Running Head: The Changing Technology effect Electrical Engineering

The Changing Technology effect Electrical Engineering By: Timothy A Hall English 111, RCCC

The Changing Technology effect Electrical Engineering Technology is never standing still it continues to move forward and evolve. Technology is always changing whether that change is easily seen or goes unnoticed. This point can be applied to all forms of technology that you see no matter what the case. To make this paper shorter for those who do not like a lot of reading this paper will only cover the effects that changing technology has had one the field of electrical engineering if not this paper would have thousands of pages. Evolving technology has had many effects in the field of electrical engineering there are those that can be easily seen, those that go unnoticed, and the way things are done now in compare to how they were done in the past thanks to evolving technology. The things that are easily seen effected by new technology range from new way creating electricity which at its start the field of electrical mainly looked at making electricity from coal and other fossil fuels but now you see wind mills, hydroelectric power plant, and geothermal power plants being used as well. To the changes to the nation grid which use to only have power lines but now has substations and transformers and other equipment that let the voltage stay high all the way to the houses which in turn helps the electricity made have a longer range that it can reach. Then there are things that can go unnoticed such as new methods to wiring that allows for less resistance on the electricity running through the wire as well as the makeup of the wires themselves. At first the wire were made of full copper and had no outer cover this cause many fires to break out due to the fact that as the electricity more through the wire it would heat up and over long periods of time would burn and melt whatever it comes into contact with. . Now we use rubber and a mixture of copper with other metals to make up wiring. This cut down on the chances of a fire breaking out and let for more power to be put through that wire.

The Changing Technology effect Electrical Engineering Last there is the way things in this field were done compared to today which is also an effect of new technology. In the past one in this job field would have to draw plans using compass and square rules this could take day to get it to look right and if people you are working for dont like it you would have to start all over. This goes for the math for the electrical output and resistance as well this caused for a lot of chance for human errors to happen. That also caused the time needed to finish project to become much larger. Now we use computer programs like 3D-CAD and calculators to do all the work which has helped us out greatly even with the increase in the standard. Or as Johannes Volzer, engineering manager at Festo AG would say With 3D-CAD, were designing three times faster than before, and the time saved using FEA for strength calculations is even greater. And thats true even though with greater computing power came an equal increase in model complexity. Technology has let the possibles of this field grow to a whole new level before one would have to test things out in the field and use up resources so if it failed you could loss your job this fear made people hold back on their creative. With computers one could test as many things as they want without the fear of something bad coming from it. With every new piece of technology that comes out it in some way will effected the field of electrical engineering whether the impact be larger or small, change the current way of thinking of start a new way of thinking all together. That is because technology is connected to just about everything and when it changes so does the word.

The Changing Technology effect Electrical Engineering

Cited Web pages (n.d.). Retrieved from http://machinedesign.com/technologies/changes-engineeringprofession-over-80-years Johannes, V. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://machinedesign.com/technologies/changes-engineeringprofession-over-80-years (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.electricaltechnology.org (n.d.). Retrieved from http://mcdowellowens.com/index.php Books Earley, M. (2011). Nec 2011 handbook. (52nd ed.). Quincy, Massachusett: National Fire Protection Association.