Critical Thinking and Communication

The article “ How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry” written by Crownhart (2022), describes the creation and the use of green steel. Green steel is the process whereby steel is manufactured via electricity instead of blast furnaces to emit oxygen instead of carbon dioxide.  Currently, steel is produced in fossil fuels where coke, a coal-derived material, reacts with iron ore, a mixture of iron oxides and other minerals. Through this reaction, liquid iron is formed, and carbon dioxide is emitted. Unlike this process, the molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) process produces green steel by having electricity flow through a cell that contains a mixture of oxides and other materials, emitting oxygen into the atmosphere. As steel is used in all parts of the world, it is expected that there would be a high demand for it. This, in turn, would lead to a higher production rate to meet the demand. According to Crownhart (2022), the steel industry produces nearly 2 ...

The article “ How green steel made with electricity could clean up a dirty industry.” written by Crownhart (2022), describes the creation and the use of  green steel.  One notable difference between steel and green steel would be their production methods. Currently, steel is produced in fossil fuels where coke, a coal-derived material, reacts with iron ore, a mixture of iron oxides and other minerals. As a result of this reaction, liquid iron is formed, and carbon dioxide is emitted. The molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) approach - used to produce green steel, uses electricity to pass through a cell containing a mixture of dissolved iron oxides, other oxides, and materials. Unlike the previous approach, oxygen gas is emitted instead of carbon dioxide. As steel is used in all parts of the world, it is expected that there would be a high demand. This, in turn, would lead to a higher production rate of steel. Due to this, the steel industry produces approximately two tonnes of carb...

Subject: Self-introduction email Dear Professor Blackstone, My name is Catalan Jazlyn Mei Torres but feel free to call me Jazlyn. I am a student from your Critical Thinking and Communication class (S77) and I hope that through this email, you will be able to learn more about me. Having graduated from polytechnic with a diploma in electronic engineering and majoring in mechanical design and manufacturing engineering in university, I often receive questions as to why I changed my course of study. The reason for this would be my internship in Omnicam Technologies. During my stint in the company, I was assigned the role of a programmer and I was in charge of displaying the data that was collected by the energy monitor in a visual format. While I was coding away, I noticed that one of my colleagues was creating a housing for the energy monitor using computer-aided design (CAD) software. Seeing this, I got interested in 3D modeling and I would even volunteer to help my colleague with his mod...

  “I contend that we (engineers) are undervalued because of our widespread inability to explain what we do to the general public (and why it is so important). It is one of the hardest goals to accomplish, to be able to boil down difficult concepts into a short and easily understood presentation or elevator pitch.” Marybeth Miceli, President, Miceli Infrastructure Consulting, USA (2011) In her quote, Marybeth Miceli alludes to the miscommunication between engineers and the general public due to the inability of engineers to translate technical jargon into words the general public would understand. As a result, individuals may be deemed incapable, despite their capabilities. A presentation is challenging enough on its own, what more when one has to maintain audience interest and most importantly, have the audience understand what they are doing? My friends, who were not engineering majors, once asked me how I controlled my product without visible connections for a project I was worki...