Engineering is also a very exact science. The component will either bear the load or it will not. There's not a whole lot of grey area there, so it tends to be a very black and white discipline.
There is a very large grey area right there in your example, but it may not be obvious without a degree in engineering. You are right from a physical point of view, but you assume that us engineers know the load at which the component breaks, whereas in practice, it's impossible to determine this load exactly beforehand. As a result, we add some tolerance — that's the difference to physics.
Engineering tends to be seen as less of a science and more of an art — as opposed to physics, which is held by most as the only exact science.
You see, we engineers are in general law-abiding users of physics and are willing to make do with what we are handed down from the physicists.
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Engineering is also a very exact science. The component will either bear the load or it will not. There's not a whole lot of grey area there, so it tends to be a very black and white discipline.
There is a very large grey area right there in your example, but it may not be obvious without a degree in engineering. You are right from a physical point of view, but you assume that us engineers know the load at which the component breaks, whereas in practice, it's impossible to determine this load exactly beforehand. As a result, we add some tolerance — that's the difference to physics.
Engineering tends to be seen as less of a science and more of an art — as opposed to physics, which is held by most as the only exact science.
You see, we engineers are in general law-abiding users of physics and are willing to make do with what we are handed down from the physicists.