Introducing the Mechanical Engineering Field

    The field of mechanical engineering is a very broad and old field.  Its origins can be traced back as far as Archimedes and his water screw in the third century BC. However, it came into its own as a field during the industrial revolution when it was possible to start separating the engineering fields. In its broadest sense, mechanical engineering is the field responsible for designing, analyzing, and maintaining machines and mechanical systems.  These machines and mechanical systems can be anything from airplanes to robots or artificial heart valves and giant air conditioners. Its focus is anything that can in the loosest way be described as a machine.

    Since mechanical engineering is such a broad field, there is a lot of room for specialization. This allows people with many different interests to work in the same field. However the common thread for these engineers tends to be an inclination towards mathematics, science, and problem solving.  The curriculum for mechanical engineers is chalk full of math and physics which is also lots of math. In fact, most mechanical engineers are two classes away from getting a minor in math by the time they graduate. As for the science, there are many different forms of physics in which you are taught general formulas and are expected to use your problem solving abilities to apply them in unrelated situations. So mechanical engineers have to be interested in the challenges of solving unfamiliar problems.

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     In general, mechanical engineers are viewed as poster boys/girls for engineering to people outside of engineering because the field is so broad. As such, this leads to the creation of some assumptions about mechanical engineers and engineers in general. One of these is that they are capable of fixing any random piece of machinery. While it may have been a mechanical engineer who designed it, that does not mean any mechanical engineer will immediately know how to fix it: e.g. a mechanical engineer who has specialized in refrigeration will most likely not know all of the intricacies of a tractor's transmission. 

    The mechanical engineering field aims to improve the populations quality of life through the use of machines by minimizing input and maximizing output, with the inputs and outputs viewed as money, resources, energy, or effort. In this way, that statement is nearly all-encompassing. The various specializations all aim to accomplish goals by spending the least amount of money and using the smallest amount of resources. They also want to maximize their outputs of energy or resources. And the most important part of the fields aim is improving quality of life, never ending it. The worst part of mechanical engineering is that there are often cases where people's lives end up on the line, e.g. they're designing an important airplane part. In theses situations, it becomes an ethical issue in balancing lives versus cost and practicality. This seems like a coldhearted thing to do, but in the end it is an unfortunate but necessary thing to do in order to get anything done.