Natural vs Synthetic Materials

What is the difference between natural and synthetic materials?

• Natural material is made from chemicals and synthetic is made from nature

• Natural material is made directly from nature and synthetic material is made from chemicals

• Natural material is made from petroleum and synthetic material is made from wool

• Natural material is made from trees and synthetic materials are made from plastics

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3

What is an example of a natural material?

• kevlar

• polyester

• wood

• plastic

What is an example of a synthetic material?

• cotton

• petroleum oil

• leather

• nylon

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3

Which of the following would be a good question to answer in seeing how your synthetic material impacts society?

• Are the natural resources used renewable or nonrenewable?

• What are the impacts of harvesting, mining, or collecting the natural resources?

• What are the impacts of producing the final product?

• All of the above.

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NGSS.MS-PS1-3

NGSS.MS-ETS1-1

Why might it be useful for scientists to make a compound that can be found in nature?

• If harvesting the item from nature is too expensive or over-harvesting could damage the environment or destroy habitat, it might be better to synthesize the compound.

• If you find it more fun to produce a synthetic material than a natural material.

• If there is too much natural resources it may be useful to produce a synthetic material.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3

Which word is a synonym for synthetic?

• real

• artificial

• natural

• true

True or False: Synthetic materials are never made from natural resources

• True

• False

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3

What are some advantages of synthetic materials?

• Cheaper to manufacture 
• Stronger than similar products made from natural material
• Often better quality 
• All of the above

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3

Read the following statements. Select each answer choice that is a true statement about synthetic materials. Please select 4 answers.

• Synthetic materials are made from natural resources

• Synthetic materials are made by chemically changing natural resouces to create a material with different characteristics.

• Some examples of synthetic materials are plastics, medicines, and new fuels.

• A synthetic substance cannot be chemically identical to a naturally-occurring substance

• Making and using synthetic materials have both positive and negative impacts on society.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3

Some balloons are made of latex, which can be made from substances that come from crude oil. These substances undergo chemical reactions to form latex. Is the latex of the balloons is a natural material or a synthetic material?

• natural material

• synthetic material

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3