Q&A Archives
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Q&A Archives |
Engineering ¨ Egg drop experiment [Links provided here were valid at the time the question was answered. If you find a broken link, please Contact Us so we can remove it.] QUESTION: ANSWER from Michelle Mock on 3 April 2007: Some things go consider... When you complete your project, we would love to hear the story behind the experiment and what you learned. If you would like us to post something at Imagiverse.ORG, please use our contact form and ask to have your request forwarded to me. Good luck. This is a great project. Lots of fun! It may require a lot of testing and breaking of eggs to find a method that works. Enjoy! QUESTION: ANSWER from Stephanie Wong on 22 February 2007: QUESTION: ANSWER from Roger Herzler
on 2 September 2005: What you may find when you're forced to do math on a daily basis in your classes is that you truly enjoy the heavier mathematics engineers have to take. However, you may not. My advice would be to seriously evaluate what you think will make you happy, because if you've got that in life you're going to be excited to go to work, passionate about what you do, and you'll likely do the very best possible. That's a win for everyone involved. ANSWER from Homer Hickam
on 3 September 2005: ANSWER from Michael Bastoni
on 14 September 2005: Note on the (above) reference to Sisyphus: "The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor." - Albert Camus Engineering without the application of math and science can be done... but the trade off is time and personal energy and the acceptance of an inordinately high degree of failure... almost unendurable failure, a Sisyphian task for certain. There once lived a man, more an inventor than an engineer, who was able to successfully make that trade off... there are few in the history of technology who were more tenacious, more demanding of themselves and of others, few who worked more tirelessly to achieve the means they sought, few more driven to understand the nature of things through direct observation and experimentation... few more willing to ceaselessly roll the rock up the hill, few like Thomas A. Edison. If you want to be inspired by an engineering story of an accomplished technical mind that used little if any applied math... read Edison a Biography by Matthew Josephson. The story is as inspiring as it frustrating. With the application of even a little math, Edison could have worked so less hard, failed so less often and accomplished even more discoveries. Why do engineers use math anyway? Engineers use math skills for several reasons: 1. Engineers design, build and maintain things. The things they design, build and/or maintain are made of materials and components. Making informed decisions about the materials and components used in the things they design, build and/or maintain, requires the application of math and physics fundamentals. I find myself speeding down the highway, or flying over cities and thinking how grateful I am that the men and women who designed, built and or maintained the parts used in the planes and cars I travel in, were able to do so with mathematical certainty... since in the absence of math, they could have only made guesses about the strength, high temperature and stress performance of those mechanical components that protect my life and safety... and yours. This is why mathematical proficiency is a requirement for obtaining an engineering degree. 2. To help them with modeling and simulations to predict the behavior of mechanisms before they are actually built. For instance: This year my students and I are designing and building a wind turbine that will produce 1KW (Average) of electrical power. The first thing we did was ask the question, "How much energy (power) is in the wind?" We derived a mathematical expression using the kinetic energy formula KE=1/2 * Mass * (Velocity)^2 We then built a spread sheet that would allow us to determine the raw power of the wind for any wind speed and turbine area... and then we dialed in Betz' law (efficiency rule) and we had a simple tool that allowed us to quickly and easily determine the necessary size of our turbine. We could effectively use this spread sheet to build innumerable wind turbines. We did all this from scratch in about 3 hours including the necessary research. Now it would have taken about 5 weeks of constant effort to shape a turbine, erect it and then test it to see how much power it put out... if it was substantially more or less we would have had to repeat the process... this is much like how Edison worked. We like using math better. 35 years ago things were different... I did not like math as a high school student. I did not appreciate then what a helpful tool it was. I did like to build things... custom cars, choppers and even an old 57' school bus turned camper which we used to tour the US and Canada... but I had no use for math. The problem was that I could not appreciate the value of math. I did not know what it could do for me. I am still not a great mathematician... I will never be. But I realize that the effort required to use math as a tool... far, far, far outweighs the effort required to accomplish any technical endeavor without using math. I learned this when I started my first construction company. We built custom homes in the Virgin Islands. Beautiful exposed beam ceilings are what trigonometry looks like when you make it out of wood. Large clear spans are possible when you can calculate stress and strain limits of wood fibers and the bending moments of steel girders. Comfortable interior climate control is only possible through the application of heat loss studies and the selection of appropriate building materials. Moreover, a contractor who cannot make mathematical determinations of building costs BEFORE the building is built will soon go broke or more likely end up in a costly court battle... and so I came to appreciate the power of math and I was surprised how quickly I learned to use it. This will happen to you if you pursue your passion. You will learn to love math for what it can do for you and how it will enhance the creative experience of designing and building things. Engineering is a team sport. There are many "positions" on the engineering team. There are engineering and technical positions that only require a basic understanding and application of geometry, algebra and trigonometry. Each person on that team can contribute to the engineering effort. My son is not a gifted mathematician but he loves machines and he loves to travel. He is now studying for a degree in marine engineering. He will run the big ships and travel the globe. He will have to struggle through calculus, but he will get help. He will learn what he needs to know so that he will be able to get the right answers to the right questions and he will learn to recognize the right answers from the wrong ones. It won't be easy, but then, engineering without math is even harder. It won't be easy for him but it will be possible. I suspect the same is true for you. My advice... continue to be creative in your technical pursuits. Build things. Take things apart and in doing this you will build a personal library of empirical knowledge. A kind of knowledge that many AP math students lack... and then start using math to analyze and model the performance of the things you design and build. Some people go to gyms and work out to improve their physical condition... you can employ the help of a personal math trainer... a tutor, and work out in the gymnasium of the mind to improve your math condition. You can do it, you will come to enjoy it. Engineering is hard work... with or without math. You can spend 3 hard years pursuing your degree or you can spend a lifetime hammering out the answers to knotty mechanical problems that could have been solved quickly and easily with a pencil and paper, your choice. Either way requires effort. But the degree is a form of validation that supports the experience and knowledge that follows. Read Edison... then decide. I suspect you'll work for the degree... in retrospect, even Edison would have to agree... and he would not do so willingly. I hope you find this story useful. No matter what you decide, the choice is yours and yours alone. My most often offered advice is this: When given a difficult choice where either option seems right, one asks "Which is the best decision?" I often answer... "The best decision is most likely the one perceived to be the most difficult." QUESTION: ANSWER from Jenny Alvarez
on 4 November 2005: Use a search engine to look up information specific to the custom cars you want to build. For example, type in "hot rod car building" for information about buiding hot rods. Two of my favourite search engines are www.askjeeves.com and www.google.com QUESTION: ANSWER from Sami Schilly
on 19 October 2005: In regards to the future of mechanical engineering research, I definitely feel the future of engineering in general will focus on alternatives in all aspects of life that will help to preserve the planet far more than endeavors have in the past. You brought up alternatives to oil, which is a very good example of what engineers from all fields are developing currently. For mechanical engineers, the main problem to tackle is how to build or refine machinery that can utilize materials other than fossil fuels. As to when new developments will begin to be widely used, there are many variables that must be taken into consideration. Sticking with the oil example, there are many government regulations that must be adhered to, and engineers have been trying to find effective alternatives to fossil fuels for many many years, so it's very hard to predict how long it takes for societies to feel the impact of a new discovery. Take the hybrid, for example. Electric-powered cars are nowhere near brand new discoveries, and while they are amazing alternatives to gas-guzzlers, no one would really state that they are making a large impact on our society because so few people have decided to upgrade to hybrids. I hope this has somewhat addressed your questions, and you feel that you know more about mechanical engineering. I'm sorry I don't have more concrete information for you, but this is a fairly subjective question. Good luck in the future and I recommend getting a number of other opinions. QUESTION: ANSWER from Roger Herzler
on 12 September 2005: http://www.swe.org/ The key is to be the best in what you do and have a passion for your work. If you've got those you'll do well no matter what your gender is. QUESTION: ANSWER from Roger Herzler
on 2 September 2005: What you may find when you're forced to do math on a daily basis in your classes is that you truly enjoy the heavier mathematics engineers have to take. However, you may not. My advice would be to seriously evaluate what you think will make you happy, because if you've got that in life you're going to be excited to go to work, passionate about what you do, and you'll likely do the very best possible. That's a win for everyone involved. ANSWER from Homer Hickam
on 3 September 2005: ANSWER from Michael Bastoni
on 14 September 2005: Note on the (above) reference to Sisyphus: "The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor." - Albert Camus Engineering without the application of math and science can be done... but the trade off is time and personal energy and the acceptance of an inordinately high degree of failure... almost unendurable failure, a Sisyphian task for certain. There once lived a man, more an inventor than an engineer, who was able to successfully make that trade off... there are few in the history of technology who were more tenacious, more demanding of themselves and of others, few who worked more tirelessly to achieve the means they sought, few more driven to understand the nature of things through direct observation and experimentation... few more willing to ceaselessly roll the rock up the hill, few like Thomas A. Edison. If you want to be inspired by an engineering story of an accomplished technical mind that used little if any applied math... read Edison a Biography by Matthew Josephson. The story is as inspiring as it frustrating. With the application of even a little math, Edison could have worked so less hard, failed so less often and accomplished even more discoveries. Why do engineers use math anyway? Engineers use math skills for several reasons: 1. Engineers design, build and maintain things. The things they design, build and/or maintain are made of materials and components. Making informed decisions about the materials and components used in the things they design, build and/or maintain, requires the application of math and physics fundamentals. I find myself speeding down the highway, or flying over cities and thinking how grateful I am that the men and women who designed, built and or maintained the parts used in the planes and cars I travel in, were able to do so with mathematical certainty... since in the absence of math, they could have only made guesses about the strength, high temperature and stress performance of those mechanical components that protect my life and safety... and yours. This is why mathematical proficiency is a requirement for obtaining an engineering degree. 2. To help them with modeling and simulations to predict the behavior of mechanisms before they are actually built. For instance: This year my students and I are designing and building a wind turbine that will produce 1KW (Average) of electrical power. The first thing we did was ask the question, "How much energy (power) is in the wind?" We derived a mathematical expression using the kinetic energy formula KE=1/2 * Mass * (Velocity)^2 We then built a spread sheet that would allow us to determine the raw power of the wind for any wind speed and turbine area... and then we dialed in Betz' law (efficiency rule) and we had a simple tool that allowed us to quickly and easily determine the necessary size of our turbine. We could effectively use this spread sheet to build innumerable wind turbines. We did all this from scratch in about 3 hours including the necessary research. Now it would have taken about 5 weeks of constant effort to shape a turbine, erect it and then test it to see how much power it put out... if it was substantially more or less we would have had to repeat the process... this is much like how Edison worked. We like using math better. 35 years ago things were different... I did not like math as a high school student. I did not appreciate then what a helpful tool it was. I did like to build things... custom cars, choppers and even an old 57' school bus turned camper which we used to tour the US and Canada... but I had no use for math. The problem was that I could not appreciate the value of math. I did not know what it could do for me. I am still not a great mathematician... I will never be. But I realize that the effort required to use math as a tool... far, far, far outweighs the effort required to accomplish any technical endeavor without using math. I learned this when I started my first construction company. We built custom homes in the Virgin Islands. Beautiful exposed beam ceilings are what trigonometry looks like when you make it out of wood. Large clear spans are possible when you can calculate stress and strain limits of wood fibers and the bending moments of steel girders. Comfortable interior climate control is only possible through the application of heat loss studies and the selection of appropriate building materials. Moreover, a contractor who cannot make mathematical determinations of building costs BEFORE the building is built will soon go broke or more likely end up in a costly court battle... and so I came to appreciate the power of math and I was surprised how quickly I learned to use it. This will happen to you if you pursue your passion. You will learn to love math for what it can do for you and how it will enhance the creative experience of designing and building things. Engineering is a team sport. There are many "positions" on the engineering team. There are engineering and technical positions that only require a basic understanding and application of geometry, algebra and trigonometry. Each person on that team can contribute to the engineering effort. My son is not a gifted mathematician but he loves machines and he loves to travel. He is now studying for a degree in marine engineering. He will run the big ships and travel the globe. He will have to struggle through calculus, but he will get help. He will learn what he needs to know so that he will be able to get the right answers to the right questions and he will learn to recognize the right answers from the wrong ones. It won't be easy, but then, engineering without math is even harder. It won't be easy for him but it will be possible. I suspect the same is true for you. My advice... continue to be creative in your technical pursuits. Build things. Take things apart and in doing this you will build a personal library of empirical knowledge. A kind of knowledge that many AP math students lack... and then start using math to analyze and model the performance of the things you design and build. Some people go to gyms and work out to improve their physical condition... you can employ the help of a personal math trainer... a tutor, and work out in the gymnasium of the mind to improve your math condition. You can do it, you will come to enjoy it. Engineering is hard work... with or without math. You can spend 3 hard years pursuing your degree or you can spend a lifetime hammering out the answers to knotty mechanical problems that could have been solved quickly and easily with a pencil and paper, your choice. Either way requires effort. But the degree is a form of validation that supports the experience and knowledge that follows. Read Edison... then decide. I suspect you'll work for the degree... in retrospect, even Edison would have to agree... and he would not do so willingly. I hope you find this story useful. No matter what you decide, the choice is yours and yours alone. My most often offered advice is this: When given a difficult choice where either option seems right, one asks "Which is the best decision?" I often answer... "The best decision is most likely the one perceived to be the most difficult." QUESTION: ANSWER from Luis Flores
on 12 November 2004: The hulls of most boats are made from fiber-glass. Fiber-glass is composed of long particles that are sprayed and formed into a shape. Next time you see a smooth park bench (not the wooden or plastic kind) look underneath where the surface wasn't treated, you can see the particles that make up the fiber-glass. Boats that don't really need to be moving fast use a round bottom displacement hull. Wow, that's a mouth full. Basically it means that the hull of the boat is smooth and round and it "takes the place" of water. That last bit deserves some more explanation … this type of hull doesn't sit on the surface of the water, but rather it sits underwater, pushing water out of the way. This doesn't make for a very fast boat, but one that very easily floats and produces a smooth ride. Now let's talk about boats built for speed. Somehow we still need to have our boat float, but also find a way for the hull of the boat to displace (push) less water as we move through it. Next time you take a bath or go swimming, try running your hand quickly though the water. Change the shape of your hand find out which one lets you move through the water the quickest with the least force required. That's exactly what designers had to do in order to make a faster hull. Let's look at a semi-displacement hull. As you might have guessed from the name this one doesn't have a round bottom. In fact, this type of hull is pretty much flat, however some do have a very slight "V" shape. When this hull is in the water, it floats on the surface, displacing a smaller amount of water. The disadvantage is that it requires a very powerful engine to move the boat faster. Let's look at one last hull type. A planning hull, such as a deep vee hull, is what is needed for speed. This one is very difficult to describe. Imagine the flat bottom boat with a triangle type "V" attached. This "V" is underwater. At low speeds this "V" displaces water, giving us a smooth ride like the first hull I mentioned. But, as we start adding speed, the boat actually begins to rise. As less and less of the boat is making contact with the water the less force is needed to go faster. This is a speed boat. By rising above the surface of the water, it displaces less water and thus its engines have to combat less friction. Of course, the disadvantage of riding on top of water is a much bumpier ride as you bounce from wave to wave. I know I went through a long path to get to your answer, but hopefully you know a little more about boats and the challenges boat designers face. Next time you are at the marina, look at the different types of boats and see if you can tell the shape of their hulls. Keep sending those questions in, I love researching questions that lead me to new information! QUESTION: ANSWER from Mike Bastoni
on 27 August 2004: 1. Engineers work in teams. This means they need to develop some essential skills that will ensure their success. You can find out what these skills are, and which of them you possess, and which of them you will need to add to your growing talent set, by visiting any of the many SCANS websites. This one offers a clear listing of the
skills you should acquire to help ensure your success. 2. Engineers are creative problem solvers who are willing to ask difficult and repeated questions when searching for a solution to a perceived problem. 3. The foundation skills that good engineers must have are both practical and academic. These include: o Mathematics skills (Get through Algebra
II and Pre Calc while in High School) 4. Engineers love to learn! In order to pursue your engineering goals, you will need at least an undergraduate degree (A Bachelor of Science Degree or BSc degree). The choice about which school to attend belongs to you. However the process of selecting a school can be tackled using the engineering method!And the first thing engineers do when they set about solving a problem is to RESEARCH as much information as they can about the the problem they are working on... so, start by typing keywords into a good web search engine. Here are some you can try... but make up your own... and don't stop doing this until you graduate... from college! Robotic engineering schools and there are likely a hundred more you can think up... I tried some of these and it was amazing how many links turned up. And don't forget, you might want to consider a career in teaching... a growing population of kids like you who are interested in engineering and robots will need qualified teachers in order to help them grow and learn to do he things they are passionate about. The most important thing to do, is to build stuff... and find the cool truth about life... the more cool stuff you know... the more you can do cool things... and the more you can do cool things... the more fun life is! Keep learning Mike Bastoni |
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