The Most Significant Engineering Achievements - Case Study Example

Engineering, in common language, may simply be defined as an art of acquiring and applying various kinds of knowledge (be it mathematical or technical) to achieve an objective or an innovation. Today what we see around us are those ‘objectives’ and ‘innovations’ that the past engineers strove to achieve. Be it a simple Pencil Sharpener or a Telescope, be it any medical apparatus or a simple yet very helpful tool; everything made by man was once an innovation and every invention played its part in leading to new marvels of engineering. Three hundred years is too long a time duration to choose the feats of engineering from, yet some accomplishments stand quite distinct amongst others...some of them include the International Space Station, C.E.R.N.s Large Hadron Collider, Palm Deira of Dubai, the Bird’s Nest in the Heart of Beijing, the Eurotunnel, Pan STARRS-1 and what not? But to seek three of the ‘most’ significant engineering achievements we must not only consider their impossibility of construction/achievement but also the effectiveness, utility and their role in the development and advancement of other future innovations. What we must remember is that engineering has numerous branches now and an innovation considered a big success in one field might just be useless to the other, nonetheless the contribution of the innovation goes directly to ‘Engineering’ not its subsidiaries. The first most significant Engineering Achievement out of the three would be ‘Electrification’ – the modification of a system so that it operates using electricity. The term basically refers to the system established for the distribution, advancement and utility of electricity. Thomas Edison was the first one to establish a commercial power plant in 1882. After that the system for distribution of electricity progressed and numerous companies invested in the proper production and circulation of electricity. Transportation of electricity from a power plant (usually located in remote areas) to such a large number of consumers either concentrated into huge populations in cities or wide-spread over rural areas was, still is and would always remain to be the most remarkable feat of engineering and what we see around us; a perfect system of machines generating, regulating and then transporting the Electricity, wasn’t always there. High output power plants are now present after years of advancement, better wiring with enhanced electrical conductivity and better insulations and even the means of transportation of electricity have changed; cables are not only carried by poles on the surface of the Earth but also underground cabling and wires capable of conveying the electrical potential underwater are being used. What Engineering has provided us with the development of electrification; is the ready availability of electricity whenever and almost wherever we need it, be it for our household appliances, for the road signals managing our traffic, the elevators in sky scrapers or be it the machinery facilitating our very source of communication; the fact remains that electrification has not only made our lives more comfortable but has enabled engineers to pioneer deep into creating new inventions. Computers, Internet, mobile phones, satellites, radios, television, machinery required for construction and numerous more inventions wouldn’t even have existed without the electrification by Engineers around the world. The item being voted by me as the second most significant engineering achievement is the invention of Airplanes. As the race for advancement in technology began amongst the human population around the world, many grand schemes of engineered creativity were unfurled but amongst them nothing was as interesting as the plan of man to take flight- the invention of the Airplane. The task was, however accomplished by a pair of bicycle builders from Ohio; Orville and Wilbur Wright who with help from pioneers working in the same field before them like Octave Chanute and Otto Lilienthal finally achieved their first sustained flight with a powered and properly controlled airplane in the year 1903, during which Wilbur covered 852 feet over the ground in 59 seconds. This first flight, no matter how short it was, proved that their research and development of the knowledge of the structure, aerodynamic capabilities, weight and thrust quotient of an aeroplane were successful. This momentous achievement is responsible for today’s Airplanes. Engineers have developed and delved deep into studies regarding Aviation and have not only created a modern machine and the best possible mode of transport but have literally shrunk the globe by making almost every place on Earth accessible to these machines; the predecessor of which was only capable of covering a distance of 852 feet in flight. But no matter how developed today’s flying machine is, the credit goes to the first invention; the first Airplane. What this miraculous triumph of engineering has given us cannot be listed definitively but apart from the usual services undertaken by the Airplane such as Military use and Transportation use, Airplanes have also; helped us with Exploratory missions to the remote areas of the world, helped in the transportation of unimaginably heavy freight, been employed as Air Ambulance and made the journey over large oceanic areas smooth and comfortable along with providing weather and surveillance services. Airplanes have also been put to use to determine the ecological and environmental changes occurring in our environment. The third but certainly not any less significant than the other two above mentioned Achievements are ‘Fuel Cells’. As the world plummets towards advancement and science and engineering progress through the halls of time it would be imprudent to say that with our eyes focused on our objectives we might have over used our planetary riches in order to achieve what we want as quickly as possible. But with the creation, advancement and proper application of fuel cells we can give back to our planet what it right fully deserves: the right of self preservation. The principle of the fuel cell was discovered by ‘Christian Friedrich Schönbein’ in 1838. Sir William Robert Grove in February 1839 demonstrated the first Fuel Cell based on the work of Christian Friedrich Schönbein. What a fuel cell actually does is that it converts a source fuel into an electrical current and water. Electricity is generated inside a cell through reactions between a fuel and an oxidant, triggered in the presence of an electrolyte. The reactants flow into the cell, and the reaction products flow out of it, while the electrolyte remains within it. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the necessary flows are maintained. Many combinations of fuels and oxidants are possible. A hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen as its fuel and oxygen (usually from air) as its oxidant. Vast applications are covered by Fuel Cells which include the famous electric cars working on the principle of Hydrogen Fuel Cells and the German type – 212 submarines which also deploys the use of Hydrogen Fuel Cells. What this marvel of engineering has bestowed upon us is a way to cut down carbon emissions, a way to save natural fossil fuels and rid us of their addiction and who knows if properly developed and utilized; the near future may also be void of wars fought for oil. These fuel cells can also be applied to ships, to space shuttles, to large industries utilizing tons of oil, to aircrafts and even to laptops and cell phones. I’m not saying that the technology is already here but what I say is that engineering has given us an amazing invention and what the future holds after years of development of the Fuel Cell, would have only been possible by the innovation of ‘the First Fuel Cell’ – a wonder of engineering. In lieu of the above stated facts and recommendations, to state that Electrification, the invention of the Airplane and the invention of the Fuel Cell are the most Significant Engineering Achievements over the last 300 years, wouldn’t be erroneous at all. In fact, if we look around us, nine out of every ten things, we put to our daily use, consume electricity and if proper electrification had not been achieved then those nine things would have been almost useless, it could be a refrigerator, a residence security system, a coffee machine a toaster or even as important as an elevator. Our traffic signals would have collapsed if it weren’t for the proper growth in Electrification. Cell phones would have run out of coverage and the whole communication system would have collapsed. Suffice it to say that electricity is our need and ‘electrification’ has provided us; in a manner that we take it for granted that every socket is live and it truly is, with electrons buzzing to get out and into wires to operate our machinery. And there was a time that one part of the world was completely oblivious of the other. Modes of transportation were limited and it took days and in some cases was impossible to travel around. Weather was a factor, bandits, rough terrain and what not. Travel by sea was hazardous and tiresome even Columbus might not have enjoyed his journeys... But it was with the invention of the flying machine that man conquered all; almost all weather conditions, vast oceans and the treacherous terrain. It is because of the birth of the Airplane that today massive machinery is easily transported; a large number of people can journey across an ocean within hours. It is with the invention of the Airplane that made Military forces around the world a ‘Three Dimensional Force.’ Fossil Fuels are a natural resource of energy and our dependence on them is unimaginable. Just consider for a moment; our current world running out of fossil fuels... no oil no gas... the ‘whole’ transportation system would collapse, be it by sea, by air or by land. Industries would be devastated due to lack of production and wars would be fought over whatever little resources were left in any part of the world. What Engineering has achieved in relevance to the stated fictitious (yet inevitable) circumstances is commonly known as the Fuel Cell; a substitute to all fossil fuels. Though the technology has not yet discovered its full potential and not applied the Fuel Cell to use in a detailed manner, but it can be assured that developments in this regard will be made just as was the case with the Airplane and Electrification. In conclusion to this essay I’d like to state that there might be different opinions over what might be the three most significant engineering achievements in the past 300 years, but none as eligible as ‘Electrification’ with respect to the development of societies, ‘Airplane’ with respect to modes of transport and Fuel Cells with respect to futuristic planning and preservation of our planet, were found in my research. Bibliography Nice, Karim, and Jonathan Strickland.  "How Fuel Cells Work."  18 September 2000.  HowStuffWorks.com.  05 March 2010. Brain, Marshall, and Brian Adkins.  "How Airplanes Work."  13 November 2000.  HowStuffWorks.com.  05 March 2010. Brain, Marshall, and Robert Lamb.  "How Electricity Works."  28 May 2004.  HowStuffWorks.com.  05 March 2010. “Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century”, Viewed 5th March-2010, < http://www.greatachievements.org/> Read More