What is Engineering?

• This sheet contains lessons for the mid-term curriculum.
• It is Part 1.
• Unit 1: What is engineering?
• Unit 2: Tools
• Unit 3: Energy
• Unit 4: Simple machines
• Unit 5: Working with numbers

Lesson 1: What is Engineering?

• Engineering is one of today's fastest growing careers because engineers work in many areas.
• Some engineers design roadways and others inspect very complicated machines.
• Engineers use math and science.
• Disciplines like mathematics and physics are a must for any engineer requiring extensive study.
• Engineers develop fascinating new ideas that change the world.
• Engineers create the technologies that make lives easier.
• Engineering is crucial in today's modern world and is a great field to enter.

Some Important Definitions

• Design: To plan how it will look and how it will function.
• Develop: To create it or to cause it to grow or expand.
• Discipline: A branch of instruction or learning.
• Engineer: A person who uses the knowledge gained by science to design and create practical applications for it.
• Engineering: The art of designing and creating practical applications from the knowledge gained by science.
• Inspect: To examine something carefully.
• Machine: An apparatus made from multiple parts designed to perform some kind of work.
• Mathematics: The study of numbers and change.
• Physics: A part of science that deals with the study of matter, movement, energy, and force.
• Technology: The group of new and sophisticated creations which make lives easier; examples include television, computers, and telephones.

Lesson 1 - Exercises

• Daniel wants to be an engineer.
• Physics investigates how mass and movement interact.
• Engineering classes are for students who want to build structures.
• Mathematics includes addition and division.
• This university offers degrees in many disciplines.

True or False Examples

• Machine is a branch of instruction or learning. (False)
• To design something is to plan how it will look and function. (True)
• To inspect something is to examine it carefully. (True)
• Mathematics is a science that studies matter. (False)
• Engineering is the study of quantity, structure, and change. (False)
• To develop something is to create it or cause it to grow. (True)
• Technology is a type of machine that makes life easier. (False)
• Physics is the art of using the knowledge gained by science. (False)
• Machine is a device that has multiple parts and does work. (True)
• Discipline is a person who applies scientific. (False)

Lesson 2: Tools

• Clip: to cut off part of it.
• Drill: a tool that makes holes in surfaces like wood or inserts and removes across.
• Pliers: tools that are used to pull out nails or cut wires.
• Screw: a piece of metal that you turn to fasten objects together.
• Screwdriver: a tool for putting screws into surfaces.
• Strip: to remove it from the surface of something.
• Wire stripper: a tool that is used to remove insulation from wires.
• Vise: Holds something tightly in place while someone works on it.
• Solder: a soft metal wire that is heated with a soldering iron to join two metal surfaces.
• Soldering iron: used to join pieces of metal together with solder.
• Cut = clip
• Fuse = solder
• Remove the cover of the wire = strip

Lesson 3: Energy

• Passengers riding in a car have potential energy.
• In a crash, a car decelerates quickly.
• This causes the passengers' potential energy to become kinetic energy.
• With non-stretching seatbelts, the passenger's stopping distance is short.
• Stretching seatbelts increase the stopping distance.
• The work-energy principle shows that a slightly greater stopping distance exerts less force on passengers.
• New seatbelts reduce injuries because less work is done on passengers and most of the passenger's kinetic energy transfers to the belt.

Important Definitions

• Decelerate: to slow down.
• Force: Something that causes an object to move.
• G: Unit of force equal to the force of gravity is used to show the forces on an object when it accelerates.
• Kinetic energy: The energy it possesses due to motion that is gained through acceleration and stays constant unless the object's speed changes.
• Potential energy: The potential that it has due to its position becomes kinetic energy when the object begins moving.
• Stopping distance: The distance an object in motion takes to come to a complete stop.
• Transfer: To move it from one object to another.
• Work: The transfer of energy, measured by how far an object is moved by a force.
• Work-energy principle: The idea that the change in an object's energy is equal to the total work done to the object.
• Abstract: A summary of an article, document, or the text.

Exercises

• Kinetic energy becomes potential energy in a crash (T)
• Shorter stopping distances exert less force on people (F)
• Stretching seatbelts causes less work to be done on people(F)

Fill In the Blank Examples

• The stopping distances of this car is dangerously long.
• Drivers decelerate when they press the brakes.
• A still object has potential energy
• A moving object has kinetic energy
• When you kick a ball, the force moves it forward.
• A machine does work when it moves another object

Lesson 4: Simple Machines

• Complicated: Many details, hard to understand.
• Fulcrum: Pointed support that a lever's board or bar rests upon.
• Inclined plane: Smooth surface with one end higher than the other.
• Load: Particular amount of weight a person or machine lifts or carries.
• Lever: A bar that rests on a fulcrum.
• Leverage: Power that comes from using a lever.
• Pulley: Machine that consists of a wheel with a rope in its groove.
• Simple machine: Basic machine with few moving parts.
• Wedge: Tool with one wide end and one pointed end.
• Wheel and axle: Machine consisting of a wheel with a rod through it (reduces friction).

Fill In the Blank Examples

• A lever provides leverage to lift heavy items.
• Eric is constructing a pulley wheels and rope.
• Not all machines are complicated.
• A ramp with a high and low end is an inclined plane.
• A lever requires a fulcrum.

Lesson 5: Working with Numbers

• Cubed: If a number is cubed, it is multiplied by itself three times.
• Equal: To be the same as that thing.
• Exponent: A small number written above another number signifies how many times the bottom number should be multiplied by itself.
• Hundredth: One of one hundred equal things.
• Percent: A number out of every 100.
• Squared: If a number is squared, it is multiplied by itself.
• Tenth: One of ten equal things.
• Thousandth: One of one thousand equal things.
• To the power of: If something is multiplied to the (the) power, it is multiplied by itself that number of times.

Examples

• 0.09 - Nine hundredth
• 0.009 - Nine thousandth
• 10^5 - Ten to the fifth power
• 10^7 - Ten to the seventh power
• 32% - Thirty-two percent
• 0.1 - One tenth
• 3^3 - Three to the power of three / three squared
• 6^2 - Six to the power of two / six squared
• = - Equal sign
• % - Precent sign
• X - Times / multiplied by sign
• • • Plus, sign
• • • Minus sign

Matching Examples

• Times: Multiplied by.
• Percent: An amount of hundred.
• Equals: Is the same as.
• Cubed: Multiplied three times by itself.
• Squared: Multiplied twice by itself.
• Exponent: A number showing powers of multiplications.