Engineering Merit Badge
Nine requirements. Three need arranging: investigating a manufactured item at home with adult supervision and your counselor's approval (1), a visit with an engineer in five parts (4), and, if chosen, a science or engineering fair (6(g)). Requirement 5 is designing something with the systems engineering approach, and requirement 6 is any two of seven projects.
The plan behind this
What needs other people
| requirement | who | what |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | an adult, and your counselor first | investigate how and why a manufactured item in your home works, under adult supervision and with your counselor's approval |
| 2 | your parent or guardian | permission to use the internet for researching an engineering achievement |
| 4 | an engineer (who may be your counselor, parent or guardian) | a visit: their work and tools, a current project and their role, how results are achieved, and the reports they write |
| 6(g), if chosen | a science or engineering fair, or a competition team | enter a project, or take part on an engineering competition project team |
| 9 | your parent or guardian | permission for research methods such as an internet search, an interview or a visit |
Requirement 6: do TWO of seven
| route | title on the badge page | what it asks |
|---|---|---|
| 6(a) | Transforming Motion | a simple model demonstrating motion, its mechanical elements, and a real product that uses the mechanism |
| 6(b) | Using Electricity | 10 appliances at home and roughly how much electricity each uses in one month; finding the amount and cost in light and heavy use; five ways to conserve |
| 6(c) | Understanding Electronics | how sound, video, text or images travel on a device such as a smartphone, and how it was designed for ease of use, function and durability |
| 6(d) | Using Materials | experiments on strength and heat conductivity in wood, metal and plastic |
| 6(e) | Converting Energy | an experiment converting one or more types of energy to another, and what energy is |
| 6(f) | Moving People | how people get to work, and a traffic flow study in heavy and light periods |
| 6(g) | Building an Engineering Project | a project in a science or engineering fair or similar competition, or on an engineering competition project team |
6(b) and 6(f) need data gathered over time, and 6(g) depends on when a fair or competition is held.
The explanations
The work of six types of engineers (3); what a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) is and where registration matters most (7); and the Engineer's Code of Ethics compared with the Scout Oath and Law (8).
What this page is
The Engineering merit badge, drawn so the counselor approval in requirement 1, the visit with an engineer and the design in requirement 5 stand out, with the two projects of requirement 6 drawn as a question. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Engineering Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2026-01-07 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .