The reality of the world, its history, and scientific knowledge have always been subject to one simple phenomenon that deviates it from an ideal world we live in. This simple concept is one of the fundamental truths of the universe: chaos.
Entropy is defined from a scientific perspective as “a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system” and from a formal perspective as “lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.”
This duality in terminology serves to exemplify the true nature of entropy, both as a scientific concept and a natural phenomenon. Whilst there is ample amount of discussion to engage in regarding the scientific meaning of the word and I am plenty interested in thermodynamics, the disorder throughout engineering as a field is far more appealing to discuss.
At the very basic, engineering (and by virtue, automation) are products of ingenious testing, discovery, and engineering constantly collated to create the field we know today. It is inevitable then that in a field so centered around a repetitive process that chaos is present. But the manner in which entropy has manifested itself in various divisions of the field is not only notable but causes enough for further exploration. One of the most interesting mannerisms this has come to be seen in what is considered the biggest scientific failure of all time: the Michelson-Morely experiment.
This experiment centered around Einstein’s study of general relativity and is exemplified by a depiction of the Smithsonian,
“The idea behind the Michelson-Morley experiment can be simplified to the analogy of a person swimming in a river with a current. Depending on whether or not the person is swimming with or against the current, his or her relative velocity (the speed of travel) will change. For Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, the river is a material (or medium) called “ether” and the person swimming is light.”
The most significant component of this hugely-studied experiment is how the results were all variable.
Although this is not a classic study in engineering, the scientific results hold implications for theoretical engineering. However, the most classical example of a disorder in engineering is very obviously the launch and failure of Apollo 13. As renowned publisher Space states,
“Apollo 13 was NASA's third moon-landing mission, but the astronauts never made it to the lunar surface. An oxygen tank explosion almost 56 hours into the flight forced the crew to abandon all thoughts of reaching the moon. The spacecraft was damaged, but the crew was able to seek cramped shelter in the lunar module for the trip back to Earth, before returning to the command module for an uncomfortable splashdown.
The mission stands today as an example of the dangers of space travel and of NASA's innovative minds working together to save lives on the fly. The Apollo 13 mission celebrates its 50th anniversary this year on April 11.”
The Apollo 13 malfunction was caused by an engineering disaster in an explosion and rupture of oxygen tank no. 2 in the service module. The explosion ruptured a line or damaged a valve in the no. 1 oxygen tank, causing it to lose oxygen rapidly. The service module bay no.4 cover was blown off. All oxygen stores were lost within about 3 hours, along with loss of water, electrical power, and use of the propulsion system. The malfunctioning of this system is what predominantly led to its collapse.
This mishap is the root for the famous quote, “Houston, we have a problem”, a small statement not fully representative of the disaster at hand.
“I think within an hour or two we had just about all of our people in. And it went fast," recalled Guenter Wendt, who served as the leader of the launchpad teams at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Wendt's thick German accent and staunch demeanor prompted the Original Mercury Seven astronauts to nickname him the "Pad Fuhrer."
No one knew it, but when Apollo 13 lifted off, it carried the makings of a small bomb inside its service module.
The "bomb" was triggered on the evening of April 13 when ground controllers asked Jack Swigert to turn on the fans inside the service module's two liquid-oxygen tanks, as a way of stirring the contents, to allow more accurate quantity readings.
In the wake of Apollo 13, engineers redesigned the oxygen tanks to prevent similar accidents. Also, a third oxygen tank was added to the service module, as an additional backup. Eight more Apollo spacecraft flew and none of them experienced the same trouble again.
This incident is not the only representative of the domino effect of issues in engineering that can skyrocket into international disasters. These issues themselves are predominantly focused around inefficiency and shows that not just error but chaos is an imperative factor in all fields but especially engineering. The modern age however reflects the benefit of chaos with us deriving an understanding of the universe and modifying ideas based on it.
This natural phenomenon is most exemplified by Bob Dylan, stating “Chaos is a friend of mine”
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