| It may be popularly known in the construction industry | | | | and lighting systems - and at the very edge of |
| as "mechanical jobs" but this functional name hides an | | | | scientific process. |
| extremely complex and important discipline of | | | | Perhaps the most famous example of how |
| engineering. | | | | mechanical engineering is pushing the frontiers of |
| Working directly with the principles of physics and | | | | research towards the production of safer, cheaper |
| materials science, mechanical engineers are one of the | | | | and more efficient machines is the field of |
| most broadly trained specialisations in the profession | | | | nanotechnology. Working at the very smallest scale of |
| and one of those most critical to modern society. | | | | the physical world, mechanical engineering crosses |
| Throughout their careers, these engineers will work | | | | over into the research field of molecular engineering. |
| with all things mechanical. Jobs on offer for those | | | | Though most mechanical jobs have yet to make use |
| trained in the discipline can take people from the | | | | of this branch of science as common practice, the field |
| depths of the ocean floor to the edges of outer | | | | has massively expanded the understanding of |
| space; as fanciful as this seems, mechanical engineers | | | | materials science. New materials made from |
| are the people who design, build and maintain the tools | | | | nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes or |
| that have thrown our progress exponentially forward | | | | nanoparticles are being used everyday in everything |
| since the start of the industrial revolution. | | | | from electrical storage, solar energy or construction. |
| To work in the field, engineers have to demonstrate a | | | | Though the width of their expertise can make it hard |
| solid understanding of some of the central concepts of | | | | to reach a single definition of the disciple, mechanical |
| practical science. Aside from materials science | | | | engineering is essentially where science meets the real |
| (understanding the properties of different elements and | | | | world. Without their ability to apply concepts from |
| compounds and their practical applications), this includes | | | | chemical, electrical, nuclear or any other field of |
| the fields of mechanics; kinematics; thermodynamics; | | | | research, there would be hundreds of books on |
| fluid mechanics; heat transfer; and the principles of all | | | | science and very little actual technology. |
| types of energy, from electricity to radiation. | | | | As you can see, 'mechanical jobs' is a remarkably |
| Typical mechanical jobs can range from the utilitarian | | | | pragmatic way of describing a profession that has had |
| to the extra-ordinary. Aside from working with the | | | | an amazingly profound influence upon the world and is |
| machinery vital to modern manufacturing processes, or | | | | certain to be critical to our way of life for the |
| with vehicles on all land, air and sea, mechanical | | | | foreseeable future. |
| engineers work behind the scenes - on heating, cooling | | | | |