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Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the
application of
science to the needs of humanity. This is accomplished through
knowledge,
mathematics and practical
experience applied to the
design of useful
objects or
processes. Its practitioners are called
engineers.
Engineers form the bridge between the two distinct worlds of
the scientist and the layman. They interpret science for the layman. A scientist
asks "Why...?" and thus follows an open-ended research career, whereas an
engineer always asks "How...?". That is, he has the problem in hand, knows what
solution it requires and tries to find out different ways of implementing it.
There is a difference between an engineer and a technologist
though the terms are often used interchangeably. Once an engineer has found a
solution for the problem at hand his work stops. The next phase is fine tuning
the solution, which is in the domain of the
technologist. This process is dependent on various factors which vary with
time. A solution which could be a practical application of a scientific fact
does not satisfy a technologist. He endeavours to bring it within the economic
constraints so that the common man not only understands and marvels at science
but also is able to enjoy it and lose his fear of it by constant interaction.
For example, when Edison developed the
phonograph it was marveled at. That was engineering. But when he asked his
assistant to develop it further so as to remove some harmonics from the sound,
that was technology. Because only then could one listen to it and enjoy.
This also explains the time gap between a fact being
understood by science, then being implemented by engineers, and then being
available from the local shop.
The engineer must identify and understand the relevant
constraints in order to produce a successful design. Constraints include
available resources, physical or technical limitations, flexibility for future
modifications and additions, and other factors such as requirements for cost,
manufacturability, serviceability, and marketing and aesthetic, social, or ethic
considerations. By understanding the constraints, engineers deduce
specifications for the limits within which an object or system may be produced
and operated. Engineering is therefore a contingent enterprise influenced by
many considerations.
Engineers use their knowledge of
science and
mathematics, and
appropriate experience, to find suitable solutions to a problem. Creating an
appropriate
mathematical model of a problem allows them to analyze it (perhaps, but
exceptionally, definitively), and to test potential solutions. If multiple
reasonable solutions exist, engineers evaluate the different
design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best meets the
requirements.
Engineers typically attempt to predict how well their designs
will perform to their specifications prior to full-scale production. They use,
among other things:
prototypes,
scale models,
simulations,
destructive tests, and
stress tests. Testing ensures that products will perform as expected.
Engineers as professionals take seriously their responsibility to produce
designs that will perform as expected and will not cause unintended harm to the
public at large. Engineers typically include a
factor of safety in their designs to reduce the risk of unexpected failure.
Computers, and design software, play an increasingly
important role. Using
Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, engineers are able to capture more
information about their designs. The computer can automatically translate some
models to instructions suitable for automatic machinery (e.g.
CNC)
to fabricate (part of) a design. The computer also allows increased reuse of
previously developed designs by presenting an engineer with a library of
predefined parts ready to be used in his own designs.
Etymology
It is a myth that engineer originated to describe
those who built
engines. In fact, the words engine and engineer (as well
as ingenious) developed in parallel from the Latin root ingeniosus,
meaning 'skilled'. An engineer is thus a clever, practical, problem solver. The
spelling of engineer was later influenced by back-formation from
engine. The term later evolved to include all fields where the skills of
application of the
scientific method are used. In other languages like Arabic, the word for
"engineering" also means "geometry".
Science attempts to explain newly observed and unexplained phenomena, often
creating
mathematical models of observed phenomena.
Technology and engineering are attempts at practical application of
knowledge (often from science). Scientists work on science; engineers work on
technology. However, there is often an overlap between science and engineering.
It is not uncommon for scientists to become involved in the practical
application of their discoveries; thereby becoming, for the moment, engineers.
Conversely, in the process of developing technology engineers sometimes find
themselves exploring new phenomena, thus becoming, for the moment, scientists.
There are also close connections between the workings of
engineers and artists; they are direct in some fields, eg
architecture and
industrial design, and indirect in all. Artistic and engineering creativity
may be fundamentally connected.
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