A big thing I learned in my last year of undergrad and I continue to notice on the job is that people who take things apart are able to find more solutions. This stems from knowing what’s out there. If you take say a typical desktop computer apart you know that there are a lot of circuit boards, come wiring harnesses, and a fan. That would be one way to look at it. But if you begin to look at each board you see what type of surface mount resistors were used, what processor was used, are there gold leads? Then you look at the wiring harness; what type of connectors were used and why do you think they were used, is the wire stranded or single, can the connectors withstand humidity? Then you look at the fan; where is it placed, why is it in that location, how much power does it consume? Then you begin to look at the whole computer tower and how the parts fit together; why is a board where it is, what about the wiring routes, what looks like it needs the fan the most, will the computer stop running if you place the fan in a different location?
Once you begin to look at the interconnections of each of the pieces you begin to realize why the engineers responsible for it used it. Then, and this can make you some money, you may see a solution to a problem that the current design causes. If you take enough things apart or read enough about how things are made you will have more solutions to the problems you face as an engineer. Good things to take apart are, radios, printers, clocks, TVs, engines, phones, keyboards, computers, speakers, toasters, phones, drills, air tools, and anything else that interests you.
WARNING: Some of the above mentioned items can shock the crap out of you and cause some wicked damage, please be careful and don’t take it apart without consulting someone who knows about it or a super online resource.
Super Online Resources:
HowStuffWorks.com
About.com
Bill Nye the Science Guy
Wikipedia.org
Source: http://www.erikvossman.com/
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