Data Sheet
About Electricity (Engineering)
9. What is Engineering?
Q: What is Engineering? What do engineers do?
A: Engineering is the application of Science, Technology,
and Mathematics to make products that are useful to
people. Engineers are skillful in using their knowledge to make
products. For example, surge protectors transfer current from
the electrical wall outlet to the electrical
appliances plugged into it while protecting
the appliances from large spikes of
electricity which could damage them.
Some surge protectors have many sockets
to plug computers and TVs into them,
while others only have two. The design is
an engineer’s job.
10. Is Engineering only about Electronics?
Q: Besides Electronics what else do Engineers do?
A: Engineers must design the products to be the most
appealing at the best price. Product appearance helps
marketing sell the product. Product performance is also
important and engineers are given specications by marketing
to meet their requirements. Safety is always very important. An
audio device should only be loud enough
to serve the specications. Production
Engineers use electronic and magnetic
sensors to automate production. Civil
engineers design roads and bridges
that are safe for everyone to use.
11. Engineering and Electricity Generation
Q: Do engineers help make electricity for daily use?
A: Yes! So far they have designed systems that use the
seven fundamental methods of directly transforming
other forms of energy into electrical energy: Fossil-fuel,
biomass, hydro/tidal, wind, nuclear,
mechanical power generation, and
solar thermal energy. Certainly there
will be more methods for electricity
generation to be found, since the
engineers, like artists, are always
creating.
12. Environmental Engineering - Battery Recycling
Q: How do Engineers help protect our environment?
A: Batteries contain a number of toxic chemicals and
their improper disposal may cause soil contamination and
water pollution. Engineers know that most typical kinds of
batteries can be recycled, especially lead-acid automotive
batteries which are nearly 90% recycled today. Nickel-
cadmium (Ni-Cd), nickel metal hydride
(Ni-MH), lithium-ion (Li-ion) and nickel
zinc (Ni-Zn) can also be recycled.
Engineers are always looking for ways
to make products safe like integrating
fuses into their designs to prevent
overheating and res.
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