How to Be an Engineer

146 Pages·2018·31.755 MB·English

by  Emily Hunt (consultant)

HOW TO BE AN
Engineer
Consultant
Emily Hunt
US_001_Half_title.indd 1 20/11/2017 14:40
Contents
4 Foreword by Emily Hunt
Experts Benton Allen, Paige Earl, Trent Kelly
6 How the book works
Consultant Emily Hunt
8 Getting ready
Senior editor Lizzie Davey
1 Amazing materials
Senior art editor Jim Green
Additional editorial Jolyon Goddard,
12 What are materials?
Katy Lennon, Clare Lloyd, Claire Lister,
Meg Weal, Amina Youssef 14 Making mud bricks
Additional design Judy Caley, Emma Hobson, 16 Building walls
Katie Knutton, Fiona Macdonald, Lucy Sims 18 Snap or bend?
US Senior editor Shannon Beatty 20 Tubes of strength
US Editor Liz Searcy 22 Rusty nails
Jacket coordinator Francesca Young 24 Mae Jemison
Senior pre-production producer
26 Make your own plastic
Nikoleta Parasaki
28 Stephanie Kwolek
Producer Basia Ossowska
30 Egg drop
Managing editor Laura Gilbert
Managing art editor Diane Peyton Jones 2 Strong structures
Creative director Helen Senior
Publishing director Sarah Larter 36 Build a gumdrop tower
38 Bridges
Some pages designed and edited
40 Cardboard arch
for DK by Dynamo Ltd.
42 Skyscraper structures
First American Edition, 2018
Published in the United States by DK Publishing 44 Fazlur Rahman Khan
345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
46 Tunnel building
Copyright © 2018 Dorling Kindersley Limited
48 Making roads
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
18 19 20 21 22 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 50 Isambard Kingdom Brunel
001-307951-May/2018
52 Suspension bridge
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced 3 Mighty machines
into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. 60 Simple machines
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited.
62 Ping-pong catapult
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
64 Leonardo Da Vinci
ISBN: 978-1-4654-7027-0
66 Lifting weights
DK books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk
for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. For 68 Cardboard cogs
details, contact: DK Publishing Special Markets, 345 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014 [email protected] 70 Turning wheels
Printed and bound in China. 72 Engines
A WORLD OF IDEAS: 74 Robots
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
76 Robot arm
www.dk.com
78 Cup phones
US_002_003_Contents.indd 2 20/11/2017 15:15
Contents
80 Computers
82 Grace Hopper
84 Ping-pong roller coaster
4 Getting around
92 Transportation
94 Staying afloat
96 Paddleboat
98 Robert Stephenson
100 Steam power
102 Wings for flying
104 The Wright brothers
106 Balloon hovercraft
108 Heavy planes
110 Jet balloon
112 Sailboat
5 Incredible energy
118 What is energy?
120 Wind energy
122 Nikola Tesla
124 Electricity
126 Sun power
128 How solar panels work
130 Build a dam
132 Carton turbine
136 Did you know?
138 Glossary
140 Index
144 Acknowledgments
US_002_003_Contents.indd 3 28/02/2018 15:25
4
US_004-005_Foreword.indd 4 20/11/2017 10:53
Do you like to explore how the things around you work? Do you
want to create a new material? If so, you should be an engineer!
Engineers use math and science to help people by creating
solutions to problems.

If you want to be an engineer, it is important for you to learn how
to solve problems and conduct experiments. Engineers and
scientists both use experiments to test ideas. While scientists
study how nature works, engineers create new things, like video
games, better ways to grow food, and nanotechnology—
technology so tiny you can see it using only special tools.

The first step in the engineering design process is to ask,
What is the problem that needs solving? Then, engineers use
their imaginations to come up with a plan based on things that
they know or have found out by investigation. They then take
their plan and create a design to solve the problem. The last step
in the process is to do experiments to test the design, to improve
it or make it better.

This book was written by our team of engineers to help you
discover new ideas and learn more about the world around you.
Come on, future engineers—let’s get started!
Emily M. Hunt
5
US_004-005_Foreword.indd 5 20/11/2017 10:53
How

the book Awesome
activities
These pages feature
works
engineering projects for
you to try yourself. The
results you get may not
be the same as those in
the book—but that’s OK!
In How to be an Engineer, you will learn how If the results don’t match
up, try to figure out what
to think and act like an engineer. The book is you did differently, and
then try it again.
full of fun activities that can be done at
home, as well as simple explanations and
a look at some of the most famous
The engineering behind
engineers of all time. What you will need for
each project is explained
each experiment is listed
with the help of diagrams.
at the top of the page.
You will need Ping- Small Long Tin
pong ball Tape bowl ruler can !
Watch out for
flying ping-
pong balls!
Use tape to
attach the
bowl to the end
of the ruler.
Now try...
1
Try changing the position of the
can under the ruler. How does it
3 affect how far the ball can fly?
How far can you get the
Make sure the
bowl is fastened 2 Put the ping- ball to go?
sYeocuu dreolny’ tt ow tahnet irtu tleor . pong ball in the
fly off! Carefully place the ruler bowl and then
on the tin can, making stomp down on
sure the can is in the the other end of the
ruler with your foot. The
middle of the ruler. ball should fly into the
air! Make sure you don't
hit anyone with the ball.
Force
Ping-pong you apply
Force
from lever
catapult How do
Fulcrum
levers work?
When the fulcrum is in the middle the two
Levers are a very simple way forces will be equal.
of multiplying forces to make
To launch attacks on castles, medieval tasks easier. The amount by Force
which a lever multiplies a force you apply
armies often used catapults. These simple depends on the distance
between your foot, the force Force
machines were designed by engineers created by the lever, and the from lever
who knew that they could use levers to fulcrum, which is the support Fulcrum
in the middle.
produce great forces. Use a ruler and a can When the fulcrum is farther away from the force
you apply, the resulting force will be bigger.
to make your own catapult.
62 63
At the end of each project
Photographs guide you are hints for new ways to
through all of the steps. test what you have learned.
6
US_006_007_How_the_book_works.indd 6 20/11/2017 10:59
Robots Tish dise sroigbnoet dd otog a ct Cool
like a real pet.
Robots are machines that follow instructions. engineering
They help us do a range of things, from simple
daily chores to complicated and sometimes
even dangerous jobs. Robots may seem The topics on these
intelligent, but even the most advanced
ones are only able to follow the pages cover everything
instructions humans have
given them. from materials and
Medical
Extreme Operations need to be very robots to transportation
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activities in the book.
Factory
Robots in factories do the same
thing over and over again, very
fast. They help make food,
Humanoid clothes, and cars.
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modeled to look and person to push them around.
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expressions on more robot household help, such
our faces. as a refrigerator that can bring
76 you drinks. 77
Flying machine
Leonardo Dthai sV minacci hdiensei gbnuetd Long before airplanes had been invented, Great
never made it. This da Vinci came up with ideas for a flying
da Vinci mmoandye ly weaarss b luatilet r. mcreacahteinde a. Hdee ssitgund iine dw bhiircdhs ac lpoeserslyo na nflda pped
large wooden wings. engineers
Engineer and artist • Born 1452 • From Italy
When he wasn’t painting masterpieces like the The stories behind
Mona Lisa or The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci
was busy working as an engineer. In addition to groundbreaking
developing catapults for the military, he filled his
Sketchbooks
notebooks with amazing designs for flying engineers are brought
Many of the ideas that da Vinci sketched
machines, tanks, and even a robot! out for engineering projects weren’t built
while he was alive. In fact, some weren’t to life in these pages.
developed until several hundred years
after his death!
Da Vinci wrote backward Learn about their
using a mirror so people
couldn’t steal his ideas.
greatest discoveries,
and find out what
“I know
how... to make Dnoat Vebinocoi kfsil lwedit mh a ny made them such
his ideas.
an infinite number
brilliant engineers
of bridges.” Da Vinci used his
skill as an artist
in his engineering in the first place.
designs, such as
in this drawing
of a catapult.
64 65
Safety first Be particularly careful when:
! • you are using sharp objects,
All of the projects in this
such as scissors, craft knives,
book should be done
thumbtacks, nails, or toothpicks
carefully. If you see this
• you are using hot liquids
symbol at the top of a page,
it means that you will need • you are using a hair dryer
an adult to help you with
• you are making things fly
the activity.
through the air
7
US_006_007_How_the_book_works.indd 7 20/11/2017 10:59
Getting Don’t forget a
pencil or pen
so you can
make notes!
ready
You can dive right into many of the
projects in this book using items you
have at home. There are also a few tools
If a project
that may help with your engineering calls for cutting
something,
experiments. Thinking ahead is the scissors are an
essential tool.
first step to becoming an engineer.
What is an engineer?
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Engineers come up
with ways of doing
things as well and as
quickly as possible.
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