Can anyone explain what Mechanical Engineering is?

[neokill175]

yea, im guess that it has to do with mechanical stuff, but is there more to it?? because thats what im planning on majoring on when i reach college
so if anyone here is a mechanical engineer or majoring in that field, can you tell me what it is and how it is like and what do you do?

[bignpisst]

I dont know but my friend is a mechanical engineer. He works for Chrysler

[mike_d]

basically designing vehicles + vehicle components

[DontTreadOnMe]

you want to major in it and you don't even know what it is?

[RACKITUP]

4th year of aerospace engineering here.

we run parallel with the mechanical engineers who do alot of the basic stuff like mechanics, structures, CAD, thermodynamics etc then specilise in whatever field you want to:

Automotive
CAD
Structures
Jet engines
bridges
ships etc

[Future1King]

Originally Posted by neokill175

yea, im guess that it has to do with mechanical stuff, but is there more to it?? because thats what im planning on majoring on when i reach college
so if anyone here is a mechanical engineer or majoring in that field, can you tell me what it is and how it is like and what do you do?

I'm an aircraft maintenance enginner and believe me it's a fun field to work in especially if you like mechanics, however you gotta learn about everything, meaning: Electricity, what causes that to move, aerodynamics, physics, pressures, weights, drag, everything. Now don't get scared cause it's a lot of fun. I work with sheet metal, I weld, I do weights and balances on aircraft, electrical circuits, batteries, a lot of hands on experience. Good luck

[SMASH23]

why didnt u just google it..?

[Freestyle72]

k..im in civil engineering...but i was gunna choose mechanical and basically mechanical engineering is an extremely wide range of things. Mechanical engineers can go into pretty much all types of transportation...heat disipation...fluid mechanics...mechanics of materials...design of processes in a factory...machine design..

[JCVP]

It's also somewhat tough (unless you're very smart). I took an intro mechanical course (I'm an electrical engineer) and it started out pretty easy, but definitely notched up in terms of difficulty. You do lots of stuff with statics & dynamics, basically examining objects and what would happen if forces or equilibrium events were to occur. You do lots of stuff with 3D coordinates, must be able to apply calculus after the initial courses, and I hear most ME degrees require up to Calc 4.

I never majored in it, but it's not as easy as it sounds (hence why there are GPA requirements for the programs most of the time).

[McCrack]

Im in mechanical engineering. It is a very broad field and involves the design of anything that is manufactured, design of machines and making sure the stuff you design works properly, and is made out of the right materials, etc. Most jobs arent that exciting tho, as most of the jobs I have had experience with do not involve creating brand new designs but rather modifying existing ones to get small improvements in efficiency, and this can be a little boring.

[Brer Ben]

Originally Posted by Future1King

I'm an aircraft maintenance enginner and believe me it's a fun field to work in especially if you like mechanics, however you gotta learn about everything, meaning: Electricity, what causes that to move, aerodynamics, physics, pressures, weights, drag, everything. Now don't get scared cause it's a lot of fun. I work with sheet metal, I weld, I do weights and balances on aircraft, electrical circuits, batteries, a lot of hands on experience. Good luck

you're an aircraft maintenance engineer at 19 years old?

[garbage cutters]

as a 4th year mechanical engineer at UCSB i can easily answer your question.

what is mechanical engineering you ask?


Hell.

[neokill175]

what do you mean by that??
ive heard many positive posts besides yours...
so what do you mean? more info would be nice...
and i didnt want to google it because i like to hear it from people themselves

[synthetic54]

Engineering is hard to describe. You have to have a passion for it due to its rigor.

A degree in engineering from an ABET certified school is not the same engineering degree from a technical school. A technical school teaches you hands on skills, like how to change a tire for example.

A degree in engineering from an ABET certified school teaches you why a tire works, why the equations describing the tire fit it so welll, and what can be done to improve the tire.

As you can see, the word engineering has been tossed around like a redheaded stepchild and beaten to the point where its meaning is vague, e.g., a designer or a technician?

After all, if the garbage man is a sanitation engineer, a plumber can soon call themselves chemical engineer. Also, you do not want a plumber working as a chemical engineer since an engineer can kill people in the thousands due to faulty designs.


As a result, there has been preventive measures from such occurences. Canada has an organization called Order of the Engineers. In California, you cannot call yourself an engineer in a specific field unless you pass the Professional Engineering Exam.

Now the good stuff. The fields of engineering.

Mechanical/Aerospace - Forces, usually dynamics. Fluid dynamics is a big thing.
Civil - Statics, usually consists of torque and linear forces.
Chemical - Conservation of mass in heat, mass and momementum terms.
Electrical - Conservation of charge and a lot of imaginary numbers/programming.
Materials Science - Bastardized child (Personal grudge against friends who left me in Chem E for an easier department)

That pretty much covers the basics. There are other specialized engineering fields like environmental, petroleum, nuclear and software.

- Synthetic54 (3rd year chem e)

[mts3]

Mechanical engineering is probably the most broad of any of the mainline engineering degrees. When I graduated in 01 I had 4 very different job offers:

Designing major gas appliances (the job I took)
Production support (manufacturing engineer) at an aluminum rolling plant
Plant engineer at a power plant (maintenance, keeping machines going)
Working in power distribution / sales (4th choice)

I stayed at my first job for 4 years. All engineers basically either designed appliances or worked on production-related projects.

Now I am a manufacturing engineer at a division of one of the biggest heating/cooling names. I design fixtures and tooling as well as provide production support.

There are tons of other things you can do with a ME degree, you are not limited to manufacturing / production (which is what I love becuase I love to get my hands dirty at my job). You can do strict design work, heat transfer, fluid power, most any kind of motion, etc.

Plus most engineering schools will let you go through a co-op program (internship-like) where you can work for a year in your field. I did it and it really taught me a lot.

[hungarian_boss]

Some things to look out for:

Dynamics
Thermal Dynamics
Statics
and Strength of Materials

Pain in the A$$!

It's fun if you like mechanics. Google it. Mechanical Eng. goes from aerospace, automotive, etc. etc.

[garbage cutters]

Originally Posted by neokill175

what do you mean by that??
ive heard many positive posts besides yours...
so what do you mean? more info would be nice...
and i didnt want to google it because i like to hear it from people themselves

sorry i just agree with the post below that you have to have a passion for it otherwise you are not going to have a good time to say the least

i just like to whine

[MisterChase]

Engineering scares the **** out of me. I have mad respect for people who go high in any of those fields. -salutes-

[B_Master_Flash]

lol @ people thinking mechanical engineering has to do with cars.

[RamSeS]

Any engineering degree you go for is hell. If you like math and physics, it might suit you, but you also might get tired of doing it. You will learn a lot of theory about how and why things work through mathematical formulas and equations.

However, working in the real world is far different from school. It is good to get internship positions at various companies to get a feel of engineering as a career. For some disciplines, the professional engineering license is critical. After you get this license, you are able to call yourself an engineer because you knew your stuff enough to pass the difficult exam.

A majority of engineering is learned while on the job. A lot of the stuff you learned in school won't be used, and the complicated equations that you had to solve are solved by computer programs. But if something is wrong, its your job to figure it out and fix it. Sometimes its easy, sometimes its not. So engineering is tough in school because it is supposed to weed people out. Mistakes in engineering sometimes cost people their lives. So know what you are going into.

[RonaldMcDonald]

studying M.E in school...soo freaking hard

but its worth the hard work!