Engineering And Society Notes from Brockman, Ch1

1. Engineering And SocietyNotes from Brockman, Ch1 Tom Rebold MPC

2. Questions from Last Class • Which mission to Mars first demonstrated the use of an air bag landing system? • What is the next mission Adam Steltzner is working on? • What method did you use to develop the sequence for the mars rover?

3. Agenda • Design Challenge (Activity) • Engineering and Society (from Brockman’s text) • The Engineering Method • Science, Mathematics, and Engineering • Ingenuity: Lifting Weights • Engineering Models • Networks and Systems • Everything is Connected to Everything • A Web of Innovation • Systems

5. This is a “Natural” Thing • The Natural Sciences (Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geology) seek to determine • How does this thing work? • What is it made of? • How did it get to be that way?

6. This is an “Artificial” Thing • As in, made by human work or art • “Artifact” • Artifacts can be • Things • Processes • Events • Services

7. Science vs Engineering • Science • Seeks to discover “the way things are” • Engineering • applies technology in concert with natural phenomena to develop things that society needs or wants • Seeks to determine “what form should we give to this thing so that it will effectively serve its purpose?” • Question: Is Curiosity a Science mission or an Engineering Mission?

8. What does Society need?

9. Places in Society where you’ll find Engineers: • Corporate boardrooms • Courtrooms • Factories • Startups • Consulting firms • Government • Research labs • Construction sites • Farms • Off-shore oil platforms • In space • In the military • In Hollywood • At universities (and community colleges!)

10. Engineers also apply their skills in other professions • Medicine • Law • Business management • Finance • Venture capital • The arts

11. Engineers • Shape our world (i.e. produce ARTIFACTS) • Using tools ranging from heavy equipment to computer software • Develop new tools as needed. • Gather and generate information and make critical decisions using this information • will a structure fail under a given load? • Can a proposed computer system be air cooled or does it need to be liquid cooled?

12. Engineers (continued…) • Create new knowledge • applied to produce new or improved products, processes, and services • Study and practice in a wide range of specialties or disciplines: • Mechanical engineering • Civil engineering • Electrical engineering • Chemical engineering • All of which are very broad fields with many SUB-specialties!

13. Focus of this Class • Provide a common foundation that engineers of all disciplines share • Help you view the world through the eyes of an engineer • Look at how engineers apply science and technology to solve problems facing society.

14. The Engineering Method • Engineers work with technology • Require a solid background in Math and Science • Typical exposure to “one right answer” mindset • Understanding and use of Scientific Method • Q: What is the Scientific Method? • Most Engineering problems are Open Ended • Many possible solutions – can be frustrating! • A method is needed to solve Engineering problems

15. The Engineering Method • A set of tools/methods • not taught in Science and Math • For example, if problem statement is poorly defined • how to make reasonable assumptions • Also: • how to generate possible ideas for designs • how to effectively conduct a search for a solution • how to plan and schedule activities • how to make efficient use of resources • how to organize the components and activities of a team design project

16. The Engineering Method (another view) • Billy V. Koen (2004) • The engineering method is the use of heuristics (“rules of thumb”) to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources • In this sense, everyone uses the engineering method at one time or another

17. What are some heuristics for • Finding the “best” fare for an airline trip? • Acing your final exam? • Creating a work of art? • Choosing a spouse? • Use of heuristics seems to be a universal trait • Even animals use them!

18. Science, Math and Engineering • Related but distinctively different fields • Have grown together • Contributed to each other’s success • Have different objectives and different methods • Differences between the fields can be illustrated in how each might approach the game of chess.

19. Science, Math and Engineering—An analogy involving Chess • Scientist—tries to figure out the “rules” (laws) of chess through observation • Examples: • Bishops can only move diagonally • Rooks can only move forwards, back, left or right • The Queen can move like both a bishop and a rook • There is always a white bishop and a black bishop • Always?

20. Science, Math and Engineering—An analogy involving Chess • Mathemetitian – tries to develop a precise language for describing a chess board and possible moves • Examples: • e2 – e4 • d7 – d5 • e4 – d5 (takes pawn)

21. Science, Math and Engineering—An analogy involving Chess • Engineer – tries to formulate a strategy for winning at chess • Examples • Try to control the center of the board • Move either the king or queen pawn first • Maintain a support network for your forward pieces • Note that Engineers often use the products of Science and Math in their work

22. The Ingenuity of Engineering • “Engineer" derives from the Latin ingenium • one's native genius • one's ability to design or create things • Example: Newton’s laws (ca 1600) says • Person must provide 200 lbs force • What if they can’t? • Can 200 lbs be lifted by weaker guy?

23. The Ingenuity of Engineering • Block and tackle • Invented ~200 BC • 1800 years before Newton! • (but Newton helps explain why it works)

24. Newton’s Third Law • “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” Wall is pulling back on rope with force 100 lbs Imaginary cut, lets us measure internal forces, which must balance!

25. Similarly, the Block and Tackle must also obey Newton’s Laws • Because of the equal-and-opposite internal forces in the rope, each end of the segment around pulley A exerts an upward force of 100 lbs, for a total of 200 lbs. • Q: how much force is applied to the ceiling?

26. Engineering Models • Some inventions precede the scientific theories that explain them (Block and Tackle) • For tough problems we NEED Science!! • like landing a rover on Mars • Engineers apply scientific theories by constructing models • A model is an approximation of a real system • when actions are performed on the model • it will respond in a manner similar to the real system

27. Three Models for Determining Wing Lift • Wind TunnelBernoilli’s Equation • NASA’s Foilsim II program

28. Engineering Models • Most engineering classes teach students different models related to their field: • Structural Analysis, Circuit Analysis, Thermodynamics, Computer Architecture, Fluid Mechanics • All involve using core models to gather information and make decisions • Take laws of science you learn in physics, chem and use them to build models

29. Networks and Systems • Ever play “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?” • Everything depends on everything • A “Graph” – describes dependencies in a network

30. A Web of Innovation • Moore’s Law: “Number of Transistors in a computer chip doubles every two years”

31. Web of Innovation—driving and driven by transistor density (Moore’s Law)

32. Systems • In order to deal with complex networks of connections, engineers define “systems” • Place boundaries around portions of the web

33. Example Automotive Systems

34. Design using Systems • “Systems” thinking helps improve design • Makes complexity more manageable • Subsystems interact through limited interfaces • Boundary between two subsystems • Helps clarify responsibilities • Some engineers specialize at subsystem level • Others (managers) work at system level, organizing subsystem work • In a car, what is the interface between the transmission and the engine?

35. Your turn • Sketch the subsystems of a Toaster • http://www.howstuffworks.com/toaster1.htm