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Mechanical Engineering
Aleteia Greenwood and Mel DeSart
INTRODUCTION
If something moves because work (dened as force times distance) is done, chances are very good
that mechanical engineering concepts are involved. Mechanical engineering is the branch of engi-
neering that encompasses the generation and application of heat and mechanical power and the
design, production, and use of machines and tools. One of the oldest of the engineering disci-
plines, mechanical engineering concepts have been in use since prehistoric times. From the dis-
covery and use of the most basic tools (lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane (or wedge ...