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Given a
problem in the basic engineering sciences, the following questions
help students formulate a solution:
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What exactly are we trying
to find? What is known from the problem statement?
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What is the system? (This
must be explicit to apply the accounting principles because they
are written for a system.)
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What are the important
extensive properties to count? (This encourages students to think
in terms of the quantities found in the physical laws.)
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What's the time interval—finite
time, transient, or steady state?
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How does the system interact
with its surroundings? (Interactions depend on the boundary selected
and the properties counted.)
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What are the modeling assumptions
that can help us simplify the basic equations for this specific
problem?
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How many equations are
required to solve for the unknowns?
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If the accounting equations
are insufficient, what other equations (constitutive equations)
may be used to relate the unknowns in the problem?
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