The Impact Of Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineering in action and what impresses me about it from an Engineering standpoint.

Engineering has a special place among all domains of human knowledge as it has impacted people s lives in a remarkable manner (Newhouse, 2000). While engineering has many subdomains, Electrical Engineering (EE) is conspicuous by being near magical! My favorite example of engineering in action is from EE, namely, electricity, also called `electrical energy`.

Imagine the times when there was no electricity. At night, candles, oil torches, oil lanterns, and firewood were used to lighten up indoors and outdoors, while coal and firewood were used for heating in winters. As there were no electric motors, so all types of electric fans including ceiling fans, pedestal fans, and bracket fans did not exist. In many cultures, servants and slaves had to manually fan their masters. Going further, all communication systems that use electrical signals were not available particularly, telephone, telegraph, wireless mobile phones, and the Internet. So, communication was mostly conducted via manual delivery of letters and other documents.

Then, mankind saw the invention of electricity or electrical energy in the late 1800s, in two forms namely, Direct Current abbreviated as DC , usable as portable batteries and cells and Alternating Current abbreviated as AC , mostly available in the non-portable form supplied by wires to homes, offices, and factories by AC generating and distributing companies. The resulting invention spree of electrical devices__appliances and systems that were designed to utilize either form of electricity (DC or AC)__catapulted human life into unprecedented modernization. The list of these electrical devices and systems is long but some prominent ones are identified below:

electric lighting systems including lightbulbs, tube lights, and LED bulbs of various lighting capacities cooling appliances including electric fans of all shapes and room air-conditioners, air-conditioning systems of various sizes, refrigerators, and deep freezers heating appliances including fan and rod heaters and heating air-conditionersentertainment devices such as radio sets, audio cassette players, and CD players, televisions, video cassette players, and DVD playersinformation processing devices such as computers including desktops, laptops, tablets, and printerscommunication devices including telephones and networks, wireless mobile handsets and networksmedical diagnostic equipment such as ECG apparatus, MRI apparatus, blood pressure and oxygen saturation measuring devices and electronic control systems deployed in automobiles, airplanes, and spaceships. From an engineering standpoint, the above devices and systems from electrical engineering are highly complex and by functionality are simply marvelous and awe-inspiring. While other disciplines of engineering such as civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, nuclear engineering, mining engineering, petroleum engineering, and biomedical engineering have also made significant contributions to the advancement of human lifestyle, my favorite remains electrical engineering/energy due to the breadth of its impact, the variety of life areas it has influenced, and the numerous direct comforts it has brought to humankind.

References:

Newhouse, E. (2000). The builders - marvels of engineering. National Geographic Society.