Fundamentals of Mass and Energy Transport in the Environment

Environmental engineers and scientists must understand how substances—like pollutants, heat, and nutrients—are distributed and moved throughout natural systems. This course provides a solid, quantitative foundation in environmental transport phenomena, giving you the tools needed to analyze, model, and predict the movement of materials in water bodies, soil, and the atmosphere. What you'll learn: * Understand the conservation laws of mass, momentum, and energy that govern all transport processes. * Master the distinct physical mechanisms of advection, molecular diffusion, and turbulent dispersion. * Apply dimensional analysis and scaling principles to simplify complex environmental flow problems. * Practice setting up and solving one-dimensional transport equations for steady-state and transient conditions. * Learn the basic concepts of numerical methods used to model transport processes in dynamic environmental systems. We begin with the fundamental equations and definitions, then systematically explore each transport mechanism before combining them to solve practical problems in environmental flow and contaminant fate. This course is designed for absolute beginners interested in environmental engineering, hydrology, or atmospheric science. No prior knowledge of advanced fluid dynamics is required. Start building your quantitative skills for environmental modeling today.