quote:

Originally posted by Jim Policastro:
True.

I had one I used every year in an electricity lab for my physics classes. Give one unsuspecting lab team the left-hand threaded bulb (but a normal socket) and sit back and watch.

Jim

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Traction power for lightbulbs? I wonder how many transit workers were knocked flat on their backs or worse while changing those bulbs?

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Originally posted by West Side Joe:
In my mechanical engineering curriculum, during the first two years you took some basic courses in numerous engineering and science disciplines to get an overview (and in case you realized you really wanted to work in a different discipline).

So, yes, I took an electrical engineering course along with things like materials, systems, fluid mechanics, truss design, drafting and other introductory courses. Unfortunately I do not at all remember what the electrical engineering course covered.

I remember I couldn't design a truss to save my life, I couldn't understand the systems teacher because his English was so bad, materials was fun because we got to destroy things, and fluid mechanics was like hell on earth yet strangely fascinating to me.

The most memorable thing an engineering teacher ever said was in my civil engineering class when he was asked if a test would include partial credit. He was Asian, and had a bit of trouble with the language, but the answer was clear: "You build bridge. Bridge fall down. NO PARTIAL CREDIT!"