Look around you. Great masterpieces of engineering are everywhere. As soon as you get out of bed in the morning, you are putting centuries of scientific and mechanical ingenuity to use. So familiar are these structures, inventions, and services that they are all but invisible. Yet they are just as remarkable as great works such as the Parthenon, the Eiffel Tower, and the Panama Canal. Everyday Engineering: Understanding the Marvels of Daily Life is an indispensable guide to the way things work in the world around you.
Conducting this eye-opening tour is Professor Stephen Ressler of the United States Military Academy at West Point, an award-winning civil engineer and a nationally honored leader in engineering education. In 36 half-hour lectures, richly illustrated with instructive physical models, computer animations, and graphics designed by Professor Ressler himself, you start by learning how a house is put together with all its subsystems. Then you move outside to trace the origin and route of water, power, and telecommunications networks. Finally, you hit the road to discover how automobiles function and how roads and highway bridges are engineered. Along the way, Everyday Engineering investigates power plants, dams, aqueducts, railroads, communication satellites, home energy efficiency, simple machines around the house, recycling, and many other topics.
No background in science or engineering is needed to follow this riveting presentation, which gives you deep insight into the underlying simplicity of the complex systems that enhance our lives.
Author(s): Ressler, Stephen J.
Series: The Great Courses
Publisher: The Teaching Company
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 393
Tags: Engineering;Technology
Engineering and technology in your world --
Your house as an engineered system --
Three structural systems for load bearing --
Platform-framed housing construction --
The building envelope --
Site design and storm runoff --
Dam, reservoir, and aqueduct design --
Water treatment and distribution --
Wastewater disposal and treatment --
Fossil fuels: coal,oil, and natural gas --
Power generation from coal --
Oil, gas, and nuclear power --
Renewable sources of electricity --
Electrical power transmission: the grid --
Electrical power distribution --
Everyday thermodynamics: refrigeration --
Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning --
Home energy efficiency --
Passive solar and net-zero- energy homes --
The plain old telephone service --
The global telecommunications network --
Cellular phone technology --
Satellites and satellite communications --
Simple machines around the houses --
User-centered design --
The internal combustion engine --
Torque, power, and transmission --
The drivetrain --
Suspension, steering, and braking --
Highway engineering --
Traffic engineering --
Everyday bridges --
Tunnel engineering --
The railroad --
Solid waste disposal and recycling --
The future: engineering for sustainability.
