Engineering

The purpose being to iluminate a north side wall of a house to decrease mold growth. - One single large convex mirror, or an array of many small convex mirrors (equal in mirror area) - Which choice will reflect more sunlight to the dark wall for a decent number of sunlight hours and angles daily ? Or is there a preferred shape as ellipsoidal for the task ?

How long before 4D printing and molecular assembler take of? Would you say 10 or 15 years out? What are they using 4D printing and molecular assembler now? I can't seem to get much information on this.The only thing I can find is this. http://allthingsd.com/20130226/from-ted-the-future-of-robots-4d-printing-personalization-and-adaptation/?refcat=news What would 4D printing be used for? Team of scientists in Toronto Canada are doing that now. http://www.torontosun.com/2013/02/28/4d-printing-lets-objects-build-themselves

How do I dissipate static electricity... From my treadmill? Note that the ground in my house is crap. It's an old home, and while it has grounded outlets on the wall, I'm fairly certain they are not grounded outside. When I'm running on my treadmill, static electricity builds up so when I grab the handles it shocks me... often, and frankly I'm sort of tired of it. I tried taking a metal clothes hanger and wrapped it around the leg of the handle and touched the other end of the clothes hanger to the floor, but that doesn't seem to be doing much for me. Is there anything else that would help? I'm wondering if maybe there is a device that can be clipped on to …

I am designing an experiment in which I will need to suspend a small amount of an alloy between a series of electromagnets. Is there an alloy that I could use that will be able to be suspended between electromagnets without actually touching them and will not hold any residual magnetism or at the most hold magnetism for a very short period of time? To be honest I'm not even sure if an electromagnet will magnetise metal like other types of magnets will. Any and all input is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

First of all, i am young and not with much knowledge. I have a few questions for a project of mine, which i will start sooner... or later. Is it possible to transmit energy/electricity from far away? (Tesla had something similar) How else could we put something in space, other than rockets? (Elevator would need long cable... would be too heavy.What about Slingshot in a long pressurized tube? Using Magnets? ) The idea is to cheaply shoot something in space, by any one (close to sun for example) which could generate electricity by transmitting it back to earth. What other problems does this idea have? Sorry for my ignorance in advance.

I believe a limiting factor in developing higher efficiency engines is sticking since day one, to use water as coolant. My point is replacing water based coolant in ICE engines, -An oil cooled engine- with the most convenient transmission fluid. or diesel, or kerosene, or transformer oil, or refrigeration oil, or hydraulic fluid, or some other petroleum derivated, or a blend of the above -but no water content at all- Which can: - Eliminate boiling at 'normal' operating temperatures, - Eliminate rust progress or prevent it, - Eliminate pressurized circuits, - Eliminate freezing, no specialized orange, green, whatever coolant additives, - Incre…

first think of normal nucklear plant and how much it produces energy? then think of nuckealer submarine reactor and how much it produces ? and then this why dont they use in space stations/shutles nucklear energy reactor and build it inside a freezer so it cools down and if submarine nucklear reactor is efficient enough why dont use them to power up towns factories building them inside a freezer too

Hi, currently i'm having question regarding the internal stress distribution for circular and rectangular shape soild. May i ask why their internal stress distribution is different? Is it because the inner sturcture or composition of the soild is different? Or is it their calculation of stress is different? Please kindly advice Thanks

I am trying to coach kids in science olympiad and hate to disappointment them. I attached a file. I need to use to class of levers in conjunction to create an IMA of 5. Is the attached photo correct? Thanks for any help you can give.

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum (this is my first post) and would like to ask for some help with a project that I have started (not sure if this is the right place to post this though). Overview: I want to make an autonomous robot that can move around by itself and detect and avoid obstacles (think iRobot or Roomba style). Reason for doing this: I am really interested in the field of robotics and thus want to get into it well. So I picked this project as it is very fun so I can not only make it but also learn from the experience, such as making circuits, coding, designing the actual robot, the mechanics and whatever else is required to make it tick. I am most…

Is there any commercial device used in industry, equivalent to mechanical hysteresis ? A device that snaps mechanically or hydraulically, to two states like a toy clicker, or a 'klixon' thermal switch ? -A mechanically bistable device like a wall switch, unstable at its center position-

Ok, I want to build a small boat which will consist basically of a floating platform supported by 2 pontoons which are 8 feet in length. What diameter do the pontoons have to be to support a total weight (platform plus load) of 700 lbs.? Any help would be appreciated, especially if someone could provide an easily understood formula or explain in simple terms how they arrived at the answer. I'm really not THAT dumb but it's been a long time since high school...

Hi. Did not pay enough attention when a 10,000 sq.ft. freezer was added at a facility I worked at many years ago. ...Remember a reinforced concrete slab poured on the ground, then a ~8" layer of styrofoam, and another reinforced concrete slab on top. Forklifts danced all over that floor with no problem. Am I missing details?; what is the building technique to avoid cracking/collapse with such styrofoam sandwich ? How is it done properly int the civil engineering world ?

what is the difference between civil engineer, architect, and contractor?

I live in a fairly old house in Brisbane, Australia; or old by suburban Brisbane standards, at least. I'm unsure of exactly when it was built, though my guess would be the 60's or 70's. It's seen maybe a handful of updates since. In this house there is a room built within the downstairs area / my bedroom whose purpose has puzzled me since I moved in a few years ago. I've not been able to find anyone here who could tell me what it was for, so I thought I'd branch out and ask here in the hopes someone has seen something like it. The room itself about 2m in each direction and looks kind of like a giant wooden box sitting in the corner of part of my room (its walls and ce…

It's been about 20 years since they do not manufacture automobiles any more; they make computers with wheels since then. The on-board engine control unit measures intake air mass by its flow and its temperature, and sets the fuel amount for combustion. Being cold winter air more massive, does it feed correspondingly more fuel then, than in hot summer thinner air ? If yes, preheating intake air would decrease the fuel ratio, If not, is it because the oxygen content exhaust sensors action ? Hey ! but if there is more air mass intaken, then the 14:1 ratio could not be sustained ! What am I missing ? Is the throttle position working less open in winter for the …

Can you name some?

Hi I've been studying camera coil guns for a few weeks now and decided to give it ago I bought 6 disposable cameras, the only problem is every camera hack I have seen online their cameras don't have a wire behind the flash tube like mine... It's not connected to the tube it just sits behind it and it doesn't work with out it some one please help

Hi guys, I'm looking for extreme materials, and now I'm looking for virtually indestructible materials, such as stuff that can withstand being hit with a train travelling at Mach 3.

From the engineering consideration that regular tiles and bricks are far from optimal in terms of adding strength to structures, I've been considering that better would be the very particular shape of tiles and bricks illustrated in this image which is a version (representing steel) of a pattern I first posted here in a topic in The Lounge forum, Tessellated I - my simple technical drawing, coloured artfully View larger version of Tessellated I in Steel 1800 x 800 Representing a surface of "I"-shaped (rotated by 90 degrees, "H"-shaped) steel tiles. The shape is of square proportions, the column of the I being one third of the width of the square and the top a…

I'm trying to do research for my own extra-dimensional manifold physics for engineering purposes, but I don't know exactly how to accomplish certain tasks. Have we even made a real life Klein bottle yet? And if so how? Or how close are we? Is there anything that can help with constructing objects in real life that have apparent dimensions higher than 3? I was looking into using high-energy laser beams to bend the fabric of space into different 4-dimensional shapes, possibly into mobius strips, does anyone know of any research that's already been done like that that they can direct me to? I know DeGrasses Tyson wanted to build some kind of accelerator that bent space enou…

Hello, I am new to this forum. I got tired of waiting for Engineering Forum.Org to come back on line. I used to ask questions there. In my mind, I equate a stirling cycle engine to a tripple expansion steam piston engine, as compared with a steam turbine. I think that there must be a way to have rotor(s) and stator(s) replace the multitude of parts used in a stirling piston engine. I have thought about this for several years now. I have reached the limits of my mental ability, and need help. Since no one that I know personaly is familar with the stirling cycle, I have come here. My ideas so far; 1. I am considering an open as oposed to a closed system. This grea…

When water turns to ice it expands by approx 9%. This expansion does exert a very large force...don't know how much? Can an engine be made to use this force? The motor needs to amplify the small/slow "travel", at the expense of the large force. I know we have to spend energy to cool the water, (but we then dump the ice, not reheat it) Any ideas please? Thanks brainzlol (on twitter)

This is my first time to communicate with others in English.I want ask a question that how to connect the experimental equipment with the gas detection equipment.I need to detect the gas concentration during the experiment,so I need to put the gas which generated in the experiment into the gas detection equipment.But the diameter of the gas inlet connector is so small.It is one millimeter and the diameter of the experimental equipment is about one centimeter.Please give me some help about the problem how to connect the smaller diameter with the bigger diameter,and give me some detail steps to solve the problem.Thank you very much!

I made this little 3-4 minute montage of all 28 missions by the shuttle Columbia, ahead of this year's anniversary of her destruction and the loss of her crew. Please feel free to enjoy and share via social media. The song in the video is Shine Ya Light by Rita Ora.