Small decisions can lock in entire engineering systems for decades. Take electrical grid frequency. Most of the world runs on 50 Hz power. The U.S. and a few others run on 60 Hz. That split traces back to early generator design choices in the late 1800s—based on mechanical limits of turbines, materials, and lighting efficiency at the time. Once that frequency was chosen, everything downstream had to match it: • Motor speeds • Transformer design • Appliance lifetimes • Grid synchronization rules • Even international equipment compatibility Changing it now wouldn’t just mean new generators—it would require replacing motors, factories, infrastructure, and consumer devices across entire countries. That’s the butterfly effect in engineering: 👉 a local constraint → a standard → a global lock-in. Design isn’t just about what works today. It’s about what future systems are forced to inherit. 💬 What modern design choice do you think future engineers will be stuck with? #STEMeducation ...