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The flow of the course

Watch this video to see how experiments, analysis and design will expand your knowledge of Engineering Mechanics and your ability to use it. It’s a fresh approach and we hope …

The ideas behind the course

This course and its companion course “Through Engineers’ Eyes: introducing the vision” will help to develop your skills in Engineering Mechanics – the practical science that engineers use when they …

Through Engineers’ Eyes – final thoughts

Congratulations on reaching the end of the course! The concept wheel shows how the last four weeks fit together. The final short video reviews these weeks. The chances are that …

Acknowledgements

Dear Learners, It is my great pleasure in thanking you all for participating in the fourth iteration of this course and providing us with enough encouragement, constructive comments and motivation …

Experiment: A game of shove ha’penny

There’s a lot to be gained from studying games. Textbooks on Engineering Mechanics use the game of billiards when explaining impulse-momentum. We’ll use the simpler game of shove ha’penny. This …

Analysis: Impulse-momentum

Newton’s second law takes us into Dynamics. You might be surprised to find out what he actually said – in Latin. But whatever the language it can help us understand …

Through Engineers’ Eyes

This quick video highlights your progress towards Engineers Eyes. The concept wheel shows how it all fits together. Week 3 concept wheel (Click to expand) Forces from wind were the …

Design exploration of an electric car

Where does most of the resistance to motion of an electric car come from? Hill climbing? Rolling resistance? Wind? What performance can we expect with the power that we have? …

Analysis: Work and power

We’ve dealt with the engineer’s understanding of a force. Now we’ll deal with the engineer’s understanding of power. It was in 1687 that Newton gave us equilibrium. A century later …

Analysis: Models of air resistance

Here you’ll learn some fluid mechanics – another strand of Engineering Mechanics. There is much to understand here, but you can gain a lot without going into detail. So we’ll …

Analysis: Models of rolling resistance

We’ll use the simplest model of rolling resistance, based on our dry friction approach. Although we used this simple model, making the experiment work was not simple at all. Many …

Wind loads

Civil Engineers need to know wind loading on buildings. Aerospace Engineers and Naval Architects need to know lift and drag on wings and sails. Automotive Engineers need to know wind …

Experiments on air resistance

It’s near the end of this course, so you’ll probably sit this one out and just watch the video. It’s advanced cardboard engineering, and full of subtleties. You’ll reflect on …

Experiments on rolling resistance

Finding rolling resistance is simple enough – provided you can measure pull. The way we’ve measured pull here is satisfyingly elegant. You can download instructions to the experiment in the …

Through Engineers’ Eyes

This quick video highlights your progress towards Engineers Eyes. The concept wheel shows how it all fits together. Week 1 concept wheel (Click to expand) This week you found where …