Transport Phenomena I Professor Joshua Gallaway

Transport Phenomena Required Reading 1

The purpose of this reading is to review the following:
1. How units and dimensions work.
2. The idea of a conserved quantity.
These concepts are fundamental to transport phenomena and we will
use them in every class.

1. Units and Dimensions

Physical and chemical properties are measured with respect to
fundamental dimensions.
Units are used to describe the size or amount of a dimension. Quantities
must always have units, unless they are dimensionless. This bears
repeating: units must always accompany any quantity that is not
dimensionless. Another way to say this is that units are not optional, and
answers without units are wrong.
The following table lists some common dimensions and the SI units used
to measure them.
fundamental
dimension
length
mass
time
temperature
quantity
electric current

SI units
meter (m)
kilogram (kg)
second (s)
kelvin (K)
mole (mol)
ampere (A)

Unit Conversions
To convert quantities from one unit to another, we make use of the
identity property of multiplication.
Example 1. A can of soda is 12 oz. Calculate its volume in SI units. A
table of units tells us that 1 oz = 29.57 mL.

! 29.57mL $
& = 354.8mL
1oz %

(12oz ) #"

Since 1 oz = 29.57 mL, the quantity in the second parentheses is equal

to one. By the identity property we are entitled to multiply anything by
one without altering it. The two oz units cancel each other out, and we
are left with mL.

Transport Phenomena I Professor Joshua Gallaway

Mass and Weight

Mass describes the total amount of material in an object. Weight
describes the force exerted by gravity on an object due to its mass.
Weight is defined by Newtons Second Law F = ma.
Example 2. Calculate the average weight of a person. On Earth, g = 9.81
2
m/s . The average mass of a person is 75 kg.

m$
kg m
= 735 2
2&
s %
s
"
%
$
"
kg m % 1N '
$ 735
'$
' = 735N
#
s 2 &$ 1 kg m '
#
s2 &

( 75kg) #" 9.8

In the first step we perform the calculation prescribed by Newtons

Second Law. However, when we multiply the units, we get a get a
collection of units that people may not relate to (kilogram-meters per
seconds squared). In the second step, we know:
a) One kilogram-meter per seconds squared is equal to one
Newton.
b) By the identity property we are entitled to multiply our answer by
one without altering it.
Therefore, the quantity in the second parentheses is one, due to (a), and
we are permitted to multiply our answer by it, due to (b). This
accomplishes a unit conversion, and gives us an answer other people
can relate to, 735 N. One must always use useful units in any answer.

In the SI system the difference between mass and force is simple to work
with. In the English system it becomes a bit trickier because their units
are described by the same word: pounds. Specifically, force is measured
in pound-force (lbf) and mass is measured in pound-mass (lbm). While
this is not the best system, it is widely used and therefore any competent
scientist or engineer must understand how to work with it. The
relationship between pound-force and pound-mass is given by:

lb f = lbm ( the acceleration of gravity)

ft 1

s 2 gc

The constant gc never changes and is:

gc = 32.174

ft lbm
s 2 lb f

On Earth the acceleration of gravity at sea level and 45 latitude (g) is:

Transport Phenomena I Professor Joshua Gallaway

g = 32.174

ft
s2

Thus it is obvious that gc is chosen to make objects have equivalent

values for mass and weight on Earth at sea level. However, in other
gravitational fields this is not the case.
Example 3. An object 10 lbm weighs 10 lbf on Earth at sea level. What
does it weigh on the moon, in pounds-force? Acceleration due to gravity
2
on the moon is g = 5.309 ft/s .

$
s 2 lb f
!
ft $!
& = 1.65lb f
(10lbm ) #" 5.309 2 &%##
s " 32.174 ft lbm &%
Temperature
The Fahrenheit (F) and Celsius (C) temperature scales, which are quite
familiar in everyday life, are not ideal scientifically because they are not
absolute. By that we mean that the minimum temperature possible in
them is not zero. For equations and relations where an absolute
temperature is needed, we use the Rankine (R) and Kelvin (K) scales.
These have degrees equal in size to F and C respectively, but are
normalized so that absolute zero is zero degrees. The conversions are:

TRankine = TFahrenheit + 459.67

TKelvin = TCelsius + 273.15
Pressure
When measuring pressure, we also sometimes encounter an issue of
absolute vs. relative values. This is when we are within an atmosphere of
a given pressure. To handle this, we use the terms absolute pressure
and gauge pressure. The relation is given by:
gauge pressure + atmospheric pressure = absolute pressure
Example 4. You check the pressure in your tires and the gauge reads 30
psi. What is the absolute pressure in the tires? Atmospheric pressure at
sea level is 14.7 psi.
30 psig + 14.7 psi = 44.7 psia
Here the units psig and psia mean psi-gauge and psi-absolute. This
convention is frequently used to make the distinction between gauge and
absolute pressures clear.

Transport Phenomena I Professor Joshua Gallaway

2. Conserved Quantities
In performing engineering tasks, we often make use of conservation laws,
such as the law of conservation of mass and the law of conservation of
momentum. In transport phenomena the following quantities are
generally assumed to be conserved:

Mass
Energy
Momentum
Angular Momentum
Electric Charge

Note that in reality mass is not a conserved quantity, due to Einsteins

2
famous relation between mass and energy E = mc . However, in our
everyday lives (and chemical engineering applications) mass is in fact
conserved. Other quantities used to measure material abundance, such
as moles, are not conserved. This is illustrated by hydrogen and oxygen
recombination:
H2 (g) + O2 (g) = H2O
Where we observe 1.5 moles of gas becoming one mole of a liquid.
However in the above reaction, the final mass of water will be equal to
the combined masses of hydrogen and oxygen reacted.
Balances
Conservation laws allow us to write balance equations, which are
fundamental to chemical engineering. The general form of a balance is:
[Rate of Accumulation] =
[Rate of Transfer In] [Rate of Transfer Out] +
[Rate of Generation] [Rate of Consumption]

Where we have defined a system. For example the [rate of accumulation

of heat inside the system] is equal to [rate of heat transfer into the
system] [rate of heat transfer out of the system] + [rate of heat
generation inside the system] [rate of heat consumption inside the
system].
Note that we could abbreviate the balance equation by simply writing
[Rate of Accumulation] =
[Rate of Transfer In] + [Rate of Generation]

Because a rate of transfer out is simply a negative rate of transfer in, and
consumption is simply negative generation.

Transport Phenomena I Professor Joshua Gallaway

Accumulation
The concept of accumulation is that of some quantity changing over time
within the system. The rate of accumulation is thus a time derivative. If
we denote mass as m and energy as e, we may write the following
derivatives:

rate of accumulation of mass:

m
t

kg/s

rate of accumulation of energy:

e
t

J/s

These expressions are for rate of accumulation of mass and energy,

respectively. They have SI units of kg/s and J/s. For example energy is
measured in joules and time is measured in seconds, so e/t has units
of J/s. The derivative symbols themselves () have no dimensions.
If a quantity is invariant in time, that means it is not a function of time. For
example if we know that mass in a system does not change over time,
we may write:

m
=0
t