CEOR - MODULE 1: HISTORY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Question 1

It is the oldest engineering discipline.

Answer 1

Civil Engineering

Question 2

What among these statements are true?

I. The basic needs for civil engineering have changed throughout the ages.

II. The content and level of expectation of civil engineering work have not changed with the time because the tools available to civil engineers are changing with the time.

III. The basic needs in civil engineering have not changed throughout the ages but the level of expectation have certainly changed.

IV. The basic needs for civil engineering have changed throughout the ages, the content and level of expectation of civil engineering work have not changed with the time because the tools available to civil.

A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. IV only
E. I and II
F. All of the above
G. None of the above

Answer 2

C

Question 3

True or False: Civil engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with providing people with a livable built environment consistent with the standards and expectations of modern living through the applications of mathematics, science, and human experience.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Give at least 3 of the contributions of civil engineering that are visible and obvious.

Answer 4

buildings, bridges, highways, railways, airports, and dams and levees

Question 5

Give at least 3 civil engineering works that are less commonly known.

Answer 5

offshore platforms, cell phone towers, power transmission lines and substations, drinking water and wastewater treatment plants, traffic signals, air pollution control, International Space Station

Question 6

It deals with people’s everyday needs and more.

Answer 6

Civil Engineering

Question 7

The first engineers were?

Answer 7

irrigators, architects, and military engineers

Question 8

These three people were not only all-around engineers but outstanding artists as well.

Answer 8

Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Durer

Question 9

True or False: Specialization within the engineering profession has developed only in the last two or three centuries.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

True or False: Some early writing on stone and brick in China and Europe has survived, but other written accounts of ancient engineering in those areas have perished.

Answer 10

False (Mesopotamia and Egypt)

Question 11

They created lists of the seven most magnificent engineering feats of which they were aware.

Answer 11

Greek Writers

Question 12

What are the seven most magnificent engineering feats?

Answer 12

1. Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Mesopotamia
3. Statue of Zeus at Olyrnpia, Greece
4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, modern Turkey
5. Tomb of King Mausolos of Karia at Halikarnassos, Greece
6. Colossus of Rhodes, Mediterranean
7. Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt

Question 13

True or False: Though civilization in Mesopotamia, “the land between the mountains” in Greek, may have begun several hundred years before Egypt’s, little remains of its monumental architecture.

Answer 13

False (“the land between the rivers”)

Question 14

When was the beginning of recorded history?

Answer 14

5,000 to 6,000 years ago

Question 15

People of unknown origins.

Answer 15

Sumerians

Question 16

True or False: Egyptians built the city walls and temples and dug the canals that comprised the world’s first engineering works.

Answer 16

False (Sumerians)

Question 17

Enumerate the four devices to support roofs or upper stories

Answer 17

Corbel
Arch and Vault
Post and Lintel
Truss

Question 18

An “arch” that requires no false work or shoring.

Answer 18

Corbel

Question 19

Stones are layered in courses from two sides, overhanging each previous course until the two sides meet in the middle.

Answer 19

Corbel

Question 20

A system of vertical columns crossed by horizontal beams.

Answer 20

Post and Lintel

Question 21

A type of triangulated stiff framework made from straight struts and ties.

Answer 21

Truss

Question 22

Which among the statements are true?

I. Mesopotamia had lots of clay but no stone or wood and these civilizations favored post-and-lintel construction.

II. Europe had abundant sources of wood and consequently developed the truss.

III. Egypt had stone and clay, while Greece and China had stone, clay, and wood, thus, preferred the corbel or arch and vault construction

A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. II and III
E. I and II
F. All of the above
G. None of the above

Answer 22

B

Question 23

Underpinning the success of ancient engineers were three factors:

I. Intensive and careful use of existing principles and tools, such as the water level and astronomical observation

II. Unlimited labor and the power to organize and command it

III. A different perspective of time.

Which are true?
A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. II and III
E. I and II
F. All of the above
G. None of the above

Answer 23

F

Question 24

The term “medieval” literally means?

Answer 24

between ages

Question 25

It is used to describe the time in Western Europe between the end of the Roman era and the beginning of the Renaissance in the 15th century.

Answer 25

medieval

Question 26

True or False: While civilization continued in the eastern Mediterranean, Iran, Iraq, India, and China as before, the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a small event.

Answer 26

False ( the fall of the Western Roman Empire was no small event)

Question 27

Roman roads, aqueducts, and harbors fell into ruin over a vast area due to lack of?

Answer 27

strong central government

Question 28

True or False: In the West, communities demolished Roman buildings to make clarifications and dismantled buildings and bridges to slow down marauding Goths, Germans, and Vikings.

Answer 28

False (to make fortifications and dismantled roads and bridges)

Question 29

It almost vanished, science became superstition, and engineering deteriorated to rule-of-thumb craftsmanship.

Answer 29

Literacy

Question 30

He led a religious revolution in 7th century.

Answer 30

Muhammad ibn-AbdalIah

Question 31

Within one century ____ had spread from Spain to Turkestan.

Answer 31

Islam

Question 32

True or False: South East became the intellectual center of the Mediterranean-facing world

Answer 32

False (Middle East)

Question 33

In terms of building, they continued using the system of fortifications, walls with battlements and towers, developed by the Romans and Byzantines.

Answer 33

Arabs

Question 34

It was a distinctly Muslim style of building that used domes and arches.

Answer 34

Mosque

Question 35

A tall, slender tower from which the public are called to prayer.

Answer 35

Minaret

Question 36

True or False: In Europe during what was once called the Dark Ages, between the 6th and 10th centuries, engineering and architecture stopped being recognized as professions.

Answer 36

True

Question 37

Churches were constructed in the _____ style.

Answer 37

Romanesque style

Question 38

These were rather plain, massive stone buildings with small windows and many round arches.

Answer 38

Romanesque style churches

Question 39

They pondered the nature of motion, force, and gravity.

Answer 39

Scholars

Question 40

They made advances in structural forms.

Answer 40

Medieval builders

Question 41

True or False: The semi-circular arch of the Romans, the Islamic pointed arch was introduced during 15th and 16th centuries

Answer 41

False (12th and 13th centuries)

Question 42

The most significant engineering achievement of the time, however, was the development of?

Answer 42

Gothic Cathedral