Two more live chats in the environment zone today and we’ve had lots more great questions on everything from career paths to hobbies, helicopters to straw huts!
Did you know…
- Ed stops helicopter controls melting:
putpsim02 : how do you proof helicopter controls from extreme heat?
edwardtaylor : good question! What we do during design is make sure we use materials that wont expand or contract too much due to the heat (and that definitely wont melt!). More complex electronics have cooling systems which pass cool air over the top of the electrical stuff to cool it down, and equipment that gets really really hot is cooled using water cooling systems!
By 2050 Tish wants everyone to know about building using natural materials:
Natural material building by Flickr upload bot on Wikimedia
putptay09 : if you had your way hat year would you want all buildings to be made of a material other than bricks
natashawatson : hmmm a toughie… sometimes we need to build out of steel and concrete and bricks, say, if we wanted a really tall building, or a really wide bulding with no supports, but we don’t need to be building as much as we do build with concrete, steel, bricks, etc. so I hope that by 2050 everyone will be aware that they can build awesome houses and schools out of timber and other things like straw, hemplime. that way, we can make decisions based on knowing exactly what’s out there that we
- Scenic underwater railway trips are, unfortunately, unlikely:
regaal10 : do you think there will ever be a see through underwater railway and why ????
rachelharris : Underwater railway sounds like an interesting idea I think there be an issue with pressure though in terms of how well that capsule would have to be made easier to travel on the surface
Over 100 questions asked outside of the live chats
All 5 engineers have been busy working through your questions, here are some of their responses…
- Is living in straw huts a good option for the future?
- Why is there water in a coal mine?
- Would you ever all find a use to work on the same project?
And if you want more interesting engineering questions and answers, head here.