Developments Made in the Field of Mechanical Engineering - Essay Example

Client’s 16 February The world has made remarkable progress in the last decade, everything that was unimaginable exists today andeverything that is unimaginable today will very much become a reality in the coming few years. Mechanical engineering has given a lot to the world; I was intrigued by mechanical engineering when I was really young. There are countless people who travel from one country to another each day, the rich ones take flights and cover a really long distance within absolutely no time. Mechanical engineer plays a pivotal role in the functioning of an aircraft; it also plays a key role in the maintenance of an aircraft. It would be really hard to imagine a world which does not have aircrafts, several people would get stranded at one place should there be no aircrafts to take them from one place to another and this would also mean that travelling from one place to another quickly would not be plausible at all, we will have to look for a substitute which may not be as fast and as safe. Engines and power plants have been built by mechanical engineers. Imagine a day without power; life would be miserable without power. Every modern day gadget depends on power for recharging. Life would never be the same without power and aircrafts, these inventions have been crucial in taking us forward and there is a lot that the world owes to engineers who have been responsible in some way or the other for these great developments that we have made in the last few years. Who does not like fast cars? The engine of these fast cars were designed by mechanical engineers who made several sacrifices and invented engines which would support cars and enable them to go really fast, this has its cons also. Some would say going fast may cause an accident but going fast becomes necessary in the case of an emergency, every coin is two sided and we must always look at the positive side rather than being negative about a particular thing. There are several gadgets that have been designed by mechanical engineers, these developments have been crucial and have contributed immensely towards the overall growth of human beings. Computers were designed by mechanical engineers; computers have become part and parcel of our lives. Computers are present everywhere, life would be so complicated without computers. Computers have made us excessively dependent but there is no denying that they have contributed hugely in our overall growth and development. The stock markets in each country would not be able to function smoothly without computers and this may lead to a lot of economic trouble, already there is a lot going on in the Euro Zone and in other parts of the world. Computers are not just entertainment devices but they are capable of performing unimaginable jobs and we have seen this happening too. Telephones were designed by mechanical engineers; imagine living without your phone? Some people get really paranoid when they lose their phone and this happens because phones have become an important object of our lives, we can hardly imagine our life without phones. It is also a fact that cell phone towers have killed countless birds and these devices have made us excessively dependent on them but there is hardly a better substitute to these phones and until we find one, we will have to make do with the current ones. Refrigerators and air conditioners were designed by mechanical engineers, it is impossible to imagine life without them. There would be no cold water and people would also be deprived of sleep at night, again these gadgets have made us excessively dependent but there is no better substitute and it is also a fact that human beings are not good enough to produce cold water and cold air themselves so we have to depend on something better which is capable enough of doing the job for us. Life has become so convenient, almost everything switches on by the press of a single button and does its job until we would like to stop it, all these changes have taken place only because of mechanical engineering. It has contributed immensely and life surely would not have been the same had these breakthroughs not been achieved in the field of mechanical engineering. “Mechanical engineering is one of the broadest and most versatile of the engineering professions. This is reflected in the portfolio of current activities in the department, one that has widened rapidly in the past decade. Today, our faculty are involved in projects ranging from, for example, the use of nanoparticles to tailor the properties of polymers, to the use of nonlinear dynamics to control unsteady flow separation; from the design and fabrication of low-cost radio-frequency identification chips, to the development of efficient methods for robust design; from the development of unmanned underwater vehicles.” (Mechanical Engineering) Submarines were designed by mechanical engineers and it was once again a great breakthrough, submarines are really useful when there is a war and they are also used to navigate and fine hidden objects in the sea. It would become very difficult to uncover sea life without submarines and thanks once again to mechanical engineering for this great breakthrough. “Curiously, with electrical engineers leading the digital revolution, more and more of the electrical power distribution and control, particularly for electromechanical products, was taken over by MEs. Stepper motors, along with electrical clutches, were used commonly to replace mechanical transmissions. The launch weight constraints encountered by the U.S. space program stimulated the use of engineered composite materials and legitimized the design and optimization of minimum mass solutions. In the latter part of the 20th century.” (The Ever-Evolving Profession) Fiber optics used in internet connections was designed by mechanical engineers and these fiber optics are used in almost every organization for internet. These cables have made life hassles free, internet would not be available at the very same speed should some other technology be used, these fiber cables are crucial when it comes to high speed internet. This is yet another invention which has already brought about several great changes and it will continue to bring out even more positive changes in the coming few years. “The discipline originated in the early machines—inclined planes, levers, screws, pulleys, and springs—which provided a means (the so-called mechanical advantage) to enhance the limited strength of the human body. Animal power was harnessed next, followed by the exploitation of swift rivers and strong winds. During these early years, kinematics, dynamics, strength of materials, and the innovative design of mechanisms and transmissions, as well as agricultural and production tools, were at the heart of the discipline.” (The Ever-Evolving Profession) These changes brought about by mechanical engineering have changed the world for the best; it would be really difficult to imagine life without aircrafts, ships, submarines, computers, optic fibers and so on. These inventions have been really crucial to our development and also crucial to our well-being. “The microelectronic revolution and the beginning of space exploration in the latter half of the 20th century introduced miniaturization into the practice of mechanical engineering. While bigger, faster, stronger continued to apply to many ME domains, for important sectors of the profession small was beautiful. After an initial monopoly by electrical engineers and materials scientists, by the early 1970s large numbers of mechanical engineers were developing fabrication, assembly, and packaging processes for millimeter- and then micron-scale electronic components, combining their knowledge of mechanics, dynamics, and heat transfer with new bonding and joining technologies to create miniature.” (The Ever-Evolving Profession) Conclusion The paper shed light upon the several developments made in the field of mechanical engineering, I would love to become a mechanical engineer and design something which would be as useful as an aircraft to this world, if not as useful as an aircraft at least something which would help several people and which would also make lives less complicated and more enjoyable. The main problem with several people is that they complain a lot about their lives, they do not enjoy it. My aim is to invent something which would make people happy and which would make their lives so much better than what it currently is. I am very confident of achieving this because I have always believed in working hard and facing challenges as they come my way. Working hard would not be enough, I will also have to work smart to accomplish my goal and I am more than ready to do so. Works Cited Mechanical Engineering (2012). Department of Mechanical Engineering. Web. Retrieved from: The Ever-Evolving Profession (2012). Mechanical Engineering. Web. Retrieved from: Read More