When I reported to work at Amoco s Whiting Refinery in 1965, the plant operators and my fellow engineers assumed that I understood a wide range of terms that actually had little meaning to me. Worse, I was suddenly confronted with the need to employ basic technical concepts that I thought I had mastered in high school. But when I tried to apply these concepts to solve plant problems, I realized that I had never really understood them. I ve assembled a list of the concepts and terms that I had to quickly learn early in my career.

Work I was told in school that work is force times distance. I still have no idea what this means. To me, work is carrying bricks up a hill. If I carry 50 lb of bricks up a 100-ft hill, I have done 5,000 ft-lb of work.

Power This is how fast I work. If I carry 50 lb of bricks up a 100-ft high hill in an hour, then my power output is 5,000 ft-lb per hour. If I do the job in 30 min, my power output has doubled.

Amperage Amps are a form of electric work. Motor amps are controlled by what the motor is driving, not the horsepower rating of the motor.

Kilowatts Watts are a form of electric power.

BTU This is the amount of heat needed to warm 1 lb of water by 1 F.

Latent Heat This is the number of BTUs...