Synthetic Materials: Lesson 3 - Materials Science

Synthetic Materials: Lesson 3 - Materials Science

Open Ended

Todays' Lesson is a Crash Course on the different materials we use to make things. Metals, Polymers, Ceramics, Glass, Composites (combos of materials). Besides your cell phone or gaming devices what is one object that is important to you and guess what you think it is mostly made of.

Material Science & Engineering

• Humans have always been noticing what was around them, observing their properties (science) & manipulating the materials to do what they want it to do (engineering)

• This cartoon shows a sillier version of our history of using materials over time.

Open Ended

What do you think the next age of materials is going to be?!

Synthetic vs. Natural Resources

• Natural Resources occur on earth without human intervention

• Most of the elements on the periodic table are "natural"

• Humans saw that there were spots not filled in on the periodic table and created the missing elements

• These synthetic elements are not stable on Earth (break down)

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT a natural resource?

• wood

• cotton

• oil

• plastic

• coal

Multiple Choice

Natural resources are?

• Resources that exist within the environment without humans having to intervene, or put them there.

• Resources that exist within the environment through due to human actions.

• Organic substrates found deep within the earth's lithosphere

Multiple Choice

A synthetic material begins with_____________________chemically changed to produce a material with different characteristics.

• renewable resources

• naturals resources

• coal

• plastics

Multiple Choice

Which item is made from a synthetic material ?

• cotton pants

• real leather jacket

• tissue paper

Materials

• Polymers

• Metals

• Ceramics/Glass

• Composites (combinations of materials)

• Focusing on the Synthetic End of Materials - obviously there is metal from the ground (natural) & metals we created, steel (synthetic)

Multiple Select

What are the three main types of synthetic materials.

• Polymers

• Ceramics/Glass

• Wood

• Metals

Multiple Choice

Glass is a special type of

• polymer

• metal

• ceramic

• composite

Multiple Choice

Iron is what type of material?

• Metal

• Ceramic

• Polymer

• Composite

Multiple Choice

Glue is what type of material?

• Metal

• Ceramic

• Polymer

• Food

Multiple Choice

A composite material is made of 

• A single material
• Two or more separate materials
• Two or more chemically combined materials
• None of these

How Humans Have Used Materials to Help Our Bodies

• Materials are studied to see which has the best matching properties

• New materials are created by combining materials to create new better properties

• Around the outside it shows examples of how we take advantage of science to help our lives

Metals

• Natural metals are found on the periodic table

• Synthetic metals are alloys (mixtures of metals - think like frozen kool aid) or composites (like married materials)

• Brass is an alloy of copper & zinc

• Advantages of Metals: strong, can be shaped into wire (ductile), conducts electricity

• Disadvantages: cost, corrosive, strength upon shaping

Poll

Your best friend is going to propose with a ring. They want you to help pick out the ring.

Which property or properties are most important to you in picking a ring?

• Color

• Strength of the material

• Cost

Metals - Ring Example

• The metals shown are used to create rings

• Each material has different properties - color, strength, melting point etc.

• White gold for example is a mixture of metals nickel, silver and palladium (mixtures of metals are called alloys)

Multiple Choice

A mixture of metals is called (an) ______ .

• alloy

• combo meal

• zirconium

• kool-aid

Poll

If you had to wear a ring, which type of material would you use for your ring?

• Gold Variety

• Platinum or Palladium

• Sterling Silver of Titanium

• Black Zirconium

• Tungsten Carbide or Stainless Steel

Polymer Review

• Made of a chain of monomers

• Natural (cotton) & Synthetic (plastic bag)

• Advantages: cheep, light, and resist corrosion

• Disadvantages: low strength

Multiple Choice

Which of the following determine the properties of a polymer?

• chemical nature of the monomer

• length of the polymer chain

• how the monomers are joined together

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

Large molecules made up of small monomers are called

• polymers

• peptides

• peptones

• monomers

Ceramics/Glass

• Non-metallic material with a crystalline structure [atoms aren't in chains like polymers]; Glass is an amorphous structure [no pattern to the atoms]

• Glass is not considered a ceramic

• Advantages: strength, resists corrosion, tolerates high temperatures

• Disadvantages: brittle

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is not a ceramic material?

• Glass

• Silly putty

Multiple Choice

Which set of properties are commonly associated with ceramic materials.

• Greeks enjoy throwing them at weddings.

• High levels of strength, good conductivity and light weight.

• Nice colours

• High levels of strength, high levels of heat resistance and quite brittle.

Multiple Choice

What's a composite?

• a material made by two materials combined together but are not bonded together

• a material made by two materials are bonded together to create a new compound

• ceramic, metal or polymer

Multiple Choice

A composite material has:

• The same functionality as its components
• Lower functionality than its components
• Higher functionality than its components
• None of these

Poll

Which topics are you feeling pretty comfortable with?

• List the main types of materials: ceramics, metals, and polymers

• Describe the pros and cons of each material

• Define a composite and what the advantages are