This thread's flawed. The giveaway was in the title: Any Engineers Here - not plumbers, mechanics, fat people in overalls...
I wore overalls for 16 years in the airforce - 4 years frontline support on a squadron specialising in airborne calibration of enroute, precision approach and surveillance radar facilities.
Subsequently 10 years heavy overhaul/deep strip of Avro Vulcan, MacDonnell Douglas F4K/M Phantom, major overhaul of Tornado, major overhaul of Jaguar/Hawk Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour/Tornado RB199 powerplant. 4 years specialist repair of multi-spool modular turbofans all the way from full teardown to development of special repair techniques (that even Rolls Royce hadn't managed) for axial compressors, combustion chambers, nozzle guide vanes and hot-end components through to full rebuild, engine test cell, post-installation full preflight testing of engines, electrics, hydraulics, control systems.
Then to the Falkland Islands doing engine bay, crash recovery, logistics and support. Until you've had several years hands-on experience sat in kerosine with the rest of your mates at 3am doing fuel tank replacements it would be stretching credibility to describe newbie undergrads or anyone else as 'an engineer'.
I can tell y'all like a challenge so, on behalf of the plumbers, mechanics and fat guys in overalls (I'm thin, incidentally), here's your skill test folks to see just how clever you Uni mateys may actually be. And I'm not using notes...
Answer these questions and score yourselves...
1. Prove to yourself you know the difference between absolute and guage pressure.
2. Convert 98 degreed Fahrenheit to Celsius.
3. Explain how a series wound DC motor's speed might be increased.
4. What's the Revsurf function in Autocad?
5. A 1kg ball of cotton is dropped to the lunar surface from an altitude of 1000 metres. How long does it take to strike the surface?
6. Where would one find a depletion layer?
7. What is 63 in Hexadecimal?
8. What happens to the level of water in a glass when an ice cube floating in it melts?
9. Approximately how long would a laser beam transmitted from earth take to reflect from the moon and return to earth.
10. The second band on a resistor is red. What does it mean?
11. In multiplexing, what does AMI mean?
12. If something is in a pearlitic state what might I be referring to?
13. To within a few volts, what might the UK domestic electricity supply equate in RMS volts?
14. What semiconductor device incorporated in a motor vehicle might incorporate a zener?
15. If something usually travels at approximately 330 m/s what might I be describing and what would affect it?
16. Your boss has a spherical water storage tank 3 metres in diameter. You have one last chance to prove your worth before he fires you. He'll accept the answer in kilograms with an error of no more than 10 percent. Go to it. If you can't achieve this task in 8 minutes you're fired pal....
17. You see a flash of lightening. You're at mean sea level. 9 seconds later you hear thunder. How far away was the associated flash?
18. Using only household items you need to electroplate a steel nail with copper. What essentials would you need?
19. A common sports item could be described as having neutral stability. What could it be?
20. Your cambelt broke. You're in the ozzy outback on your own. The engine is otherwise undamaged. Do you know enough to sort the job out given the tools and parts but no maintenance manual?
21. Relative Humidity is high. What effect would this have on your car's performance?
22. You're shipwrecked on a desert island. You salvaged the ship's radio, backup battery and 30 metres of light alloy tube. What dimensions would you use to create a makeshift antenna and what would be the best time to propagate your distress call?
23. The radio works and a radio ham acknowledges you although he's very faint and tells you he's in New Zealand. You're on an island in the Pacific. He'll listen out for you tomorrow. How could you narrow down the search for you?
24. The simple equation V=IR could be used in place of another equation. Which equation?
25. You're on a sight-seeing trip on a small charter aircraft across the Sahara when the aircraft force lands. You're the only survivor and as the flames engulf the wreck you have just enough time to grab one item. Which would you grab? You can choose between a bottle of water, a pair of binoculars, a compass, a fur coat or a torch. Which will it be?
We can debate and argue the answers later but I'd suggest that if you crack half of these effortlessly you're ahead of the game. Teamworking or swotting is cheating mateys... Feel free to pit yer wits 'n post yer scores....
