Mechanics Corner
A Journal of Applied Mechanics and Mathematics by DrD, # 22
(c) Machinery Dynamics Research, 2016
Torsional Stiffness of a Shaft -- Part I
Introduction
A shaft is a common machine element, used to transmit rotational motion and torque from one component to the next. It is clear that the length of the shaft must be sufficient to span the distance from the first component to the second, but what should the diameter be? The answer to this quest
Professional Responsibility — Do The Right Thing
In Western culture, three professions are recognized. They are medicine, the law, and theology. The practitioners of these professions have long been accorded a special status in society in recognition of their special knowledge. The physician is expected to use his knowledge of healing only for good, and never to murder or maim a person. The lawyer is expected to give correct legal advice to his clients, to keep them free from legal entangle
A toothpaste factory had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty boxes, boxes without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived quality with the buyers and distributors. Understanding how important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company assembled his top people. They decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, and third-parties selected. Six months (
The URL below will take you to some amazing pictures and a story about the SR-71 aircraft. In my own opinion, this aircraft is some of the most stunning engineering ever done on earth. Enjoy the pictures and the story! DrD http://www.tickld.com/x/jaw/military-pilot-shares-the-most-amazing-story-ever
How to Ask for Help Throughout life, we all find ourselves needing to ask for help at times. Even the most rugged individualist will, at time, need help. You may need to ask a teacher for help, you may need to ask a fellow employee for help, or you may need to ask the boss for help. There are a few good ways to ask for help, and there are endless poor ways to ask. Make your request well, and there is a much better you will get the help you seek. Since I began writing for ME Forums, I have receiv
Where Will I Find A Job?? As I read over the questions that readers post here on ME Forum and elsewhere, I sense a common theme in many of them. There seems to be a wide, dare I say almost universal, concern about where those currently in college will find employment after graduation. To a degree this is entirely understandable; we all wonder what is in our future. Even so, the level of anxiety that I sense in many of your postings strikes me as extraordinarily high. Let us consider this a bit.
The VEProject --- Shifted Levers A Critical Assessment Introduction The subject of this article is the VEProject Shifted Lever video, as found at the following URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TniRMwL2Vg The video shows a "Shifted Lever" mechanism, a device that appears to be perpetually off balance. It is presented as a perpetual motion mechanism, that is, a machine that will run forever without any energy input other than, perhaps, an initial push. This presentation comes
Twenty One Rules for Tech Writing Introduction One of the things that has surprised me about the readers of ME Forum is the number of folk who want to publish technical papers. When I was an undergraduate (a very, very long time ago), publishing papers was the farthest thing from my mind. I knew that publishing was a concern for some of the faculty, but it was certainly no concern of mine! To my even greater amazement, most of those desiring to write want to write in English, even though this is
As most of us know, the Internet is a fantastic resource for information. You can find information on almost any topic you can imagine by doing an Internet search on the appropriate keywords. The flip side of this capability is that you can also find mis-information on almost any topic because there is no one to monitor the Internet for correctness. Wikipedia is a classic case in point. Many of the Wikipedia articles are highly informative and very valuable. Some, however, are highly biased and
What/Where to Study Introduction I do not have the definite statistics available, but it appears to me that the majority of the readership of ME Forums is made up of students, with a much smaller number of readers at other points in their careers. By far the greatest part of these students appear to be in India, with a number in Southeast Asia and the Middle East; there are of course a few folks scattered all over the globe. It has been very interesting to me to learn about all of you, to gain a
For quite some time now, I have been looking for a book that just does not seem to exist anymore. The title and author are -- Title: Secondary Resonance and Subharmonics in Torsional Vibrations Author: Per Draminsky It was published in Denmark, around 1961, or so I am told. It seems that it was probably a monograph, a single extended article that filled an entire volume of a journal. If anyone know where this can be found, I would much appreciate help with it. If I can borrow it fr
1. Team building is very popular in industry these days, so here is a team building joke. A group of mathematicians are attending a weekend seminar on team building. During the night, a fire breaks out in the room of one of the mathematicians. He quickly tears pages out of his notes and lights them on fire, one by one. He then runs down the hall, shoving burning sheets of paper under the doors of all the other mathematicians. In the morning, after the building is burnt to the ground, the fire ma
A Community Built on False Values This may well prove to be the least popular thing I ever post on this blog because what I have to say may offend many. I do not say it with the intent to offend, but because I am compelled to give a warning. One of the most interesting things that has developed from my blog, Mechanics Corner, here on the ME Forum has been the opportunity to correspond directly with a modest number of readers. This has included both young men and young women scattered across Indi