Engineering from giant to tiny

by Weiyu Li

The engineering is in everywhere in our daily life. From the huge man-made island to the capsule micro robot, the engineering success happens everywhere every time.
The man-made island can be tracked back to 1522 AD. in Song Dynasty in China. Because of the tide, sometimes the islands were in the sea, sometimes they were under that. The uses of this kind ofman-made island were diverse. House or castles could be built on it for fishing or deliver the signals of the attacking enemies. Always, they were build by the simple way which was carrying the soil to the certain places.
Now days, the number of the man-made islands are much bigger than before. Some countries build dozens of man-made islands for many uses. Some man-made islands in Dubai are for the tourist trade, some of those in China are for the national defense and exploring the port. Japan, which has the largest area and the biggest number of the man-made islands build the island for the national airport because of the small size of the land and the jagged terrain.

To the capsule micro robot is not an old word to us. It appeared in the last decade, the idea proposed
by the scientists in China in 2008. They created a robot like this to reduce the pain the patients feel during the physical operations. Scientists wants a robot controlled by magnitude filed so this tiny robot can go through the blood vessels, reach and check the pathogenic site, solve the problem without cutting the skin. The theory successfully supported by a famous professor in a university and reported in a well-known scientific magazine in China.

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Prompt Two: Defining Ethics

In the field of engineering professionals have a large responsibility they need to keep as their top priority. From civil engineers building bridges people use daily, to biomedical engineers creating medical equipment that will be in control of people's lives. The quality of work in the engineering field is very important.

The National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) created the most well known code of ethics for engineers. The creed starts with the pledge, “As a Professional Engineer, I dedicate my professional knowledge and skill to the advancement and betterment of human welfare.” The main points in this code touch on following laws, being honest and putting service over profits. These are very important and I especially see the importance in the service over profits section.

In many other fields like business, profits exceed the well being of others. Yes, this may affect others in their bank account but for engineering the effects could be someone’s life. From the public’s perception, the ethics of the engineers is never considered. Engineering seems to be something where you expect it to be perfect, and would only notice if it is not. For example, when driving over a bridge usually you would not be thinking about who made it, or the quality of bridge. Normally you would just drive over it without thinking, because this quality of engineering is expected.

Ethics are a fairly universal topic. The code of ethics followed by engineers can connect to my personal ethics, in that I respect the law and honor honesty. These belies for any topic are very similar but the words are changed slightly to reflect the needs of the area. The ethics for anything have the universal ideas of following the laws, being honest and beyond that just doing the right thing. This does not change much between fields or by person.

Ethics are very important no matter what field, but in engineering the stakes are higher. Engineers handle our cars, roads, houses, and basically everything we use on a daily basis. With the NSPE code, it keeps these everyday items to the highest quality they can be and therefore creating a better life for everyone.

Post by David DeMeo

Electric Cars are Finally Becoming Good?

A recent article posted on the Engadget website describes the author Roberto Baldwin’s experience with the new Chevy Bolt electrical car. He states that the new model is now much more fun to drive, and with its 200+ mile range, and reasonably affordable 30,000-dollar price, it is an electric car without all the hassle that you would normally get with the average low-cost electrical car [1].

These news are very good for the future of the automobile because while electric cars are very beneficial to the environment, their cons usually out wait the pros. For example, they usually require frequent charging, which can take many hours, and they are usually bad driving cars due to the fact that they are built to be economic, not comfortable. Turning electrical cars into desirable driving machines instead of “hipster statements” is very important into making electrical vehicles a more popular option for the everyday driver.

All of these improvements require some clever engineering. It features a large 60-kWh battery, and a new 150-kW motor, which delivers 200 horsepower, and 266 pounds of torque [1]. The battery is positioned down low to give the Bolt a low center of gravity, which makes cornering very tight and sharp [1].

Source: [1] https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/27/2017-chevy-bolt-ev-review/

Post by Joao Martins

What Is Engineering To Me?

By: Alex Vu

My desire to pursue a career that involved engineering dates all the way back to elementary school.  At the time I did not even know what engineering was, I just liked playing with these things called fuze beads because there were unlimited possibilities that I could make with them.  All through out
my life, I was surrounded by objects that could be made a million different ways for example, there were K'nex, legos, and a computer game called fantastic contraption.  Whenever I would finish building one thing all my parents thought, "Oh Hey! You finished it!".  But when in fact I was more interested in what was the purpose for each piece. And when I found out that there was a career that would cater to my specific interests, I knew that engineering had to be the thing for me.  I guess my childhood has helped me to grasp a small understanding of what engineering actually is.      

Rather than looking at it as a bunch of lego pieces,  I thought of it as if this were real ( obviously it is) how is this made to hold so much weight?