You know when youre an engineer when....

[dukebound85]

inspired by the "you know youre a designer when" thread

need to know every detail of something....whether it be what the tests are for at the hospital or exactly how a bill is broken down

when dilbert sums up your work environment closer than youd like

your classmates idea of fun is to replicate a working proe model of a steam locomotive to the tiniest detail and then have it animated

for starters

 

[Schtumple]

When you laugh at people who can't use one of these:

(I never got the hang of it, prolly why I gave up on engineering and got into media )

 

[Tomorrow]

When you yell at the TV during "Mythbusters" because clearly an airplane is gonna take off from a conveyor belt. Or because clearly bullets fired at high velocity are gonna shatter when they hit water. Or because clearly a compressed air tank isn't gonna explode when you shoot it. But they test it anyway.

 

[twoodcc]

When you yell at the TV during "Mythbusters" because clearly an airplane is gonna take off from a conveyor belt. Or because clearly bullets fired at high velocity are gonna shatter when they hit water. Or because clearly a compressed air tank isn't gonna explode when you shoot it. But they test it anyway.

haha. so why won't a propane tank explode when you shoot it?

 

[Iscariot]

I know an engineer whose last name is Engineer.

 

[iGary]

When you title a thread like this:

You know when youre an engineer when....

 

[Tomorrow]

haha. so why won't a propane tank explode when you shoot it?

Because the walls of the tank are not experiencing enough of an elastic deformation due to stress. It's like punching a hole in a balloon filled with air, but not stretched out - the air will leave the balloon, but it won't rupture.

Now if the propane tank is filled with propane and a spark hits it, that's another matter.

 

[twoodcc]

Because the walls of the tank are not experiencing enough of an elastic deformation due to stress. It's like punching a hole in a balloon filled with air, but not stretched out - the air will leave the balloon, but it won't rupture.

Now if the propane tank is filled with propane and a spark hits it, that's another matter.

oh ok. thanks

 

[Rapmastac1]

You know you're an engineer when you focus more on how the ride works than the actual ride itself.

I found myself doing this from a very young age. Just went to Lagoon yesterday and was sitting in the carriage. I was looking down at the engine components and watching how it prepped itself for "launch" and how it "calmed" itself down afterwards. Haha. Also you tell your friends how it works regardless of whether they care or not. Like how a "maglev" launching system works, taking you from 0 to 70 mph in no time flat.


When you see something cool and have to go home and replicate it.

I did this when I was young as well. I would go to the Kennecott mines and come home and make all the dump trucks - fully working btw - out of Legos. I did this for pretty much any mechanical device I thought was fascinating.


When you take things apart just to either see how they work or because you are just bored.

I did this and still do it sometimes. I just like to see how things work and how differently different manufacturers compile devices to achieve specific results.


When you don't actually "play" Little Big Planet but spend most of your time messing with buttons and theories.

I do this all the time, I will spend most of my time making switches, timed sequences, randomizers, launching systems, etc. All of these have real "gaming" oriented purposes for levels, but I never use them, I just move on to something else. And you always have at least three different versions of something.

 

[ikermalli]

inspired by the "you know youre a geek when" thread

need to know every detail of something....whether it be what the tests are for at the hospital or exactly how a bill is broken down

when dilbert sums up your work environment closer than youd like

your classmates idea of fun is to replicate a working proe model of a steam locomotive to the tiniest detail and then have it animated

for starters

There, fixed

 

[cube]

You're not impressed by Apple's hardware.

 

[ikermalli]

You're not impressed by Apple's hardware.

I'm not an engineer but even I'm not impressed, I'm 15.

 

[The Past]

When you title a thread like this:

LOL! I was going for the same! Not to mention the other word not highlighted....

 

[detz]

...you try to apply algorithms to everyday events such as who should make the coffee today or what time the meeting should be to make it more efficient.

 

[chrmjenkins]

When you yell at the TV during "Mythbusters" because clearly an airplane is gonna take off from a conveyor belt.

I watched that episode just now on youtube. They completely defeated the purpose by giving the planes forward momentum relative to the ground. If the principle were true for a completely stationary plane, you could substitute the wings with yokozuna and a small elephant and it would take off provided the weight is the same.

 

[edge540]

you create CATIA models in your sleep for work and draft them up... just to go in the next day and just replicate what you dreamt about....

 

[Chundles]

You know you're talking to an extroverted engineer because they're looking at your shoes instead of their own.

 

[AppleMatt]

Or because clearly bullets fired at high velocity are gonna shatter when they hit water.

Why's this? I'm guessing because the harder you hit water the more solid it is?

AppleMatt

 

[chrmjenkins]

Why's this? I'm guessing because the harder you hit water the more solid it is?

AppleMatt

By hitting water at high speed, you take away its ability to dissipate the incident energy.

For instance, if I jump off of a 20 story building into an airbag, I have the same potential energy at the top, which is converted to the same kinetic energy in either case. The difference is that the airbag dissipates the energy I've gained both over a longer time period and a greater area as opposed to concrete. Basically, it allows me to sustain forces my body is capable of handling. If you hit water at a very high velocity, it has no time to dissipate the incident energy via waves, it all happens at once. Experiencing that force (resistance to flow) in such a short time period is enough to cause the bullet to structurally fail.

 

[Beaverfish]

When you laugh at people who can't use one of these:

(I never got the hang of it, prolly why I gave up on engineering and got into media
)

This is so true, I love my trackball, and it makes me laugh when people try to use mine, and get all fustrated!

There annoying when you don't know how to use them but once you learn, there is no going back!

 

[Beaverfish]

When you turn into a complete OCD freak about stuff, you didn't care about before you became an engineer!

 

[plinden]

... you ask HR to keep track of your employee number in binary.

Double points if you specify the endianness.

 

[Tomorrow]

I watched that episode just now on youtube. They completely defeated the purpose by giving the planes forward momentum relative to the ground. If the principle were true for a completely stationary plane, you could substitute the wings with yokozuna and a small elephant and it would take off provided the weight is the same.

The entire point - the one that people overlook, causing them to think the plane won't take off - is that the plane's mechanics are governed by the propeller and wings. People think of the plane in terms like a car, whose mechanics are governed by wheels rolling without slip on the ground.

Because the wheels of an airplane roll freely, and propulsion is provided by the propeller and not drive to the wheels, it makes no difference whatsoever what's going on underneath the plane; indeed, the problem is exactly the same whether the ground is there or not!

As long as the wheels roll freely and the propeller works, there's no way to arrest its forward acceleration; Mythbusters didn't defeat the purpose or give the plane forward momentum; the plane generated its own velocity with the propeller. It happens whether the plane is on the ground or not. You can't keep the plane stationary, not relative to the ground, not relative to the conveyor, and not relative to the air.

Why's this? I'm guessing because the harder you hit water the more solid it is?

Basically, yes - it's the principle of viscosity. Water (being a liquid) can get out of the way of something falling into it, but it can only move around so fast. So when I jump my big fat a$$ into the pool, I can displace a lot of water because the velocity with which I hit the water is miniscule relative to the speed of a bullet. The bullet hits the water so fast there isn't any time for the water to "move out of the way," or become displaced, when the bullet enters. So it acts more or less as a solid.

Here's a video showing the same basic concept; a guy walking across a pool of a solution of corn starch in water. As long as he does so quickly, he can step on the liquid as though it's a solid.

 

[dukebound85]

The entire point - the one that people overlook, causing them to think the plane won't take off - is that the plane's mechanics are governed by the propeller and wings. People think of the plane in terms like a car, whose mechanics are governed by wheels rolling without slip on the ground.

Because the wheels of an airplane roll freely, and propulsion is provided by the propeller and not drive to the wheels, it makes no difference whatsoever what's going on underneath the plane; indeed, the problem is exactly the same whether the ground is there or not!

As long as the wheels roll freely and the propeller works, there's no way to arrest its forward acceleration; Mythbusters didn't defeat the purpose or give the plane forward momentum; the plane generated its own velocity with the propeller. It happens whether the plane is on the ground or not. You can't keep the plane stationary, not relative to the ground, not relative to the conveyor, and not relative to the air.

just like jets on a carrier can not take off unless the ship is going against the wind as the runway is too short for them otherwise

 

[Tomorrow]

just like jets on a carrier can not take off unless the ship is going against the wind as the runway is too short for them otherwise

This is true at airports, in a sense; traffic is directed to be more or less into the wind during landing and takeoff. Airspeed is the key to flight; but by flying into the wind, the speed relative to the ground is slower, lessening risks during landing and takeoff. Airspeed is unaffected either way - same principle as the Mythbusters episode.

I've long been fascinated with aircraft and flight; I spent some time as an aerospace engineering major before switching to mechanical. I sometimes wonder what might have been