3-D printing: A means of producing physical items — including toys, foods and even body parts — using a machine that takes instructions from a computer program. That program tells the machine how and where to lay down successive layers of some raw material (the “ink”) to create a three-dimensional object.
acceleration: A change in the speed or direction of some object.
aerodynamic: Having a shape that reduces resistance from air flowing past.
air pressure: The force exerted by the weight of air molecules.
composite: A material made using two or more different building blocks, which together produce something with new and better features. Carbon fiber reinforced polymers are one example. Embedded in these hard and strong plastics are tiny fibers made from carbon. Engineers use these plastics to build lightweight bodies for race cars and airplanes, among other things.
engineering: The field of research that uses math and science to solve practical problems. Someone who works in this field is known as an engineer.
force: Some outside influence that can change the motion of an object, hold objects close to one another, or produce motion or stress in a stationary object.
generation: A group of individuals (in any species) born at about the same time or that are regarded as a single group. Your parents belong to one generation of your family, for example, and your grandparents to another. Similarly, you and everyone within a few years of your age across the planet are referred to as belonging to a particular generation of humans. The term also is sometimes extended to year classes of other animals or to types of inanimate objects (such as electronics or automobiles).
lattice: Something made by fastening strips of some material (typically wood or metal) at angles relative to each other so that they create a pattern of square- or other-shaped openings. Or it can be a term used to describe a surface that has holes that look as if they might have been made this way. Because they allow air and light to pass through, lattices often are used as screens or fencing.
maker: A term used to describe people who are do-it-yourselfers, making things they want and need, rather than buying commercial versions of products (everything from fabric and beer to furniture and tools). Many makers are now turning to 3-D printers to create items when and where they’re needed.
mechanical engineer: Someone trained in a research field that uses physics to study motion and the properties of materials to design, build and/or test devices.
monitor: To test, sample or watch something, especially on a regular or ongoing basis.
perception: The state of being aware of something — or the process of becoming aware of something — through use of the senses.
PhD: (also known as a doctorate) A type of advanced degree offered by universities — typically after five or six years of study — for work that creates new knowledge. People qualify to begin this type of graduate study only after having first completed a college degree (a program that typically takes four years of study).
polymer: A substance made from long chains of repeating groups of atoms. Manufactured polymers include nylon, polyvinyl chloride (better known as PVC) and many types of plastics. Natural polymers include rubber, silk and cellulose (found in plants and used to make paper, for example).
pressure: Force applied uniformly over a surface, measured as force per unit of area.
resistance: (in physics) Something that keeps a physical material (such as a block of wood, flow of water or air) from moving freely, usually because it provides friction to impede its motion.
sensor: A device that picks up information on physical or chemical conditions — such as temperature, barometric pressure, salinity, humidity, pH, light intensity or radiation — and stores or broadcasts that information. Scientists and engineers often rely on sensors to inform them of conditions that may change over time or that exist far from where a researcher can measure them directly.
STEAM: An acronym for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.
unique: Something that is unlike anything else; the only one of its kind.