Science vs. Engineering

I want to share with you all one of my fondest childhood memories, one of my most embarrassing and funny failures, and the day I learned the difference between science and engineering.

I was in elementary school in Washington State and the school science fair was coming up. Being the competitive little shit that I am, I wanted to blow all the other kids out of the water and show off how smart I was. Knowing all the other elementary kids would do things like dioramas and volcanos, I decided to pull out all the stops and make an electro-mechanical masterpiece that used all my current knowledge.

For about a year I had been soldering, building cardboard and motor gizmos, rewiring whatever I could get away with taking apart. I once had a dancing flower activated by sound. So I made a cardboard robot that moved its mouth when a pre-recorded cassette player said stuff and brought it into the class for show and tell. (Yes, my tendency to go overboard was prevalent even at that age.) My biggest competition was a kid who made a radio from a kit with his dad and had no idea how it worked. I figured I had this no problem.

So I built this tower thing that was like a chain reaction. Touching a pencil to some tinfoil on a control panel would complete a circuit which pushed a ball down a chute which completed another circuit, which started the cassette player which made the sound detect board from the flower turn another motor which did another thing and another thing and some light detection, and another thing… You get the idea.

On the day of the science fair, a hurricane decided to roll in. It was pretty strong, trees going down, the kind of thing that people today would be sheltering from and evacuating low lying grounds. But this was the early 90’s! The school didn’t even cancel the science fair! That night at around 7 or 8 PM I begged my mom and dad to take me. In disbelief, they checked with the school and indeed the fair was still on. I wanted to go so badly that they took me anyway.

The whole family drove to the school, trees down everywhere, water flooding the roads, it was a miracle the school even had power. The winds were pretty high, but that school was shaped like an L and we needed to get in the door right at the inner bend of the L. The wind collected in that walkway and amplified the wind speed to the point my brother was practically floating in the air hanging on to my dad’s hand. Me being a year and a half older weighed slightly more and could at least stand, but was legitimately difficult to walk forward. At last, we made it and I could show everyone how brilliant I was!!!

As I set up my contraption, I perused my competition. I had this in the bag. Mine was WAY more advanced. Heck, half the parents probably couldn’t even figure out how to make my thing. I got LOTS of attention. Everyone seemed impressed. I was on top of the world. Then the judges came by. I showed them what I had built. One of them asked if I had ever heard of Rube Goldberg, I hadn’t, they joked I was the reincarnation of him. I figured he was some kind of genius and very pleased to be associated with him. Things were looking great.

Then one asked me what I was trying to prove with my science experiment. I… I didn’t try to prove anything other than making something cool to show off. I thought quickly on my feet and said, “Chain Reactions!” One thing did cause another thing and that repeated several times. The judges didn’t really buy it. They asked me what was my hypothesis, or what did I expect to happen before I built it. Did what I expect to happen actually happen?

Well… I expected it to work because I was AWESOME and yes it worked so not only did I rock, I knew I was going to rock so obviously my powers of prediction are on point too. (I didn’t say that but I was thinking it). Then they asked me if I did any research, if I learned anything while building it, if I have any references. I didn’t. I knew how to do all this before building it and proudly told them so (bad move).

See, the judges weren’t grilling me, they could see how proud I was of this, that I did it all on my own, that I was bright and they honestly liked my contraption.

They just couldn’t figure out how to give me any points for SCIENCE and kept digging for something, anything, to award me points on. It just wasn’t there, because it wasn’t science. It was an engineered piece of technology that was cool, but it didn’t follow any scientific method or demonstrate any comprehension of the scientific process.

On the other hand, there was a girl and her father who bought a little adapter that let you connect two 2-liter bottles together end to end. In it, they put water with some food coloring. When you flipped it, it caused a vortex and the water spun like it was going down a drain. I thought it was the dumbest project there at that time. I can do the same thing by flushing a toilet. What’s so flippin’ special about that?

The awards were announced that same evening. I thought there was a very good chance I made first place. I failed a couple of questions from the judges so I calculated that might drop me a place. Very anxious they started calling up the winners. Third place, and… NOT ME! Nice! Ok so second or maybe first?! Second place was announced, not me again!!! I was reeling with excitement, trying to keep it in and failing miserably. Finally, it was my time to shine! FIRST PLACE!!! And NOT ME?! What?! Is there an award higher than first that someone forgot to tell me about? What happened?!!! Did someone lose my score sheet? Was there an error?

We each were given our grading sheet with notes back and as my mom read them to me, I began to realize not only did I not make the top three, I was at the very bottom. I think there was like one kid who plopped their half-finished project down and went home because of the hurricane. He got a slightly lower score than me because he wasn’t there to answer any questions.

See, I failed because I didn’t understand the difference between science and engineering. That girl with the swirling water? Well, she made like first or second place. They made predictions, did research, designed the experiment to test their predictions, meticulously took notes, measured drain time, reflected on the results, documented conclusions, and ran variations of the experiment. They even had a control.

I don’t remember all the details, it was long ago, but I believe she made a prediction like adding sugar to the water would make it spin the other way. Being disproved, she did research on what causes water to spin, discovered the Coriolis Effect, that water spins in a different direction across the equator, (though it’s actually far too weak in bottle sized scales), it was still impressive.

She used the process that all real scientists use every day. Her knowledge was limited but through this process, she discovered facts new to her despite it contradicting her preconceived notion. Continuing her investigation for the truth, found additional evidence to support her result, documented her findings, and presented them to the world. She perfectly executed the scientific method and absolutely deserved to win.

That day I was so sure I was going to blow the world away with my little invention that I dragged my family through a hurricane just to do it. I left monumentally disappointed, confused, frustrated, and resentful. I went home replaying that night 1000 times in my head until I discovered that difference. Determined never to make that mistake again.

Today I am proud to say that with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics, I am both an Engineer AND a Scientist. I am keenly aware of the difference and the roles each play.

So please take to heart that the core of science is a body of information and methods designed to find the truth of how the world works. That in this process, when it’s followed, the truth is found despite the beliefs of the people conducting the experiments. That good practices like placebos, double-blinded, large random population, peer-reviewing, and clear published research is good science. That science, at its core, is always open to refinement and new evidence. That one of the most exciting things that a scientist can do is prove something we thought was true to actually be false.

This knowledge and process advances humanity and it’s up to us to decide how that knowledge is utilized.