History of Electric Power Transmission

By: Boyuan Sun

In 1879 Edison brought the light to this world electrically and the first time electrical light is practical for normal family. On September first 1885 with the generator started to run 59 lucky customers enjoyed the gift from electrical age.

However, the system Edison was using is called direct current which is also known as DC. The drawback of this advanced system in 1800’s is that the electrical power can only be carried no more than several miles which means the noisy, polluting power plant must be locate in the center of the city. This is a huge restriction to the development of electrical system and a negative factor of the marketization of electric power.

Not long after the DC system was created a system called alternating system is invented by Nikola Tesla. With a higher voltage and an extremely high frequency, this system allows the current to be transmitted through a long distance with only small energy lost. This system is proved to be a better one and still being used up till now.

Thanks to those processes and improvements made by electrical engineering and related scientists world can now enjoy the convenience brought by the electricity might be created hundreds miles away


Work Cited:
SpiesLeaks. “Electric Power Transmission Grid - High Voltage Transmission and Distribution System.” Online video. Youtube, 2015.6.10. Web. 2015.11.14.

The pyramids

By:Khalifa ALHammadi

The ancient Egyptians are one of the oldest engineers. They used engineering concepts in order to build the pyramids. Without these engineering concepts the pyramids will not be able to stand till now. The first thing that impressed scientists is that the pyramids were built in the most stable place in Giza. Another important concept in engineering was creating measuring units. “The ancient Egyptians used cubits, palms and fingers as units for measuring. The cubit was divided into 7 palms and a palm into 4 fingers which resulted in 28 fingers for one cubit.” (Löhner). 

The Egyptians used the Pythagorean theorem to find the lengths of the pyramid because it has a tetrahedral shape. In order for them to move the giant rocks from one place to another, wheel and axle were used to make it easier for them. Wheel and axil is considered to be one of the first concepts in engineering, Egyptians used this concept to move rocks that were used to build the pyramids. There are a lot of different examples that show how Egyptians are engineers, the links below contain more information.



https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/06/12/9-engineering-feats-pulled-off-by-the-ancient-egyptians-that-would-be-nearly-impossible-for-modern-engineers-to-duplicate-today/

http://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/khufu-pyramid/pyramid-alignment.html




Works Cited:
Löhner, Franz. "The Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops)." Survey and the Alignment of the Khufu Pyramid. N.p., 2006. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
Edwin Westhoff. Pyramids. Digital image. Art Photography. Edwin Westhoff, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

Prompt #9: Recognizing Significance

By: Abdulaziz Khudada

Electrical engineering has big role in technology. They can design, develop, test the electronic devices and electrical systems. Electrical engineers can join in any type of engineering projects. Many things are powered or controlled by electricity. “Technology without Electrical Engineers would be equivalent to kitchens without chefs.” [1]

Electrical engineers had big role in developing cars, networks, electronic devices, and a lot of technology stuffs. Other developing projects for EE (electrical engineering) is renewable energy. Solar energy is renewable energy by converting sunlight into electricity. Engineers can improve the efficiency of solar panels in order to get more power from a smaller area. Electrical engineers role is to make system with multiple sources of energy to guarantee stability, also have part in designing solar panels. Electrical engineers are responsible for controlling electrical generation. Bureau of Labor Statistics organization published article about solar power, and they shows every engineer role for the solar power developing. “Electrical engineers role is design, develop, test, and supervise the manufacture of electrical components. They are responsible for designing the electrical circuitry of solar panels and supporting devices for panels, such as inverters and wiring systems.” In the article you can see how much they paid and how the solar power works.

Sources:

[1] Molnar, James. “The Importance of Electrical Engineers.” EzineArticles. June 05, 2012. November 09, 2015.

Electric Power Industry 2009: Year in Review," Electric Power Annual (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010).

http://www.bls.gov/green/solar_power/#growth

Applications of Nanotechnology

By: Khalifa Alzaabi

As discussed in my previous post, nanotechnology is the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields. In this post I will further explain more about nanotechnology and why is it used and how is it used.


There are a lot of nanotechnology applications that are used in our daily life without noticing and some of them will be created in the near future, for example:

             1. Medicine: researchers are developing a nanoparticles medicine in which it goes directly to the diseased cell

             2. Electronics: nanoparticles are used in electronics by decreasing the weight of the device and power usage and increase the capabilities of the device.

             3. Food: factories are now using nanomolecules to make food taste better and make it healthier for people to eat.

              4. Fabrics: by using nanoparticles it allows improvement in the fabric properties without any increase of weight, thickness, or stiffness.



Moreover, nanotechnology is being used for many other things in order to make it better for us to use. It true that this technology is new to people, but through time scientists and researches are going to find far more usage of nanotechnology than now.


Resource:

http://www.understandingnano.com

Biosensor- The Application of Electrical Engineering in Bioengineering Field

By Boyuan Sun

Speaking about the application of electrical engineering mentioned in the first post I wrote I would love to talk about that in the bioengineering field. Doing electrical engineering you always have to design the circuits and can’t avoid to build some thing electronic operational, something like a transducer.

The transducer is a part of a biological sensor, so called biosensor, combined with any kinds of biological element such like enzymes, antibodies or nucleic acids (Sally). The job of a transducer is to transmit the biological signal into a measurable electrical parameter like a change in voltage or current.

It is a huge for electrical engineers to achieve the transform between two different signals which also involves the study on materials. On the microelectronic level only slight reactions are happening between sensors and analyses which includes organic compounds, gases, ions and bacteria. So it is a real challenge for engineers to build such a small device to make the transforming of signals come true.

However, the pay back is huge after engineers and scientists over came those difficulties. The biosensor technology can be widely used in the medicinal field especially in testing sugar percent in blood for diabetics and pollution supervising.

Sally Robertson. “What are Biosensors?” News. AZO network, Oct 7, 2014. Web. Nov 8, 2015.

How to be a successful Engineer?

By Khalifa ALHammadi


In order to be successful in anything in life you must work hard for it. Hard work can get you anything you desire no matter how big it is. Hard work applies for engineering as well; to be a successful engineer you must work hard for it. Hard work is not the only thing; you must work in a smart way as well. There are some tips that help any engineer to be successful by smart and hard work. The first thing is setting a goal, you first must know how much successful you want to be and then start working to reach it. Another tip gaining the required skills by practicing. For instance, team work skills can only be obtained by working with a group. Working on more than one project with several teams is considered as hard work. While, interacting with the teammates professionally is considered as smart work. Another tip for becoming a successful engineer is focusing on improving skills that you are good in.




Last but not least, to know whether you are on the right track or no, evaluate yourself after a period of time and see what are the improvements. If there were improvements, then continue until you reach your goal and if there were no improvements try another way that will strengthen your skills. These tip are not only for engineers; other fields may do the same thing but with minor differences. The link below has 10 tips explained in details.

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/professors-guide/2009/12/02/10-tips-for-success-for-engineering-students-


Works Cited:

Linda. Success Ladder. Digital image. Http://www.langevin.com/blog/2014/04/21/instructional-techniques-5-tips-for-successful-training/. Langevin Blog, 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

Why to be a Chemical Engineer?

By Khalifa ALHammadi


There are many reasons to choose chemical engineers as career. The main reason of being a chemical engineer is that chemical engineers can change the world. Chemical Engineers contribute in producing most of the things we use in our daily life. “They are working to save the environment by developing alternative technologies to combat acid rain, lead pollution and the greenhouse effect”. (CEB). Another reason is that chemical engineers are well paid. “Median annual starting salary for a person with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering is $70,000.” (Kociszewski).



The salary increase as the engineer gets more experience when working in the field. Besides that, Chemical engineering career is very wide, there are many choices available such as the oil industry, pharmaceutical industry and Nanotechnology. These choices help to secure the job of a chemical engineering student while he is studying. Chemical engineers attend a lot of conferences that occurs all over the world so the engineer will travel and see a lot of different places. These are some few reasons of why to be a chemical engineer, there are a lot of different reasons. If you want to know more, please see the link below.

http://chemicalengineeringnews.org/10-reasons-to-become-a-chemical-engineer-infographic/


Works Cited:




- Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology. University Of Cambridge, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2015. 

- Kociszewski, Paulina. "10 Reasons to Become a Chemical Engineer [Infographic]." Chemical Engineering News. N.p., 13 Oct. 2013. Web. 02 Nov. 2015. 

- Chemical Engineering. Digital image. Imperial. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.