Bridges, mines, machines
A great, shining bridge across a broad river. A vehicle speeding through
the cold darkness of space, toward another planet. A new kind of
plastic, one that’s tougher than steel. A giant electric power plant.
Before such marvelous things as these can come to be, someone has to
think about them, plan how to make them, and solve the problems that
come up. Who does all these things?
People called engineers [(ehn]{.smallcaps} juh nihrz) are the ones who
plan and put together everything from new kinds of light bulbs to modern
super highways a thousand miles long. Engineers also work on the
planning and construction of buildings, the control of air pollution and
water pollution, the design of ships, and a great many other things.
The Opera House in Sydney, Australia, is a marvel of mathematical
shapes.
There are five main kinds of engineers. Civil engineers plan and oversee
the building of dams, bridges, roads, and similar things. Mechanical
engineers plan and build such things as engines for automobiles and
airplanes, and all the kinds of machines used in industry.
Chemical engineers create new products and materials out of the earth’s
resources. Mining engineers search for new sources of minerals, and plan
and design ways of removing these minerals from the earth. Electrical
engineers work on the production and use of electricity and design
equipment that uses electricity.
Most engineers use a lot of mathematics in their work. A civil engineer
building a bridge has to know how many tons of moving weight the bridge
will hold. A chemical engineer may have to figure out just how much of a
liquid will evaporate, and how quickly, when it is heated to a certain
temperature. A mechanical engineer might have to work out the effects of
vibration and heat on parts of an engine.
Engineers work with such things as shapes, measurements, weights,
temperatures, and quantities of material—so mathematics plays a big,
big part in most kinds of engineering.
Much of the mathematics in planning buildings, ships, and other things
is done by computer. This engineer uses a computer to work on the
design of an airplane.
