REVISION AND PRACTICE
Week 11 — Quick Revision
On this page 4 headings
Start here Engineering sense, all on one page.
What is engineering sense?
- Thinking with hands. Engineering was born from the need for food, shelter and security.
- Ancient engineers had no degrees. An engineer is anyone who makes things happen.
- The Industrial Revolution made us narrow specialists. Don’t forget the whole.
- Engineering is a habit.
The habits
| Habit | Key example |
|---|---|
| Planning | Building a table: materials, tools, place, transport. “Don’t fail to plan.” |
| Approximating and estimating | Room ≈ 8 m³; rain in a tub × area of the city |
| Technical auditing | Bouncing ball (energy → heat, sound); cement + sand (weight conserved); mess food waste; army road opening |
| Apply what you learn | Small cut → perforated pages; rubbing stones → fire |
| Cause and effect | Blanket cuts off oxygen → fire out |
| How can I make it better? | Computer mouse; railway ticketing (queues → app) |
| Change of perspective | AC beat DC, but local solar makes DC useful again |
| Big picture | Spatial and temporal; four years at IIT |
| Abstraction and detailing | Hammer = impact generator. Why goes up; how comes down |
| Divide and conquer | Printer functions; tiny steps; 1% daily ≈ 37× a year |
| Taxonomy | Lever → mechanical advantage; leverage in life |
| Units and numbers | kg vs tonnes; light years; 1 tonne ≈ 15 adults |
| Associative features | Air separates husk → cleans cotton; crow and pebbles |
| Rough (jugaad) experiments | Egg drop; husk test |
From the discussions
- Planning a big account (Kartic): document, find patterns, assign roles, de-risk, monitor.
- Auditing and debriefing (Jayakumar): before and after; the landslide and mules; Slender Was the Thread.
- Great minds discuss ideas (watch at 2× speed).
- Mental models (Prasanna): local storage; deconstruct and rebuild; the banana incense stand.
- Perspective shifts in a career.
- Deconstruction, deduction, induction (Shiva): the rent case; the new-moon night; dark clouds.
- Levers in life: a smile, appreciation, timing.