Engineering GCSE

353 Pages·2005·5.04 MB·English

by  Tooley M.

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Engineering GCSE
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Engineering GCSE
Second edition
Mike Tooley
ex-Vice Principal
Brooklands College of Further and Higher Education
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD
PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier
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Newnes
An imprint of Elsevier
Linacre House,Jordan Hill,Oxford OX2 8DP
30 Corporate Drive,Burlington,MA 01803
First published 2002
Reprinted 2003,2004
Second edition 2005
Copyright © 2005,Mike Tooley.All rights reserved
The right of Mike Tooley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
in accordance with the Copyright,Design and Patents Act 1988
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying
or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally
to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder
except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988
or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd,
90 Tottenham Court Road,London,England W1T 4LP.Applications for the copyright
holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed
to the publisher
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 0 7506 6576 9
For information on all Newnes publications visit
our website at www/newnespress/com
Typeset by Charon Tec Pvt.Ltd,Chennai,India
Printed and bound in Great Britain
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Contents
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Design and graphical communication 1
Unit 1 of the GCSE syllabus
Chapter 2 Engineered products 97
Unit 2 of the GCSE syllabus
Chapter 3 Application of technology 227
Unit 3 of the GCSE syllabus
Chapter 4 Maths and science for engineering 273
Additional chapter for all students requiring
further science and math’s underpinning
knowledge
Answers to numerical Test your Knowledge 321
questions
Appendix: Engineering data 327
‘How to’Index 333
Index 334
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Preface
Welcome to the challenging and exciting world of engineering! This
book is designed to help you succeed on a course leading to the voca-
tional GCSE qualification in Engineering. It contains all of the essen-
tial underpinning knowledge required of a student who has never
studied engineering before and who wishes to explore the subject for
the first time.
About you Have you got what it takes to be an engineer? The Engineering GCSE
will help you find out and still keep your options open. Engineering is
an immensely diverse field but, to put it simply, engineering, in what-
ever area that you choose, is about thinking and doing. The ‘thinking’
that an engineer does is both logical and systematic. The ‘doing’that
an engineer does can be anything from building a bridge to testing a
space vehicle. In either case, the essential engineering skills are the
same.
You do not need to have studied engineering before starting the
GCSE course. All that is required to successfully complete the course
is an enquiring mind, an interest in engineering, and the ability to
explore new ideas in a systematic way. You also need to be able to
express your ideas and communicate these in a clear and logical way
to other people.
As you study this course, you will be learning in both a classroom
and a workshop environment. This will help you to practice the things
that you learn in a formal class situation. You will also discover that
engineering is fun – it’s not just about learning a whole lot of mean-
ingless facts and figures!
About The GCSE Engineering is a nationally recognised and accredited
qualification designed to provide you with a choice of routes into fur-
Engineering
ther education or employment. The GCSE in Engineering is a double
GCSE award equal to two GCSEs. It is therefore twice the size of most GCSEs
and represents twice the work that would normally be associated with a
single award. The GCSE in Engineering is a ‘vocational GCSE’. This
means that it is directly relevant to anyone who may be thinking about
a career in engineering.
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viii Preface
The first three chapters that make up the GCSE course cover
Unit 1: Design and Graphical Communication, Unit 2: Engineered
Products, and Unit 3: Application of Technology. In the first two
chapters you will build up a portfolio of your work. In Chapter 1
(Design and Graphical Communication) we have called this your
‘Personal Design Portfolio’and you should take particular pride in its
development because it says a great deal about you. You will continue
to develop your portfolio in Chapter 2 (Engineered Products) but in
this chapter you will also have the opportunity to produce an engi-
neered product. Your teacher or lecturer will suggest what this should
be and he or she will also help to ensure that you have the right mate-
rials and resources to complete the task!
In Chapter 3 (Application of Technology) you will investigate the
use of technology through a series of open-ended case studies. It’s also
worth remembering that a study of engineering requires a good grasp
of science and mathematics. So, if you intend to study engineering at
a higher level, it is important that you develop your skills in these sub-
jects, at the same time as studying for your GCSE in Engineering.
How to use this
This book covers the three units that make up the Engineering GCSE
book double award programme. The first three chapters are devoted to each
of the three assessed units and each of these chapters contains text,
key points, ‘test your knowledge’ questions, activities, and review
questions.
Since many GCSE students have difficulty with science and math-
ematics, we have included an extra chapter on Maths and Science for
Engineering. Whilst this additional chapter is not part of the GCSE
double award and is therefore not part of the GCSE assessment, it has
been designed to complement the other chapters and also to provide
the essential maths and science underpinning knowledge that will
allow students to progress to engineering courses at a higher level.
Furthermore, unlike GCSE Maths and Science courses, all of the top-
ics, questions and examples in this fourth chapter relate directly to
engineering applications.
The second edition of Engineering GCSE has been considerably
enhanced and expanded to include a number of new topics. These
include new activities on interpreting client design briefs and using
CAD packages, and new sections on quality control and quality
assurance, health and safety, casting and milling, and systems and
control technology.
The ‘test your knowledge’questions are interspersed with the text
throughout the book. These questions allow you to check your under-
standing of the preceding text. They also provide you with an oppor-
tunity to reflect on what you have learned and consolidate this in
manageable chunks.
Most ‘test you knowledge’questions can be answered in only a few
minutes and the necessary information can be gleaned from the sur-
rounding text. Activities, on the other hand, require a significantly
greater amount of time to complete. Furthermore, they often require
additional library or resource area research coupled with access to
computing and other information technology resources.
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Preface ix
Activities are the means by which you generate the portfolio
evidence needed to satisfy the assessment requirements for Units 1
and 2 (note that Unit 3 is assessed by means of a written examination).
As you work through this book, you will undertake a programme of
activities as directed by your teacher or lecturer. Don’t expect to com-
plete all of the activities in this book – your teacher or lecturer is
expected to ensure that those activities that you do undertake will
generate ample assessment evidence. Activities also make excellent
vehicles for gathering the evidence that can be used to demonstrate
that you are competent in core skills.
These essential features of Engineering GCSE 2e provide vital
practice material for the GCSE course, but are not intended as an
assessment instrument to replace Edexcel assessment materials.
Finally, here are a few general points worth noting:
● Allow regular time for reading – get into the habit of setting
aside an hour, or two, at the weekend to take a second look at
the topics that you have covered during the week.
● Make notes and file these away neatly for future reference –
lists of facts, definitions and formulae are particularly useful
for revision!
● Look out for the inter-relationship between subjects and units –
you will find many ideas and a number of themes that crop up
in different places and in different units. These can often help
to reinforce your understanding.
● Don’t be afraid to put your new ideas into practice. Remember
that engineering is about thinking and doing – so get out there
and do it!
● Lastly, I hope that you will find some useful support material at
my website, www.key2study.com
Good luck with your Engineering GCSE studies!
Mike Tooley