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Asked by n3rdl33roy to Graham, Luke, Maksim, Ruth on 14 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by kb2001, kaideeeeeeeeeee, jade557.
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Graham Wiggins answered on 14 Jun 2014:
What’s the point ?
Hmmm….
If there were no engineers, there’d be no cars. no aeroplanes, no trains, ( so you’d have to walk everywhere )
no food shops, you’d have to grow your own food ( with no spades, hoes, or seed drills )
There’d also be no electricity. so no internet ( and that means no Facebook / Angry Birds !!! )
No power = No hospital operations, so we’d all die early of things we now see as trival. ( and no anathesia either ! or knife for the Surgeon. or bed for you to lie on. or ambulance to get you there…. )
So engineering has a massive impact of everyones life. Weather you are in the UK, India, China, NewZealand, or on the ISS….. without engineering, we’d be in serious trouble.
In the World of birds, see how Crows use tools to get at their food, Thrushes use gravity to “de-shell” snails by dropping them onto a hard surface so they can eat them – ( so the Thrush has worked out Gravity, and the difference between hard surfaces + soft, and also how high to drop the snail from… just for it to eat lunch. Clever stuff. )
So animals also use engineering to survive
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Ruth Gregory answered on 14 Jun 2014:
In my line of work, the engineer designs, plans, instruct the construction of bridges, railways, roads and buildings. Without the engineer there would be none of these or the existing ones would fall down and possibly injure others.
It would be very difficult to travel around the world and see the amazing places without these.I have done many roles, here some info on some different ones:
1) Design Engineer – carrying out calculations to check they can stand up, producing reports and analysing structures to ensure they don’t fall down.
2) Inspection Engineer – looking out for certain defects in structures or ground conditions to ensure they are not going to fall on people and to schedule repairs.
3) Site Engineer – to interpret the drawings and calculations from the design engineer. These take the design and make sure the construction teams know how to build them and check the positions and quality of the work. The quality has to be high to prevent additional work on the structure later on due to poor construction methods. -
Luke Fry answered on 15 Jun 2014:
My favourite little phrase about engineering is that you cannot think of any one single thing that doesn’t occur naturally that an engineer hasn’t had some input into.
I challenge you! 🙂 -
anon answered on 16 Jun 2014:
Without civil engineers how would you be able to; brush your teeth using the running water in your bathroom. You travel to school on a finely constructed network of roads or on a train or underground system. You might travel by bus or train to school. You might even walk through an underpass or over a bridge before finally settling at your desk. None of this would have been possible without civil engineers.
Civil engineers design and build bridges, roads, railways, and tunnels. They design and build tall structures and large buildings such as multi-storey car parks, train stations, and even the Olympic stadium.
Without civil engineers we wouldn’t have a constant supply of clean water, or sustainable energy to help us save our planet. Without civil engineers the world we live in would be completely unrecognisable.
Comments
rattyvlogger commented on :
Really astonishing, How much effect engineers have on the world today!
Graham commented on :
rattyvlogger – if you think the past was exciting, see what the future will bring ! – who’d have predicted the internet 100 yrs ago ? or internal combustion engines 200 yrs ago ? or lasers 80 yrs ago ?
There are people alive who are older than the internet + lasers…. yet we use lasers + internet almost every day… at home, at work at play.
rattyvlogger commented on :
Yes.. Graham. So what are some of the new inventions and designs that will be used in a 100’s years time? Will you play a part in making them?
Graham commented on :
Ha !
if only I knew, I’d buy shares in the firms now 🙂
?)Fusion power stations. – something the Central Laser Facility is working on, as are the NIF project in the USA, and JET in Culham
?)Antimatter/matter will be huge
?)a different form of propulsion for aircraft eg non-burning methods.( not directly involved,) though we have taken a picture ( like an x-ray ) of the inside of a “turbine” running at 45,000rpm, it’s in focus, and clear. first time that’s been done, and has a lot of interest from industry as you’d imagine.
?) something to replace liquid fuels as we know them.( not involved)
?)something to keep technology “in check” like an “imune system” for the web
?) graphene – we’re on the edge of a huge wave of application for this substance. ( not involved, but have seen some at work. was called a “diamond like coating” )
Just my thoughts, I may be wrong, so please don’t invest on my say so 🙂