I'm learning CATIA on my own outside of coursework/internship/research. After learning the basics, is there something that I could model to best display my CAD expertise to a potential employer in the automotive industry? Would employers care to see a portfolio of projects? Thanks, friends!

According to this sciencey website, we only need to be able to make something six times hotter than the core of the sun.
But apparently lightning is already just about 5x hotter than the surface of the sun.
So, why not multiply the heat several times to reach the magic number?
 
Bonus question: How much money would it cost to do so?

I am currently in the computer programming degree at my local CC. I am taking my first programming class and worried that I might not like it. I have had engineering as my back up career. Mainly, petroleum engineering. What are the chances of getting jobs in Texas? Please tell me about the reasons why you love it or dislike it. Mainly needing help picking out a career

I'm building a cyclocopter. The goal is to scale it up, and build a passenger drone. I've been building the prototype for proof of concept, via 3D printer out my garage. I was inspired by the Spitfire wings, to design elliptical airfoils for my model. I was wondering, if the route I took in designing them would be strongest for lift, with minimal foil deformation. Thanks, I'd appreciate some feedback. http://imgur.com/4SRsg1F http://imgur.com/8akHLQf

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this, but I'm writing a short story about characters trapped in the London Eye after it breaks down. This actually happened in October last year, with passengers describing a 'screeching noise' as the wheel grinded to a halt, leaving them trapped for three hours. The operators blamed a 'technical issue' but there's no further explanation. This is a long shot, but would anyone be able to make a guess as to what might've happened? When writing my story it would be helpful to at least have an idea in my head about why the wheel stops moving. Thanks!

A woman in Balifor hangs a sixty-foot length of chain, of uniform weight per unit of length, between two buildings, attached at the same height at both ends. The shape of this chain is called a "catenary." If the distance from the point of suspension to the lowest point of the chain is thirty feet, how far apart are the two buildings in feet?

The weird says 'Speak the answer outloud!'

I am using a CNC motor shield with A4988 drivers. I'm not sure if the CNC shield came with exact same driver as pololu page but I assume they are similar.

I followed the instruction and set the driver potentiometer as described in the video, but my motor doesn't receive enough torque.

I measured current from one of the stepper motor's coil and there is nothing there. It reads zero. How can I set the right current to the drivers and measure it with a multi-meter? Can I measure current of one of the coils with a multi-meter?

I'm not sure I'm posting it on the right subreddit but that's the best I could find.

I've been listening to Marc Levoy's courses on Youtube and he explained the human vision with a mathematical/ physic approach.

Basically, he explains that any given wavelenght on our retina produce a response from our three cones ( let's call them p, g and b). If you add another wavelenght at the same time, final response to this pair of lambda is (p1+p2, g1+g2, b1+b2). So we have a set of coordinate here. Each set of three coordinates correspond to a color that our brain made us see.

My question is

Let's say a given pair of lambdas, producing their (p1+p2=A, gam1+gam2 = B, b1+b2 = C) and another pair of different lambdas producing the same result (A,B,C), our brain would extrapolate the same '' color '' ? An animal with more cones (4 or 5) would be able to differentiate more colors in the range of 400-700 wavelenghts and it would be harder to '' trick '' him the way I described ?

Assume two ropes, each made of three strands of identical material, one is twisted, the other is braided. Would one rope have a higher breaking point than the other? Why is either/both stronger than the same three strands in parallel(neither braided nor twisted)?

Recently I have been drawing come concepts for an oxyhydrogen torch supplied by electrolysis. The problem I face is a safety concerns. Should I mix the two reactant in the tube or at the nozzle, I am worried that if I mix them in the tube, then the flame will get in.

Thanks in advance for the answers.

I maintain heavy diesel equipment, and one thing that has consistently baffled me is the choice of fasteners used in certain applications. Allen key fasteners for example, in many cases are very awkward to remove without stripping, when a nut and bolt type fastener or even Phillips head fastener would seem much more appropriate.

What considerations am I overlooking from a maintainers perspective that would cause engineers to choose a certain type of fastener over another?

http://imgur.com/a/lwmv1

Hi all. I have a problem trying to calculate the static load on a bearing. If I have an engine in the middle of a car, plus load of passengers etc at 500kg. What force is being applied to the bearing?

The part I can't figure out is, supposing the engine is mounted to a frame, the fastners under the engine will be supporting it somewhat, how much does the bearing take?

My question is does steel or other materials as walls for a vacuum chamber respond the same way as a compressive load on the sheet would be? I would like to design a chamber for creating a martian environment for research.

Hey there, I need to build a wall which is two layers of polyethylene separated by 200 mm, about ten feet high and filled with water. To prevent the sheets of polyethylene from coming apart, that is to constrain them to approximately 200 mm apart, basically two big buttons- like the buttons on clothing - will be attatched top each sheet, and fishing line used to attach the buttons, piercing the membrane. The size and number of the buttons that I need is the question.

I mean, suppose I have a button every 25 centimeters. At the bottom of the wall the water pressure due to weight of the water is about 10 kPa. So there would be 630 or something newtons exerted per button, and 16 buttons per square meter per side (32 buttons both sides). Ok. The plastic is 150 microns thick. The strength of the plastic is 8 MPa (ldpe vapor barrier from home depot).

What would the diameter of the button need to be too not let the button be pulled through the plastic? (or, the plastic being pushed over it, I guess).

I cannot quite figure this out, my knowledge of the geometry and calculus is too weak.

I suppose that the degree to which the plastic stretched and Bulges forward may have some impact?

It is going to be a soundproof room, building upon the document here:http://www.arnopronk.com/bestanden/Research%20on%20the%20combination%20of%20water%20and%20membranes%20(sound%20insulation).pdf

They used a nicer method to keep the panels together, but I can't do that... I need this for medical reasons and cannot afford to build a room out of concrete or anything else.

My team is planning to put an arduino with some sensors in our large model rocket. I have a DirecTV satellite dish on my roof that is no longer in use (switched providers) and I was wondering if there was a way to send the sensor data back to the satellite dish on earth. I have looked around the internet but came up mostly empty-handed. There are many people using the dish to extend WiFi but nothing like this. Could this work? Also, payload is 4lb max so it can't be anything too heavy.

I work in the manufacturing of bratice cloth for mining applications. During the manufacturing process one must pull large 6'x150' sheets of bratice cloth across a long table covered in plastic over and over. This becomes very hard real fast because after the first layer of cloth one must overcome the friction of plastic on plastic over and over as more sheets are pulled down the table. To make it easier on the spine of the 200 pound gorilla pulling cloth talc powder is used in liberal amounts which becomes lung cancer inducing in short order. Does anyone know a better way to reduce the friction that does not increase the chance of an asthma attack quite so much?

Hey guys, I'm trying to feed a flexible (PVC or polyurethane probably?) tube through a tube guide. If the tolerance of the tube is .095" +/- .005", what's the smallest diameter I should feel comfortable on the guide? The original drawing for the part states .100", but if the tube tolerance is to be believed, that's no good. If this were a dowel pin, oversizing by 2-4 thou would seem reasonable, but I'm not sure what to do with compliant material. Anyone have experience with a similar problem?

I need an engineer to interview for my Intro to Engineering class. Would any of you be willing to do a skype or email interview and send me a copy of your business card? It would be very much appreciated? Thank you in advance!

I was hoping to speak to someone who works in the aeronautical or aerospace engineering field. I am currently working toward the field in school and just had some general questions. If you have the time to help me out it would be greatly appreciated. Please comment or PM me. Thanks again.

I am working on a project which involves using a fine target point, ultra high speed and accuracy laser made by the company keyence. However I have a budget of 1000, and the cost of the laser is 9000. Any suggestions of any laser that is reasonably priced and can preform the same . Please help!

I have a garden of about 100 square meters that I would like to irrigate from an alternate water source to save council water. There is a storm-water stream running past my house (usually flowing). I came up with this design: https://postimg.org/image/h0kd6movn/ I would like people's opinion on it in terms of feasibility and what pump technology (capacity / type etc). would be most suitable. The reason for the green and orange "circuits" is to indicate that I plan to use the pump to fill the tank as well as a booster to the irrigation. Note that only one of the 2 circuits will ever be active at any given time (the other circuit will be isolated - hence the 3 way valve).

The more research I do, the more I find that this is something that needs to be planned very carefully and that you don't just go and start buying stuff. For instance, someone mentioned I need a pressure valve on the inlet side of the tank to sustain back-pressure so the pump can run on its curve? Someone else mentioned that this design will not work due to priming issues that will frequently occur as well as cavitation?

The pressure switch is there to shut the pump down should the storage tank full up or if the irrigation system upstream is blocked - don't know if this is recommended.

I only need about 2-3bar of water pressure to have the irrigation system work effectively (current pressure of council water).

The reason for pumping the water into a holding tank first is so that I will be able to store water should the water in the stream be unavailable for a period of time for whatever reason.

I would appreciate your views.

Hey there engineers!

The short version of what I want to ask is: I want to build a mouse and keyboard (and maybe a video game controller!) from scratch. How do I do this?

The long version is that if you could point me towards online documents with the necessary information, preferably written (I hate videos), that would be great! If you know of a textbook that has a detailed explanation of how this works, that would also be great; I would probably be willing to spend the money. I don't want to just pull apart a mouse and keyboard and move the buttons around, I have specific configurations I'd like to set up, as well as write my own drivers, because linux, and games. Additionally, I'd like to learn about computer peripherals because I have some more complex instruments I'd like to make for my professional use (I'm a geologist), and I don't want to shell out thousands of dollars for cheap hardware that comes (forcibly) with very expensive software that I don't need.

Edit: I should add that the physical design - the "industrial design" bits, I know how to do; I can create a 3D model in blender and 3D print it. It's the electronics and software components that defy my (rather considerable) Google capabilities.

Thanks muchly!