• Question: there are different types of engineering. which type contributes the most to help creating and modernising technology?

    Asked by 466appb35 to Huw, Gosha, Ray, Stacey, Steve on 16 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Steve Cox

      Steve Cox answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      Mmmm – that’s a really difficult question to answer. I suppose at the moment it’s probably the Electronics and Software Engineers that are doing a lot of the groundbreaking work. It wasn’t always that way though – if you go back to the Industrial Revolution it was Mechanical Engineers who were leading the way then.

    • Photo: Huw Williams

      Huw Williams answered on 16 Mar 2015:

      I still think Mechanical Engineers lead the way 🙂

      Software and Electronic Engineer’s give us the tools, programmes and control systems which allow our products to work. However without all the bits that move sometimes you’ve got no product at all.

      Take for example a turbine blade in one of our engines, a single blade produces more horsepower than a F1 engine. It’s made from a single crystal of metal which is grown specially to make the part incredibly strong. They operate at temperatures 300 degrees above their melting point and stay solid using a very clever cooling system. That’s like filling an oven with ice cubes, setting it to 300 degrees and keeping them frozen!

      Show me a software engineer who can do all that.

      Huw

    • Photo: Stacey Cutten

      Stacey Cutten answered on 17 Mar 2015:

      Just as engineering is a very broad term, technology is also a very broad term! It is defined as “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes”… so it depends on the type of technology you were talking about! For example, for medicine, it would be chemical engineering. For cars, mechanical engineering. For buildings, civil/structural engineering. For computers, computer engineering – so it really is difficult to say.

      Conclusion – Each field of engineering is the best at modernising the technology its specialised to 😀

    • Photo: Gosha Barzowska

      Gosha Barzowska answered on 18 Mar 2015:

      There are hundreds: Have a look at this website to understand whats available: http://www.aboriginalaccess.ca/adults/types-of-engineering
      I think every type of engineering has its own impact on mdernising technology that its uses. However I think IT and Electronics have the most impact because this is what they deal with on daily basis.

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