Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2015 December 8

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December 8

From Computer Science to Civil Engineering?

How difficult would it be for someone out of school for a decade to get a Masters in civil engineering with a Computer Science background? What kind of CE undergraduate work would be necessary? 69.22.242.15 (talk) 17:08, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

How difficult will depend on how hard you want to work on courses, and what your finances are (e.g. how much you'll have to work for paying jobs, will you be able to attend at all if no funding package is offered). You should contact programs directly to ask about course requirements. Typically some undergrad courses can be picked up whilst completing the masters course work, though that may add time to completion time for the degree. See here [1] e.g. for what U. Illinois needs to see to review your application. My guess is that with strong records in CS you'll be able to be admitted to good programs, especially if you did general engineering coursework (i.e. your CS degree is considered an engineering degree, and you already have proper credits in math and basic science). But your best bet for good info will be to contact degree programs directly. SemanticMantis (talk) 17:34, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

Per SemanticMantis, you need to contact someone in the advising department of the school you intend to go to; usually there is someone within (in this case) the Civil Engineering department who will lay out what is necessary to get the degree you want. --Jayron32 17:43, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

Thiourea Reactions

I was curious if it's possible to make thiourea from ammonia and thiocyanate. I know that thiourea is often made from ammonium thiocyanate, which is a combination of ammonia and thiocyanate, right? I didn't know, since ammonium thiocyanate is usually produced with carbon disulfide and ammonia. However, thiocyanate is chemically similar to carbon disulfide. I was also wondering if there was any way to make thiourea from urea. The two are so similar, but I don't know how you could remove that oxygen atom and replace it with sulfur.174.131.61.0 (talk) 18:17, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

Ammonia (NH3) is not the same as ammonium (NH4+). 82.8.32.177 (talk) 22:16, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

The method to make it, is to fuse ammonium thiocyanate at temperatures close to but below 182°C. It melts at 148°C, but conversion is very slow at this temperature. The two substances are in equilibrium in the melt. Thiourea makes up about 24% at 170°. Thiocyanate is not a substance in itself, it is an anion, and you would have it in the form of a salt, such as potassium thiocyanate. Heating a gas with a solid salt will not get you very far as the ammonium will be at low concentration. If you heat ammonium thiocyanate too hot you get an irreverable conversion to guanidine thiocyanate and ammonium trithiocarbonate. So use your ammonia and thiocyanate salt first to make ammonium thiocyanate. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 10:58, 9 December 2015 (UTC)