Thermodynamics

From USAFA Folklore

Thermodynamics was a core class for all cadets, and was notorious as one of the most difficult core courses. It is uniformly referred to as "Thermo". Now known as Aero 241, Thermo is only taken by engineering and some science majors. It was removed from the core curriculum in the "core wars" of the early 2000s, primarily because the Aero Department was tired of being hated and preferred to delete it from the curriculum as opposed to maintaining standards and justifying the need for some understanding of thermodynamic processes by officers in the most technical military service in the world.

Thermo was one of those classes that was so difficult that all of the graded reviews were open book. There was also no limitation on WHAT you wrote in the book. All of the blank pages in the front and back were usually filled to capacity with formulas, example problems and common English translations of technical terms including all class notes. Cadets learned to write in very tiny characters in order to maximize any and all free space. It was also a common practice in the 80's that a "filled" Thermo book was passed down from one squadron mate to another.