Properties - SupaScience

What is a material?

A material is any substance that has a name

examples: chalk, paper, wood, iron, air, water, clay, plastic, rubber, stone, leather, wax

See a list of more materials

Eveything is made up of materials

When we want to make something we need to chose the best material for the job.

In order to do this we need to know the properties of the material.

Properties of materials

A property of a material is something about it that we can measure, see or feel

Examples of different properties

Strong	Weak
Heavy	Light in weight
Rough	Smooth
Shiny	Dull
Hard	Soft
Flexible	Brittle
Magnetic	Non-magnetic
Transparent	Opaque
Absorbent	Waterproof
Conduct electricity	Electrical insulator
Conductor of heat	Thermal (heat) insulator
Burns when heated	Does not burn
Melts easily	Does not melt easily

Different objects are made out of different materials.

We need to chose the material with best properties for the job.

Example: Looking at the different materials in a bicycle

Click on each label to find what it is made from

The saddle is covered in leather or thin plastic
because they are both smooth and flexible. Inside, the saddle is often fillled with spong because sponge can be compressed.

The tyre needs to grip the road, be flexible and easily moulded so rubber is the best choice .

The frame needs to be strong and rigid so we chose a metal.

Which metal we chose depends on how much we want to pay

Blue = object
Red = material
Purple = property.

Do you know which metals are usually used?
Scroll down to find out.

Metals that can be used to make a bicycle frame

Iron. The cheaper bicycles use iron. Iron is strong but is also heavy and rusts easily. The frame will usually be painted to stop it going rusty.

Aluminium. Aluminium is much lighter than iron but is also more expensive. It does not rust so does not need to be painted. It is not as strong as iron so an aluminium frame is usually thicker.

Tungsten Much stronger than aluminium but lighter than iron. It also does not rust. Very expensive!

Carbon fibre. This is a very modern material and is not a metal at all.
It is strong and very light weight. Slightly more flexible than metals and very expensive (also used for top of the range tennis rackets)

Materials can be placed into groups:


Metals	Shiny, conduct electricity and heat, strong, often heavy	Girders, Bicycle frames, Electric wires, Tools, Saucepans and good quality cuttlery.
Ceramics	Substances made from pottery. They have been ‘fired’ at some stage in their manufacture. They look attractive, do not burn or melt but are usually brittle and break easily	Tiles, kitchen plates, good quality cups
Plastics	Plastics usually melt or burn easily,. They are not very strong but can easily made into different shapes. They arecheap to produce and are good electrical insulators	Washing up bowls, covering to electric wire, plugs, cheap cuttlery, containers for food
Glass	:Glass looks attractive and can eaily be made into different shapes. Transparent, Is not effected by liquids. Brittle but hard. (Breaks easily but will not easily scratch)	Windows, mirrors, glasses, bottles
Wood	Cuts easily and can be polished so it is shiny. Looks attractive	Furniture, building materials