A common toss up for students is whether to major in mechanical or electrical engineering
These are two of the most popular engineering majors
so I wanted to address this for anyone's who on the fence
Now of course there's no right answer for these two, and I'm not gonna give an answer really
These majors both have huge job opportunities in lots of sectors and have high salaries
I'm just going to explain the similarities and differences in the curriculum and careers
so you can make a more educated decision for yourself
Now to start off simple, if you've taken physics in high school, think of what you enjoyed more
The circuits part or the mechanics part, like projectile motion, forces, energy, momentum, etc
I know you only got a small glimpse of everything, and this won't be a deciding factor
but could at least point you in the right direction of electrical or mechanical engineering respectively
Now when it comes to the curriculum, let's just put it simply, what interests you more?
Circuits and electronics, signals, some programming, and yes this would your first actual program you make
and electromagnetic waves
or, are you going enjoy analyzing complicated forces in various systems,
fluid dynamics whether it be water or air
and heat transfer and thermodynamics
As you can see the curriculum for both these majors is very different
but there are some similarities that I will explain soon
In a previous video I talked about why electrical engineering is a difficult major.
To summarize, electrical engineering is a little more "magical"
As in when you get that antenna sending wireless signals, or the circuit lighting up an LED, or whatever you have
you can't physically see how it's happening
You can't see electrons moving through wires, or wireless signals moving through air
You have to understand the equipment used to detect everything and the physics behind what is going on fundamentally
This isn't as true with mechanical engineering cause especially in undergrad
You'll analyze fluid moving through a pipe
or an engine,
or the forces and motion on a complex system
You can often visualize these more, and see them work
So now for those who are curious about "How much math will use in these two majors?"
They are very similar and they both use more than most other engineering disciplines
And do expect to see calculus level math
Mechanical engineers use calculus to analyze the vibrations of a system using differential equations
to analyze complex heat flow,
Or something just like a rotating object often involves calculus to solve for how it will rotate
given some torque
Those values you see indicate basically how hard it is to rotate the object about some point
whether it be it's center, or end.
This is called inertia and it's equation looks like this.
Electrical engineers use calculus to prove how current will move through a circuit with inductors, capacitors, and resistors (not shown here)
They use it when analyzing AM and FM radio signals
They use it when analyzing electromagnetic waves in general and how they are created from something like current in a wire
Again, you may have seen something like this in high school physics already
but probably without calculus unless you took AP physics C
So if you love math then that's good news cause both of these have a lot
and you'll see way more beyond calculus AB and BC
And if you choose electrical and really enjoy high level math
then I can say that RF might be the best concentration for you
RF stands for radio frequency, and is essentially the wireless communications concentration of electrical engineering
Those students learn more about wireless systems, antennas, and so on and those classes will be very math and calculus intensive
If you're not so much interested in high level math, then I can say that not every class you take will involve calculus
for either of these majors
But just be warned that it will come up and you should enjoy it somewhat before entering either of these two majors
Now, mechanical engineers do take some circuits and electronics classes
whereas electrical engineers don't take any mechanical engineering classes, so keep that in mind
Honestly, a lot of mechanical engineers don't enjoy their circuits classes cause it's not what their interested in
but as a mechanical engineer you will take about two classes on circuits and electronics
which surprisingly covers around four electrical engineering classes
It's just condensed and simplified for the mechanical engineers
They go through it faster, but in less depth
Then this leads to the fact that mechanical engineers can concentrate in mechatronics
This is where mechanical engineering meets electrical and computer engineering
If you choose this you will learn more about programming and circuiting so you can work on things like robotics
Instead of just being able to make something structurally
You will have the skills to build it, circuit it, and program it to maybe detect and avoid obstacles
or whatever your project would be.
Knowing this, if someone came up to me and said "I like mechanical and electrical engineering the exact same, tell me what to choose."
I would probably say, go with mechanical engineering, and concentrate in mechatronics
You'll be exposed more to both fields than you would as an electrical engineer
You'll have a great background for the job market
and maybe if you pursued a master's degree, you'd be able to make an easier decision since you have more exposure to both disciplines
Again, there's no right answer, but all things equal and I had to pick, that's what I would say.
Now let's move on to careers
A question I hear often is, "If I want to work on (blank), should I major in electrical or mechanical engineering?"
and sometimes that's a valid question, but other times not so much
For example, someone says "I want to work on alternative energy, should I pick mechanical or electrical?"
Well guess what, you'll see both those majors all over companies that work on alternative energy
So let's say you want to work on wind energy, well which part?
Do you want to work on generating and delivering large amounts of electrical power?
Do you want to take classes in how high power systems work
electric motors, generators, and so on?
Or do you want to analyze maybe the structure of the wind turbine
Like what shape will cause more rotation from the wind, where you need to understand fluid mechanics in terms of air.
Or maybe you want to help with the manufacturing of the machinery that is used.
Same thing applies for solar energy
Do you want to work on the circuitry for the solar panels, and distributing the electrical power that's created?
Or do you want to work on designing and manufacturing the panels themselves?
Or work on the lenses that track and focus the sunlight to maximize efficiency and so on
Let's say you want to work on satellites
Well do you want to work on the satellite communication?
Or the sensors on board that take measurements?
or maybe a remote sensing system that's on the satellite? That's all electrical.
Or do you want to analyze the temperature changes during orbit
or the vibrations that occur to ensure nothing is damaged
Even something down to the Gimbal that turns the antenna needs mechanical engineers.
When an antenna needs to track another, it uses a Gimbal that often has three axes of rotation
You'd mount an antenna on it, so it could turn to communicate with the receiver
If the receiver is in line, then everything's fine
But if during orbit they move out of line with each other, the gimbal would turn the antenna as needed
An electrical engineer could analyze the signals that tell the gimbal how much to move
and the mechanical engineer implements the gimbal to actually move as accurately and efficiently as possible
Maybe you want to work on the new electric cars that have autopilot
Electrical engineers might implement sensors, and the programming that instructs the vehicle to move based on the sensors reading's
They could work on any high power circuitry and electronics that the vehicle uses
Whereas mechanical engineers could work on the motors
the design and structure of the car for safety or even aerodynamics
and also the manufacturing of the car parts themselves.
Go ahead and look up "electric vehicle projects" at colleges
and you'll see almost exclusively electrical and mechanical engineering students working on these
Maybe you want to work on prosthetic body parts for people
Well do you want to analyze the electric signals coming from people's muscles
And use that, along with some programming, to tell the prosthetic arm to grab something for example.
Or do you want to make sure the prosthetic limb can supply the right amount of force to pick up that object
or can withstand a certain amount of force without breaking
and is light enough to not cause stress on the person's body
This is what biomedical engineers might be passionate about working on
But you'll see electrical and mechanical engineers all over these projects as well
Even something like working on printers needs both disciplines
Printers receive lots of signals and use many electronic components to make it work
which is where electrical engineers come in
But remember in an inkjet printer there are moving parts that need to be extremely accurate to place the ink
Mechanical engineers are needed for that
This applies to 3D printing as well
Where there needs to be extremely precise placements, especially when we are 3D printing stuff like organs now
mechanical engineers would help design these systems
There's rockets, aircrafts, robotics, and I could go on for a while
so many things need electrical and mechanical engineers
It's actually less common to see just one discipline working on a big project
For these two majors it's not so much which major is better to work in some sector
it's a matter of what you'll enjoy more
What do you have more interest in learning and understanding when it comes to the projects I've shown you
Now of course there are things that do involve just one major or the other, but usually on a more zoomed in scale
Like if you wanted to improve the efficiency of the internal combustion engine, you wouldn't go into electrical engineering
But if we zoom out to just cars in general, then again you could go into either major
at least now with electric cars becoming more popular
It's going to help to know which sector you want to go into whether it be biomedical, aerospace, automotive, etc
but also specifically what part of the projects you'd be more interested in working on
Remember this will be your life almost everyday, make sure you are going to enjoy going through the actual process of making these designs come to life
Put yourself in the shoes of these people and think "What will I like doing more?"
Now this video was focused on electrical and mechanical engineering
but just note many more engineering disciplines are needed for all the projects and careers I've talked about
So many things are multidisciplinary now
But when it comes to these two majors which have so many positive aspects, it comes down to what you'll enjoy doing more
Remember to like and subscribe, and if you're still having trouble deciding, check us out at majorprep.com, and good luck on your search.