Speaking somewhat broadly, Science is basically a quest for
understanding of the physical world we live in. Engineering is the
science of intelligent tradeoffs in a quest to create "stuff" using the
science and technology. Many of the tradeoffs are technical. Others
are economic, ergonomic, environmental, legal, moral, ethical, and
political among others. Elecraft radios do not allow user adjustment of
keying waveshape and timing which is a tradeoff. Guaranteed optimal
on-air signal quality vs maximum user configurability with attendant
possibility of crummy signals.
About 30 min north of our previous home in Auburn CA, you will find
Grass Valley CA, epicenter of hard rock gold mining in the early 20th
century. The mines interconnect, are nearly a mile deep, have hundreds
of miles of tunnels, still harbor a huge store of gold ... and are
filled with water. A visiting friend observed that, with today's
engineering and technology and the current price of gold, one would
expect that de-watering the mine shafts and recovering the gold would be
very profitable but no one is doing it. At $1,100/oz, that may be
true. There is a tradeoff however ... "Where do you put the water?" It
is highly and persistently toxic to people, wildlife, and vegetation,
and there is a whole lot of it in the mines [a tradeoff similar to that
faced by the nuclear power industry as well]. Don't hold your breath
for a 21st century gold rush in N. California.
It could be said that balancing all of those tradeoffs includes elements
of art, I really don't know. I do know that being successful in the
tradeoffs is much harder than the pure science may appear at first
glance. [:=)
73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County
On 6/9/2020 10:53 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
On 6/9/2020 3:54 PM, Barry wrote:
EE is an art and not science
That is NOT even slightly true. ART did not put us on the moon or
build the Mars rovers. Engineering is the thoughtful application of
scientific principles and knowledge to solve practical problems.
Without science as a base, it's little more than the infinite number
of monkeys and typewriters producing Shakespeare. Nearly all practical
designs involve some compromises. Great engineering is selecting
(sometimes innovating) those solutions which work well for the
particular problem at hand.
73, Jim K9YC
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