There has always been a lot of debate among the engineering students about the best engineering branch in the lot. Students indeed love discussing the topic “which branch of engineering is the best“. But the fact remains that each and every branch is the best in its own domain, and that we simply can’t say which branch is better than the other. Still, it has been repeatedly asserted that Mechanical Engineering is the real engineering. Let’s just have a look at this claim, that whether its just a few mechanical engineers boasting about their branch, or is it really true.
What is Mechanical Engineering?
Many people think that mechanical engineering is just the application of the conventional Newtonian mechanics, but that’s completely false. Yes, it does involve mechanics but it’s not at all limited to it. There is lot more which goes into it, like thermodynamics, properties of materials, fluid dynamics and the list goes on. Mechanical engineering is essentially the discipline that applies the principles of engineering, physics and materials science for the design, analysis, manufacturing and maintenance of mechanical systems.
Evergreen Field
Mechanical engineering is an evergreen field. Its applications have now spread over such a wide spectrum of processes that it has penetrated into almost every other industry. There will always be some application of mechanical engineering involved in almost all the processes, right from the birth of this Universe and probably till the end of this Universe. It links all the engineering disciplines together and hence provides a base for the engineering education. One of the greatest advantages of mechanical engineering is that it is very broad, unlike other branches of engineering. It has got its application in all fields of life, from medicine to construction, automobile or even software and IT industry. Everything which you see around you involves mechanical engineering to some extent.
Innovations for the Future
Mechanical engineers are significantly involved in the creation of some of the coolest technologies we have seen so far, and which probably will keep coming up in future too. Some of such cool technologies are:
- Developing the next generation of electric cars.
- Using mechanics in biomedical technology, such as in exoskeletons that can help handicap individuals to walk.
- Developing technological designs and innovations in the electromechanical space, such as cell phones. Consider that Google Glass; the design for the same essentially was developed by a mechanical engineer.
- Robotics: This is one of the field which has seen tremendous development in the past few years with robots now successfully being able to do tasks which are almost impossible or extremely difficult for humans.
- Nanotechnology is an emerging discipline which involves mechanical engineering, and which has a revolutionary potential for producing new materials, improving energy efficiency, and creating new diagnostic tools and therapies for medical applications.
In addition to the aforementioned set of technologies, mechanical engineering also played a key role over the last few years for revolutionizing the areas of aeronautics, medical equipment, computers, refrigerators, air-conditioners, transport etc.
As one can clearly see, mechanical engineering helps us immensely to design the things that make this world a better place, and essentially helps us to solve some of the biggest global challenges which the humanity is facing like climate change, cyber security, ageing populations, food, clean water and energy. And most importantly, it significantly helps the people in need which essentially is the real essence of engineering.
Thinking of pursuing mechanical engineering as a career? You can find out more about it here. And whether or not its the best branch of engineering, it’s up to you to decide it.
All the very best!
