La Ingeniería Cm Profesion

Universidad de Oriente
Núcleo Anzoátegui
Unidad de Cursos Básicos
Departamentos de Humanidades
Área de Ingles.

Profesor: Bachiller:

Luis Escobar Angélica N. Ramírez P.C.I: 23.136.916

Sección: 20

Barcelona, 06/06/2011
The Engineering Profession

Engineering is one of the oldest occupations in history. Without the skills included in the broad field of engineering. Our present-day civilization never could have evolved. The first toolmakers who chipped arrows and spears from rock were the forerunners of modernmechanical engineers. The craftsmen who discovered metals in the earth and found ways to refine and use them were the ancestors of mining and metallurgical engineers. And the skilled technicians who devised irrigation systems and erected the marvelous buildings of the ancient world were the civil engineers of their time. One of the earliest great names in history is that of Imhotep, designer ofthe stepped pyramid at Saqqarah in Egypt built in the twenty-seventh century B.C.

Engineering is often defined as making practical application of theoretical sciences such as physics and mathematics. Many of the early branches of engineering were based not on science but on empirical information that depended on observation and experience rather than on theoretical knowledge. Those who devisedmethods for splitting the massive blocks that were needed to build Stonebenge in England or the unique pyramids of Egypt discovered the principle of the wedge by trial and error rather than by mathematical calculations. The huge blocks of stone for the pyramids were probably raised into place by means of ramps of earth that surrounded the structures as they rose; it was a practical application ofthe inclined plane, even though the concept was not understood in terms that could be quantified or expressed mathematically.

Quantification has been one of the principal reasons for the explosion of scientific knowledge since the beginning of the modern age in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Another important factor has been the development of the experimental method to verifytheories. Quantification involves putting the data or pieces of information resulting from experimentation into exact mathematical terms. It cannot be stressed too strongly that mathematics is the language of the modern engineering.

The great engineering works of ancient times were constructed and operated largely by means of slave labor. After the fall of the Roman Empire there were fewer slavesavailable in Europe. During the Middle Ages people began to seek devices and methods of work that were more efficient and humane. Wind, water, and animals were used to provide energy for some of these new devices. This kind of experimentation eventually led to what is known as the Industrial Revolution which began in the eighteenth century. First steam engines and then other kinds of machines tookover more and more of the work that had previously been done by human beings or by animals. James Watt, one of the key figures in the early development of steam engines, devised the concept of horsepower to make it easier for his customers to understand the amount of work his machines could perform.

Since the nineteenth century both scientific research and practical application of its results haveescalated. The mechanical engineer now has the mathematical ability to calculate the mechanical advantage that results from the complex interaction of many different mechanisms. He or she also has new and stronger materials to work with and enormous new sources of power. The Industrial Revolution began by putting water and steam to work; since. Then machines using electricity, gasoline, and...