Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| MEDUSA | English | Mechanical Engineering Drafting Utilities System Administrator | Computing, Building & Civil Engineering |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Mechanical engineering is the application of physical principles to the creation of useful devices, objects and machines. Mechanical engineers use principles such as heat, force, and the conservation of mass and energy to analyze static and dynamic physical systems, in contributing to the design of things such as automobiles, aircraft, and other vehicles, heating and cooling systems, household appliances, industrial equipment and machinery, weapons systems, etc.
Mechanical engineers often create simulations of the operation of objects, as well as the manufacturing processes to be used, in order to optimize performance, cost effectiveness, and energy efficiencies, before settling on a particular design.
Engineering drawings of the objects to be fabricated are typically created. Prior to the late 20th Century most engineering drawings were drawn by hand with the aid of mechanical drafting boards. The advent of the digital computer with graphical user interface made the creation of models and drawings using Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs possible. Most CAD programs now permit creation of three-dimensional models which may be viewed from any angle. Such models may be used as the basis for Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and / or Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) of the design. Through the application of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), the models may also be used directly by software to create "instructions" for the manufacture of objects represented by the models, through computer numerically-controlled (CNC) machining or other automated processes, without the need for intermediate drawings.
Fundamental subjects of mechanical engineering include: dynamics, statics, strength of materials, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, control theory, pneumatics, hydraulics, mechatronics and applied thermodynamics. Mechanical engineers are also expected to understand and be able to apply concepts from the chemistry and electrical engineering fields. At the smallest scales, mechanical engineering becomes molecular engineering - one speculative goal of which is to create a molecular assembler to build molecules and materials via mechanosynthesis. For now this goal remains within exploratory engineering, and some consider it science fiction.
Related disciplines include; Electrical engineering, Industrial engineering, Systems engineering, Civil engineering, Aerospace engineering, and other engineering disciplines.
See also
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mechanical engineering."
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Mechanical engineering. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Switzerland | Switzerland's mechanical engineering, chemical and precision instrument industries, as well as the service sectors (tourism, banking and insurance), rely heavily on effective software solutions. (references) |
Senegal | French investors are present in the major multinational import-export firms, shipping companies, banking, food production, mechanical engineering, agribusiness, petroleum distribution, industrial equipment, vehicles, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, tourism and insurance. (references) | |
Human Rights | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | A school program began with courses in carpentry, tailoring, baking, and mechanical engineering. (references) |
Political Economy | PAKISTAN | There are currently about 4,600 national standards for agriculture and food, chemicals, civil and mechanical engineering, electronics, weights and measures, and textile products. (references) |
Trade | Pakistan | PSQCA has so far established about 4,600 national standards for agriculture and food, chemicals, civil and mechanical engineering, electronics, weights and measures, and textile products. (references) |
Austria | The ON prepares standards in a variety of fields: ores and metals, mechanical engineering, building and construction, health and medical equipment, non-metallic materials, chemical and allied industries, special technologies, personal safety, food, environment, and waste management. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
mechanical engineering | 732 |
mechanical engineering job | 141 |
mechanical engineering software | 16 |
mechanical engineering career | 15 |
mechanical engineering school | 13 |
mechanical engineering salary | 12 |
handbook mechanical engineering | 10 |
entry level mechanical engineering job | 9 |
mechanical engineering free software | 4 |
mechanical engineering technician | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "mechanical engineering"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||
German | maschinenbau (engineering, machine-building, mechanics). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Greek | μηχανολογία (mechanics). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Italian | industria meccanica (engineering industry). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 機械工学 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | きかいこうがく. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | echanicalmay engineeringay машиностроение (engineering). (various references) mašinstvo. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 65 63 68 61 6E 69 63 61 6C 45 6E 67 69 6E 65 65 72 69 6E 67 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001101 01100101 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100001 01101100 00100000 01000101 01101110 01100111 01101001 01101110 01100101 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)M e c h a n i c a l   E n g i n e e r i n g |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004D 0065 0063 0068 0061 006E 0069 0063 0061 006C 0045 006E 0067 0069 006E 0065 0065 0072 0069 006E 0067 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4771697467807569677823980737580717184758073 |
| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "mechanical engineering" |
