacy. Most of the Global Pharma Companies are withing 50 miles of where I live and one has to look at job opportunity as well.

The worst course of action would be to take what seems an easy course now and then feel tortured for the rest of your life because test tubes/chemistry labs/research is simply not what you like to be doing for the next 45 years.

Good luck.

[U-96]

Its very systemmatic and once you grasp the principles and logic its a breeze... ...To my mind, a liberal arts education should be a breeze

If liberal arts are taught correctly, there is no system, no unifying principle, no logic. Just precedent, probability, and inference. Rarely fact. That might sound easy, when told that there are no right answers, but there are plenty of wrong ones awaiting the unwary student

[jerrygarcia]

Originally posted by shahani

The worst course of action would be to take what seems an easy course now and then feel tortured for the rest of your life because test tubes/chemistry labs/research is simply not what you like to be doing for the next 45 years.

Good luck.

This seems to directly apply to me. I was in a Mech. Eng. course of study for two years. I never had problems with physics, chemistry or math; or anything that was in the least bit abstract. But I had self realization of "Is this what I really want to do for the rest of my life?".

I then changed my outlook and became a firefighter which isn't any 'easier'. After a lot of hard work and studying, I love my job and couldn't even imagine doing anything else for a living(except now I have a second career as an electrician in my off time).

I figured out that I was more of a hands-on 100mph kind of guy and the fire department has provided me with all that I can handle. It has been a great 11 years since I made my choice.

It is hard to decide what you really want to do for the rest of your life when a young adult. I hope I didn't confuse you.

[ShawnD1]

Hmm great advice guys. I think I'll switch then. Chemists are always doin stuff in the lab. It gets repetative but it's a bit different every time. Engineering on the other hand is just CAD; all day every day. I know a few engineers (most of them electrical) and what they do is CAD.......all day.

I was always better at chem anyway.

[Theophylact]

Speaking as a chemist (PhD 1968), I found physics harder. But that was because of the math, which I never got quite good enough at. I suspect that if I had learned calculus purely as a practical tool, rather than as an intellectual exercise, I could have avoided busting my head on the proofs and just acquired the techniques; then physics (and physical chemistry, for that matter) wouldn't have been so tough.

Understanding principles is easier, I think, in physics than in chemistry, because physics is easier to visualize.

[ShawnD1]

That's where it gets tricky. I have a hard time seeing physics problems; too many dimensions! (2 or more). For variable forces it doesn't matter which way you interpret them since you just get a negative answer. For things like friction though, direction makes a huge difference. When looking a problem thath as 3 surfaces touching and they all have friction between them; the direction of friction on each piece gets very confusing. For a question I'm working on right now, I put the friction as being the wrong direction and I ended with an angle of about 8 degrees for a slant. If I put the friction the other way, I get 40 degrees. Some other people in class put normal forces (reaction forces) in different ways and they end with different numbers. Almost nobody has the same answer for these problems. We end up working together and never knowing what the real answer is.

Physics seems a lot harder to understand because it goes against everything you see in reality. Simple ideas like frictionless surfaces are hard to imagine because they just don't exist. In a way, you could say that chemistry is easier to see because you can actually see it. Physics is just a bunch of ideas that work great in theory but don't work in reality.

[Pexster]

So post the problem, ShawnD1, and we can see what the finest brains of the day can come up with!