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Listed under:  Technologies  >  Engineering
Video

How to become a NASA engineer

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? Debora Fairbrother, a NASA engineer, didn't know what career path she was on. Watch this clip as she talks about the importance of education and of following your passion.

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For the Juniors: First the base, then the frame

Come and see Hugo's house getting built. Find out how the concrete foundations are laid. What comes next? Carpenters build a wooden frame. Spot the tools used to build the house. How is each tool used?

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For the Juniors: Getting your boat into shape!

A ball of plasticine sinks. Could you change its shape to make it float? Watch this clip to see some plasticine being made into different shapes. Find out which shape floats. Take a look at the shape of a motor boat. Why is it pointy at the front?

Video

For the Juniors: Ramping up the fun

Join Winston as he tests which materials slide down a ramp. Which ones will slip and which ones will grip? He's testing a wooden block, a stone, a glass bottle and an eraser. Predict what will happen. Watch to see if your prediction was right.

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What are IP addresses?

Meet Vint Cerf, the co-creator of the internet! In this clip, Vint and software engineer Paola Mejia explore the way computer networks talk to each other. Find out what an IP address is and why it's similar to a street address. What's the domain name system? And how does your computer find out the IP address of a website ...

Video

What makes these paper planes fly?

Have you ever wondered what makes a paper plane fly? Think about the design of the paper plane as well as external factors like the various forces that are at play, then make a list of the design considerations and a list of the different forces.

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Working towards a renewable energy future

Listen to electrical engineering student Kulsoom Hussain describe her dream career. What are some of the challenges she says she'll face in trying to achieve her goals? What can you find out about the energy sources used in Australia? How much renewable energy is used to power our country?

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For the Juniors: Tall buildings that won't fall

What makes tall buildings strong and stable? View this clip to find out how a tall building made from concrete is made even stronger. Look at a model of the building to see how it will look when it's built. See if you can pick up some design tips to help you build your own tall structure!

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Benefits of teamwork in robotics

It takes team work to build robots! Oliver talks about how he didn't know too much about building robots when he first joined  3132 'Thunder Down Under', but by being in a team with others learned a lot of skills. He also talks about sharing ideas, and how valuable it is to make and learn from mistakes with others. Why ...

Video

Reverse engineering

This series of short videos from Khan Academy deconstruct and explain the way household items are designed and how they work including a digital alarm clock radio, a coffee maker, a tap light (a toggle switch light), a hair dryer, a DVD player, a universal remote and a digital camera.

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Sam the Lamb: Does wool burn?

This short entertaining video, narrated by ‘Sam the Lamb’ and 'Professors' Madeleine and Daisy test which fabrics burn easily and which fabrics are the most flame resistant. Sam and his science team test the flammability of a range of synthetic and natural fabrics including polyester, polar fleece, cotton and wool.

Interactive

Wing loading

Wing loading is a measurement that relates the mass of an aircraft or bird to the total wing area. This resource provides an interactive for students to compare flight capabilities of planes with birds, matching those that are the most similar.

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For the Juniors: Super-fast jet boats

Jet boats can go really fast. Instead of an outboard motor and propeller, jet boats have an inboard engine and they eject a jet of water out the rear of the boat. Watch this clip to see how they work.

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Telling robots what to do

If you were programming a robot to play a competitive game of soccer, what are some of the things you would consider? Think about some of the most basic functions of a robot, like walking, stopping and turning, to more complicated functions like recognising objects and reacting to them in a specific way.

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Engineering clean rivers

Figuring out how to clean up contaminated rivers is a big challenge. It's also tricky to work out where the most contaminated parts of a river system are and whether its fish are safe to eat. Watch this video and learn how engineering has helped to solve these problems. Why do you think engineers looked to the bottom of ...

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Growing carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes are a very tiny but super strong material used in manufacturing to create strong, lightweight products. Besides sporting equipment, find out what other kinds of products are made using these tiny molecules. What other qualities (besides size and strength) do carbon nanotubes have that makes them even more ...

Video

Precision Sheep Management: video

This is a video (4:09 min) about the University of New England’s Kirby Research Station and how its work with sheep has been transformed by technology, particularly the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag. The video is presented by members of the Enhanced sheep wellbeing and productivity research program and includes ...

Video

Biofuels – From Sorghum to Ethanol (video)

This is a video [6:05 min] about the production of ethanol from sorghum at the Dalby Bio-Refinery in Queensland. The video describes and illustrates the stages in the production process including milling the sorghum into ‘flour’; mixing the flour with water to hydrolyse the starch; adding enzymes to liquefy the starch (the ...

Video

Different paper plane designs

How many different paper plane designs are there? Lots! Watch as Dylan Parker, paper plane expert, demonstrates some of his favourites. Notice the way the different shapes and features of the planes cause them to move through the air in different ways. Which one do you like the most? Why not have a go at making something similar?

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For the Juniors: Wheely good wheels

Wheels are round and come in many sizes, but how does a wheel turn? In this clip we show you how a wheel and axle work together to provide movement.