Question: Does your job involve a lot physics or is it a different science?

John Allport answered on 21 Jun 2016:

Engineering is basically the application of maths and physics, so I use a lot of the understanding of physics, although not maybe in the way that you see physics at school. It is far more about understanding how things work, then using the fundamental physics to predict what will happen in certain situations. For example, I’m designing a component at the moment which is currently made in metal, but I want to make it in plastic. The strength and stiffness of the plastic are completely different to the metal, so I will have to change the shape of the part so that it works the same, adding material in some places and removing some in others, whilst keeping the attachment points the same. To do this, I need to know the mechanical properties of both materials, how the loads are distributed within them when applied, and how much deflection is permitted in the part. All these you will probably come across in physics lessons at some point. I can then use some computer software to model the original and new parts, and compare the two before I spend a lot of money making a prototype test part in plastic.