Ants, atoms and chips!

Question 50S: Short Answer

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Thinking about atoms means thinking about objects smaller than any you are used to. But that
doesnt mean you cant think about how big they are. These simple questions are to get you used to
ways of thinking about very small things.
Ants
1. Estimate the length of an ordinary ant.

2. If ants of this type were marching single file, leaving no gaps, lengthways along a meter rule, how
many would be on the rule at any one time?

3. A particular type of ant of length x is marching down a piece of wood of length L. Write an
expression for the number N of ants that would fit lengthways on the piece of wood. (Hint: this is
exactly the same as you have just done; only using algebra instead of numbers.)

Atoms and chips

A modern microchip contains transistors each of the order of 0.1m wide.
4. Rewrite the width of a transistor in metres, using standard form.

An atom is typically 110-10 m in diameter.

5. How many atoms are there typically across the width of a microchip?

You have seen

That simple calculations that you can do in your head can be written down as algebraic equations
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and used to solve more complex problems.

How to calculate how many atoms are in a given object.

Further questions on metals

Question 80S: Short Answer
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1. A student finds the following short passage. Explain each of the points made, giving greater
detail. Pay particular attention to the bold terms.
Cracks occur in all substances. When a material is stretched energy is stored in it.If the energy
needed to open and deepen a crack is less than that stored, the crack can propagate. Such a
material undergoes brittle fracture. A crack is a macroscopic phenomenon, influenced by
microscopic structure.
The propagation of a crack can be stopped by the presence of a few dislocations which make
the material ductile. Dislocations are a microscopic phenomenon. On the other hand, the
presence of many dislocations or foreign atoms can harden a material and such hard materials
are likely to fail through brittle fracture.

The diagram shows a dislocation that has formed inside a specimen. The arrows show the direction
of shear stress being applied to the material.

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2. Draw a series of diagrams showing how the dislocation will move under the influence of this
stress.

Grain size is of particular importance to metallurgists.

3. How do grain boundaries interact with dislocations?

4. How will the stress required to cause plastic flow vary with grain size?

5. How can grain size be controlled and what effect does this control have on the microstructure?
Give an account of one method.

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Questions on polymers
Question 100S: Short Answer
Quick Help

Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Hints | Answers

What to do
Answer these questions on the paper. Some will require access to File 10D 'Materials database', and
some will require further research.
Try these
1. What is the difference between a thermosetting and a thermoplastic polymer? Give an example of
each type and one of its uses.

2. Look at the stressstrain curve for polythene and explain why polymers are often called plastics.

20

100

200

300

400

strain %

3. A specimen of rubber of cross sectional area 2 mm2 is extended in length from 0.1 m to 0.15 m
by a force of 0.4 N. Use these results to predict the force needed to extend a piece of the same
material with 4 mm2 cross section from a length of 0.50 m to 0.75 m.

4. Use the materials database from chapter 4 (File 10D 'Materials database') to find the Young
modulus of polystyrene, high-density polythene, mild steel and soda glass, and arrange them in
order of increasing stiffness.

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5. Describe, in molecular terms, what happens when rubber is stretched and then released. Use
diagrams to illustrate your answer.

6. Hair can be considered as a thermoset polymer, where long protein (keratin) chains are held
together by cross-links composed of two sulphur atoms (so-called disulphide bridges). At what
temperature does hair melt?

7. Match the polymer to its use.

Polymers: polypropylene, low-density polythene, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride, high-density
polythene
Uses: margarine tubs, plastic cutlery, window frames, freezer bag, strong carrier bag.

8. Describe the differences in properties between ordinary and expanded polystyrene and account
for them in terms of their structure.

9. A bucket to hold water could be made from mild steel, wood or polypropylene. Say whether the
polymer is a good choice or not, in comparison with the other materials, backing up your
argument with relevant information from the database.

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Bone
Question 110S: Short Answer
Quick Help

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One of nature's composites

Here you look at how the structure of bone, a composite, influences its mechanical properties. You
will need to consult the File 10D 'Materials database' from chapter 4.
Bone is a complex composite. It consists of bone cells embedded in a matrix containing collagen
fibres and so-called ground substance which, in turn, contains a high concentration of disordered
hydroxyapatite (HPA) calcium phosphate crystals. The protein collagen is the main structural
material of the body.
1. Where else is collagen found?
2. As with other composites, the separate components of bone bring desirable properties to the
material HPA contributes hardness, collagen strength and flexibility. Consult the database and
comment on how bone compares to iron and wood in its tensile strength and its density.
3. Again consulting the database, write a paragraph to 'sell' bone as a new material to a company
looking for a structural material.
The image shows the way bone tissue is arranged in a hip bone. Note the two layers: compact bone
on the outside and spongy bone on the inside and the tiny spikes, known as trabeculae, which grow
along the direction of greatest stress.

Open the JPEG file

Source

Open the JPEG file

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Open the JPEG file

Source

4. Why is bone so light?

Springs connected to the Young modulus

Question 150S: Short Answer
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers | Key Skills

Quick Help

A school laboratory has a demonstration model, which is meant to illustrate the stretching of bonds
between atoms as a piece of material is stretched. The model has three horizontal planes of small
balls linked horizontally by rods and vertically by springs. There are nine balls in each horizontal
layer. All the springs are identical and may be taken to be 50 mm long. The dimensions are shown, all
in millimetres. When a vertical stretching force of 18 N is applied, the height of 100 mm increases to
110 mm.

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100 mm

balls
springs

rods

forces

1. What is the restoring force for the 10% strain for a single spring?

2. What is the force constant (restoring force per unit extension) for a single spring?

Now you are ready to make a link between the Young modulus of a metal (stress / strain) and the
springiness of bonds between individual atoms.
Imagine layers of atoms in a square array, each atom at a distance r 0 from its nearest neighbour in
each direction.

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force

r0 + r

r0
r0

force

Suppose a wire with many such layers is stretched a little so that each layer is now r 0 + r from
those above or below it.
3. If there are n gaps between layers in the length of the wire, how long is the wire before it is
stretched?

4. By how much has the wire extended?

5. What is the strain in terms of r 0 and r ?

Now think of the bond holding each atom as being like a spring, so that there is a force of kr pulling
a pair of atoms together.
6. k is the stiffness of the spring. What are the units of k?

7. There are m atoms in each layer. What is the force pulling adjacent layers together?

8. The stress is the force per unit area. In terms of the spacing r 0 , how many atoms are there per
square metre of a layer?
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9. What is the stress in terms of k, r 0 and r ?

10. What is the Young modulus in terms of k , r 0 ?

11. For steel, the Young modulus is 2 1011 Pa. The atomic spacing is about 3 1010 m. What is
the stiffness of the interatomic bond?

Scaling exercises
Question 20E: Estimate
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers | Key Skills

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Introduction
No matter how complex, everything that exists is made up of the small scale; for example, large cities
are made up of buildings made of small individual bricks. Similarly an oak tree is a complicated
structure that makes acorns but the acorn includes all the information needed for making the oak
tree. Outer space (stars and galaxies, etc) is made up of inner space (protons and electrons, etc). If
we want to study both inner and outer space, it is important to develop some way for comparing the
sizes of numbers involved.
Getting a grip on numbers
Assume the diameter of an atom is 1010 metres.
1. Estimate the length of a fingernail.

2. How many atoms are there along the length of a fingernail?

3. This number is too big to appreciate. Scale it up to get a better understanding; i.e. if each atom
were 1 cm across, how long would the finger be on the same scale?
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This gives a better idea of the relative size of the atom to an everyday object.
The emptiness of space
In the last 20 years, with the popularity of science fiction as shown in films and on TV, with human
and alien spacecraft zapping around planets, stars and galaxies in a matter of minutes, it's very easy
to forget just how vast and empty most of the universe is. This exercise may help you get some idea
of the scale of distances in interplanetary space.
Planet

Diameter
/ km

Distance from the

Sun / millions of km

Mercury

4878

57.91

Venus

12 104

108.21

Earth

12 756

149.60

Mars

6794

227.94

Jupiter

142 800

778.34

Saturn

120 000

1427.01

Uranus

51 800

2869.60

Neptune

49 500

4496.70

Pluto

2400

5900.00

The Sun itself has a diameter of 1.4 million kilometres, more than 100 times that of the Earth.
Using these data, plan a model of the planets. Use a scale of 1cm : 100 000 kilometres. On this scale,
10 cm distance in your model corresponds to one million km in real life. So to start with, we could
represent the Sun as being a 14 cm ball (an orange, say) at the centre of your model. In this model,
how big are the planets, and how far away from the Sun are they? You may well be surprised at the
distances involved, so check your calculations carefully if your answers don't seem to make sense!
4. To take this further, what is the fastest speed that you could fly in a plane? Or in a military plane?
If you could travel at 1700 m s1 (five times the speed of sound) how long would it take to reach
the Sun?

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Estimating with materials

Question 180E: Estimate
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Hints | Answers | Key
Skills

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Making estimates
Each of these estimates questions requires that you deal intelligently with the numbers. You should
be working to two significant figures and quoting the answer to one. If you need to invent a number to
take the argument forward then try to provide some justification for the size of this number.
For more advice on making rough estimates, look at Making rough estimates in Data and
Measurement Skills.
Try these
1. Your school / college is concerned about the cost of breakages in the canteen. There is a stock of
100 cups used twice-daily and, on average, there are five breakages a week. The cups cost 50p
each. The catering committee proposes to replace these with cheaper, disposable, expanded
polystyrene cups which cost only 89p for a pack of 50. Work out the yearly cost for both types of
cup. Are the polystyrene cups really cheaper? And are there any hidden costs to the
changeover?

2. The cost of the raw material for making polystyrene cups is 600 per tonne (1000 kg) although
this price is variable. A single cup sells for 1.78p. Ignoring any mark-up for profit, estimate the
cost of manufacturing a polystyrene cup.

3. Estimate the number of atoms of graphite rubbed onto paper in writing the letter 'A'.

4. In work hardening, the generation of lengths of new dislocation is critical. In a soft metal the total
length of dislocations is about 1011 metres per cubic metre (m m3) of material; in cold worked
metal the length is about 1015 m m3. Estimate the length of dislocation line in a sugar-cube sized
piece of metal, in km. Do the same calculation for a several tonnes coil of cold-rolled steel.

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The relative atomic mass of silicon is 28 and its density is 2.3 103 kg m3.
5. How many silicon atoms are there in a volume of 1 m3?

6. A dopant is introduced into the silicon at a concentration level of about 1022 atoms / m3.
(a) How many atoms of silicon will there be for every atom of dopant introduced into the material?

(b) What volume does this amount of silicon occupy?

7. Explain why this calculation suggests that there is a lower limit on the dimensions of a slab of nor p-type silicon used in a microchip.

Visible structures
Question 10C: Comprehension
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers

What to do
Answer the three sets of questions following the three short passages and images.
Wood grain
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Quick Help

Read the following passage. It is based on an extract from Patterns in Nature by Peter S Stevens,
published by Penguin Books (1976).

Open the JPEG file

Source

Look at the photographs of wood showing the patterns formed by the grain. They look like the
patterns of streamlines in a flowing liquid. The pattern seems to break into swirls and eddies, making
the wood look turbulent.
Does wood flow like a liquid? Is it produced by streams and currents? The answer is no. The wood
simply grows along lines of stress. Material is added in response to stress. Where the lines are close
together the forces are high, where they are far apart they are weak. It is stress rather than wood
which 'flows'.
1. When a young tree is planted it is often supported by a stake. Why do gardeners remove the
stake after a few years and leave the tree to be blown by the wind?

2. In wood, material is laid down naturally along the lines of stress. Do engineers and architects
make complex structures safe and stable in the same way? Explain.

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fibre direction

fibre direction

3. Here are two versions of a chair. In which version is the wood used correctly? Explain how the
unsatisfactory chair is likely to fail.

Mica

Open the JPEG file

Open the JPEG file

Look at the photograph of mica. It is a mineral, an aluminosilicate, in which silicate tetrahedra are
linked together to form sheets. The material can be cleaved to give thin transparent sheets. They
have a high tensile strength (3100 MN m2) and can withstand very high temperatures. Mica can be
used for the windows of furnaces.
4. What does this behaviour suggest to you about the structure of mica?

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Wire rope
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
(Ecclesiastes 4. 12)
Because the steel is subdivided into many strands it is safer. If one strand breaks in tension the
fracture will not spread to neighbouring strands. Wire rope can safely be made from brittle,
high-tensile steel.

Open the JPEG file

5. Think of another example of a material which has a fibrous structure. Explain the advantages (or
disadvantages) this type of structure gives.

Photoelastic stress images

Question 40C: Comprehension
Quick Help

Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers

What to do
Look carefully at the images. Then answer the questions.
Polarised light view of stresses in a model of the walls of Beauvais Cathedral

Open the JPEG file

Source

A plastic model of the building in cross section is loaded with weights to simulate the effect of wind
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forces (called 'wind loading' and an important design factor for tall buildings). The model is heated to
150 C and allowed to cool.
The colours seen in polarised light indicate the stress in the material. When the colour bands are
closely spaced, the stress gradient is steeper. Black areas indicate no stress.
1. Sketch the building in outline and label it to show one region of very low stress and one region of
very high stress.

Photoelastic stress patterns showing the interaction of fibres and matrix in a composite

Open the JPEG file

Source

This image shows a sample of composite held under tension and photographed through crossed
polarisers. The epoxy matrix is reinforced with short rigid bundles of graphite fibres.
2. Where is the stress concentrated?

Tendon elasticity
Question 50C: Comprehension
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Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers

Quick Help

Developing an argument
This interesting correspondence occurred in the pages of New Scientist, November 1994. Being
physics-trained we can go further with some calculations, to make these same points quantitatively.
Read the passage and then answer the questions.
Q: Do runners waste any energy output by raising their bodies vertically every step? If so, what
percentage is wasted, and why do they do it?
A: Running is a series of leaps, in which we rise and then fall by about 6 centimetres (at a good
marathon speed), gaining and then losing potential energy. Also, we accelerate as we take off and
slow down as we land, gaining and then losing kinetic energy. Potential energy fluctuations
predominate at low speeds, and kinetic energy fluctuations at high speeds. Most of the work required
of our muscles serves to supply these components of energy.
The work referred to is wasted, in that there would be no need to do it if we ran smoothly on wheels.
Measurements of oxygen consumption show that cycling needs less than half as much energy as
running at the same speed. But we don't run on wheels and would be poor at crossing rough
ground if we did.
We avoid part of the cost of running on legs instead of wheels by bouncing along like a rubber ball.
Each time a foot lands on the ground, springs are stretched, and they recoil elastically as the foot
leaves the ground. About half of the (kinetic plus potential) energy lost and regained is stored up as
elastic strain energy and returned, halving the work that the muscles have to do.
The springs involved are the Achilles tendon and the ligaments of the arch of the foot. The tendon
stretches and recoils by about 5 per cent of its length. Stretching and recoil of the ligaments allow the
arch of the foot to flatten, and then arch again.
R McNeill Alexander
University of Leeds
1. Outline an experiment to determine the rise and fall distance for a person walking (or running).

A 70 kg runner moves at 10 mph (4.5 m s1), with a rise / fall distance of 6.0 cm.
2. What is the change in gravitational potential energy with each stride?

3. His forward velocity fluctuates between a minimum of 4.4 m s1 and a maximum of 4.6 m s1.
What is the change in kinetic energy?
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4. What is the total energy lost and regained at each footfall?

5. If there were no springs in the legs/feet, how would this energy be lost?

6. Suggest two reasons why this might be a problem.

7. What are the main 'springs' our body uses in running?

This apparatus is used to gather force-extension data and the results are plotted as a graph.
a tendon being stretched
and allowed to recoil in a
testing machine

load cell
muscle

clamp

tendon

extensometer

clamp

actuator

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1.0

area A

0.5

area B

3
extension / mm

one cycle of a typical test

8.

What does the area under the graph represent? What is area B? What is area A?

For a typical 70 kg man running at marathon speed, the peak ground force is about 1900 N.
9. How could this be measured?

10. How many times body weight is this?

11. Why is it so large?

12. By drawing a triangle of forces, estimate the maximum force in the Achilles tendon.

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6.4 kN

Achilles tendon

ligaments
1.9 kN

The cross-sectional area of the tendon is about 90 mm2.

13. Calculate the stress in the tendon.

14. Write this stress as a percentage of the breaking stress, 100 N mm2.

The Achilles tendon is about 30 cm long.

15. What is its extension when it is stretched by 5%?

16. Using the equation E = Fmaximum xmaximum for energy stored in a Hooke's law spring, estimate
the elastic energy stored.

17. What proportion does this stored energy represent compared with the energy the runner loses
and regains with each stride?
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Area A in the graph represents energy lost with each footfall. It is about 7% of the total energy lost
(A+B), and it heats the tendon.
18. Estimate the volume of the tendon assuming the cross-sectional area of the tendon is 0.9 cm2.

19. Tendon tissue is just a little more dense than water. Estimate its mass.

20. The specific heat capacity of tendon is probably about 3.5 J g1 K1. How much would the
temperature rise after 100 strides?

21. The tendon cells will be killed by mild cooking if its temperature rises above 45 C. Is there a limit
on how far it is safe to run? Explain your answer.

The foot ligaments can similarly store elastic energy, about 17 J per footfall. Running shoes may save
a little too, but their chief function is to reduce the impact forces experienced by running on hard
ground.
22. What do each of the models shown below represent? Label each part.

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Simple models of masses and coiling springs with the floor

force

time

force

low stiffness
time

force

high stiffness
time

23. What does the area under these Ft graphs represent?

24. Which graph shows the best protection for the runner?

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Concrete:
A material for all seasons
Question 120C: Comprehension
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers

| Key Skills

Quick Help

A comprehension passage
Read this article and then answer the following questions.
Open the Adobe Acrobat PDF file
Source

Concrete and fibreglass are both given as examples of composite materials in the passage.
1. Name one other example of a composite material you have studied and give an example of its
use.

2. State three physical properties of the composite material that make it ideal for the use you have
suggested.

3. With reference to the passage, state two advantages of concrete compared with stone when used
as a building material.

Table 1 gives data of strength and density for some common engineering materials.
4. Which of the materials given in table 1 could be described as homogeneous (as described in lines
3738)?

5. Describe, in general terms, the relationship between the strength and density of a material.

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6. How does the information in table 1 support the use of steel reinforcing bars to compensate for
the weakness of concrete in tension?

7. Teak wood and Douglas fir are weaker in compression than in tension. Considering the structure
of the wood, suggest a reason for this.

8. Cast iron is a brittle material. Assuming that cast iron has the same stiffness in compression and
tension, sketch graphs of stress against strain for both compression and tension and indicate the
essential similarities and differences.

The author states, in line 60, that steel is ductile, making it an ideal reinforcing material for concrete.
In line 72, the author suggests that metals become very brittle at very low temperatures.
9. Explain, in terms of atoms, why steel can become permanently stretched on impact.

10. Suggest, in terms of atoms, why metals become very brittle at very low temperatures.

Figure 1 shows a graph of the percentage of 28 day strength against age of concrete. A logarithmic
scale has been used for the age of concrete.
11. Use the graph to obtain values of the percentage of 28 day strength at 1 month, 1 year and 5
years and draw a sketch graph of the percentage of 28 day strength against the age of the
concrete using a linear scale for the age.

12. Suggest why a logarithmic scale was used to represent age in figure 1.

13. Explain, in your own words, why concrete might crack when it sets.
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14. Use the formula, change in length = change in temperature original length , to show that a 2
m long concrete block will contract by approximately 1 mm if it is cooled by 45 C after being
taken out of its mould. The value of for concrete is given in the passage.

Wire ropes and suspension bridges

Question 130C: Comprehension
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers

Quick Help

Open the JPEG file

Instructions
Read the following passage and then answer the questions.
John Roebling, bridge builder and manufacturer of wire rope
John Roebling studied bridge building in Germany, from where he set sail to America in 1831 when
he was 25 years old. He started a factory to manufacture wire rope. The business thrived and played
a major role in the history of bridge building in North America. Roebling designed suspension bridges.
His masterpiece was the Brooklyn Bridge.
A wire rope is an example of a composite structure. Because the metal fibres are not embedded in a
matrix it is not always recognised as such. If one fibre breaks, the gap prevents the released strain
energy from being transmitted to a neighbouring fibre. The tensile strength of a multistranded wire
rope will therefore be greater than that of a single wire using the same amount of material.
Roebling was an articulate and prolific writer. To see the million-dollar projects that he conceived
actually become fully operating structures, he had to interact with politicians and businessmen and
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convince them that what was proposed was not only structurally sound but also politically and
financially sound.
In the 1840s the dependability of suspension bridges was seriously questioned by engineers and
lay-persons alike. Telford's bridge across the Menai Strait in Northwest Wales had run into trouble in
high winds. The chain pier at Brighton had been very severely damaged in storms. As a result
suspension bridges were out of favour in Britain but Roebling did not accept this line of thinking.
He successfully designed a series of suspension bridges. He did not simply copy his own safe
designs. He concentrated his design judgement on how his bridge might fail. He achieved success by
identifying and confronting failure modes.
In a report submitted on 1 September 1867, to the president and directors of the New York Bridge
Company, Roebling begins his discussion of the practicability and strength of the bridge he proposed
to link New York and Brooklyn by describing the breaking strength of 'a bar of good wrought iron'.
After establishing that wire drawn from such a bar could support, at its breaking strain, 32 400 feet of
its own length hung vertically, he applies a factor of three and argues that one-third of that length, or
10 800 feet, will, if left undisturbed and kept from oxidation, support its own weight any length of time.
Roebling went on to take into account the increase in tension when the rope was stretched 'across a
wide chasm'. He concluded
From the simple facts and considerations, it is plain that the central span of the East River Bridge,
which is only 1,600 feet from centre to centre of the tower, is far within the safety limits of good
wire.
Roebling's Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883. The safety margin in the main cables of the
bridge was six times. It spanned over a quarter of a mile between towers. Within another century the
mile span was being approached in structures like the Humber Bridge in England. At more than 4600
feet the Humber was the longest span in the world when it was completed in 1981.
Questions
1. What is meant by the 'safety margin' in a design?
In the passage above Roebling expresses the 'breaking strength' of a wire rope made from his 'good
wrought iron' in an unfamiliar way.
2. Use the information he gives to calculate the stress corresponding to Roebling's 'breaking
strength'.
3. Compare this value with values given in the literature for the tensile strength of wrought iron.
(Note: 1 ft = 0.305 m. Take the density of wrought iron as 7.9 Mg m3.)
4. Explain why your value is higher.

High-temperature superconductivity
Question 160C: Comprehension
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Hints | Answers

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Advancing Physics

Quick Help

Read the following passage and answer the questions.

Electrons on the move
In 1911, the Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes made a remarkable discovery. Three years earlier, he
had managed to liquefy helium, and this allowed him to reach temperatures close to absolute zero
(273 C) in his laboratory. He wanted to investigate the electrical properties of metals at low
temperatures, because he knew that the resistance of a metal decreases as it is cooled. When he
cooled a thread of pure mercury, he found that its resistance suddenly dropped towards zero at 4.2 K
(4.2 degrees above absolute zero). What Onnes had observed was superconductivity. Many metals
have this property their resistance becomes zero at very low temperatures.
The diagram below shows Onnes' results. He couldn't be sure that the mercury's resistance was
exactly zero; he could only say it was 0.11 just above 4.2 K, and that it fell to at least 105 at this
critical temperature.

0.150
0.125
0.10
Hg

0.075
0.05
0.025

105

0.00
4.00 4.10

4.20

4.30

4.40

Temperature / K

Nowadays, we know that superconducting materials really do have zero resistance. A current could
flow through a superconductor for ever, without losing any energy. To understand better how this can
happen, we need to look more closely at the way in which electric current flows through metals.
Two factors can affect the resistivity of a metal: the temperature and the purity of the metal. If a wire is
heated, its resistance increases. If it is cooled, its resistance decreases. The following graph shows
that the resistivity of a pure metal approaches zero as the temperature approaches zero. An impure
metal, however, retains some resistance, even at 0 K. To understand how these factors affect
resistivity, we need to think about how a current flows through a metal. In a metal, an electric current
is a flow of 'free' electrons. These are electrons which are not bound to the atoms of which the metal
is made. Typically, there will be one free electron for each atom, and so the concentration, n, of free
electrons is similar to the number of atoms per unit volume in the metal.
They really are nearly 'free'. These electrons can move without hindrance through the regularly
spaced ions in the metal lattice. So it seems as if no potential difference is needed to maintain an
electric current. A potential difference is needed, in fact, because the free electrons are scattered by
thermal vibrations, by impurities and by defects in the lattice. The electrons move in all directions, but
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the potential difference maintains a small average drift speed along the conductor.
It took more than 40 years to find the explanation of superconductivity. The idea is that the electrons
can all be in exactly the same state of motion, going along carrying a current. This cannot normally
happen, because electrons are forbidden to have exactly the same state (for example, they occupy
different states in the shells of atomic structure). However, it can happen if they pair off. One pair can
be in exactly the same state as another pair, as can photons in a laser. These pairs can then travel
freely, all moving together and carrying a permanent electric current.
The pairs ('Cooper pairs') form like this. One electron pulls the lattice ions a little nearer to itself, so
that there is a slight excess of positive charge near it. A second electron is slightly attracted by this
positive charge. Meanwhile the second electron is doing the same to the first one.

pure metal

impure metal

100

200

300

temperature / K

Superconductivity is a fascinating phenomenon, but it has yet to find many everyday applications.
This is because of the need to maintain low temperatures using liquid helium, which is both
inconvenient and expensive. However, there are many specialist applications where convenience and
expense are less important. One area where superconducting wire has been used extensively is in
electromagnets (solenoids) which have found uses in laboratories where strong magnetic fields are
needed (for example, in particle accelerators), in magnetically levitated high-speed trains, and in
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) body scanners, like the one shown in below.

Open the JPEG file

Source

Onnes himself quickly saw how a superconducting solenoid could be used to show that a
supercurrent could flow forever. He set up a current in such a solenoid, and placed a compass
nearby. The solenoid's field deflected the compass needle, and Onnes was fascinated to see how it
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remained deflected for several days. This convinced him that a superconductor truly has zero
resistance.
How can we set up an 'eternal current' in a superconducting solenoid? The diagram below shows one
way to do this. The circuit includes a clever device, a 'superconducting switch'. This is a length of
superconducting wire with a magnetising coil wrapped round it. When current is supplied to the
magnetising coil, the magnetic field destroys the superconductivity, and the switch is 'off'. With the
magnetic field off, the wire becomes superconducting, its resistance is zero, and the switch is 'on'. To
establish the desired current in the solenoid, the superconducting switch is first kept off. Current flows
from the power supply, around the coil. When the desired current is achieved, the superconducting
switch is turned on (magnetising current turned off). The current in the coil now flows through the
switch; it has a continuous superconducting path, and could flow forever without showing any signs of
decreasing.

power supply
R 0-10 k

E = 10 V
r = 0.1

r
A

magnetising
coil
B

liquid helium
I

superconducting
switch

superconducting solenoid

In the mid-1980s, a new type of superconducting material was found. These are not metals; they are
oxides, ceramic materials. The exciting thing about these superconductors is that they become
superconducting at much higher temperatures than do metals. This is important because they can be
cooled using liquid nitrogen at 77 K. This is much cheaper and more convenient than using liquid
30 Advancing Physics

helium. Ceramic materials are brittle, which is a problem. Once these new materials are formed into
the desired shape, many different applications are possible. For example, superconducting motors
can be made which consume very little power. Such motors could drive pumps and fans in power
stations, saving up to 5% of the power generated. These 'high-temperature superconductors' pose a
theoretical problem too. How do they conduct? It seems certain that Cooper pairs of electrons are
involved, but what is the mechanism that binds them together?
1. Kamerlingh Onnes used an ammeter and a voltmeter to measure the resistance of his sample of
mercury. He could not be sure that its resistance was exactly zero below 4.2 K. Why not?

2. Onnes' experiment with a solenoid and a compass showed that the compass needle remained
deflected by the magnetic field of the supercurrent for several days. Did this show that the
solenoid's resistance was zero?

3. Use the information below to calculate the number of atoms per cubic metre in copper:
density of copper = 8930 kg m3
molar mass of copper = 63.55 g mol1
Avogadro constant = 6.022 1023 atoms / mol

4. The concentration, n, of free electrons in copper is about 8.5 1028 m3. Compare this figure with
your answer to the previous question. Estimate the number of free electrons contributed by each
atom in copper.

5. Free electrons in copper have a typical randomly directed speed of 1.5 106 m s1. At room
temperature, they experience about 1014 collisions per second. Estimate the average distance an
electron travels between collisions.

6. At 4 K, the resistivity of pure copper is about 105 times smaller than at room temperature.
Estimate the average distance an electron travels between collisions at 4 K.

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7. In the circuit shown, the current supplied to the superconducting solenoid can be altered by
adjusting the variable resistor. What is the largest current which can be supplied. What is the
smallest current?

8. The superconducting switch has a resistance of 10 when it is magnetised and 0 when it is

not magnetised. In which position should switch B be set, if the superconducting switch is to be
open?

9. A current I = 5 A reaches point X in the circuit. How will it then flow, if the switch is closed? And if
switch B is open?

How resistivity changes with temperature

Question 140D: Data Handling
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers | Key Skills

Quick Help

Background
Metals and semiconductors both conduct electricity. As the temperature changes, their resistivities
change, but in very different ways.
This question includes two graphs for you to interpret, to help you to understand and explain the
difference between metals and semiconductors.
Resistivitytemperature graphs

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35
30
25
Pt
Al
Au
Cu
Ag

20
15
10
5
0
0

200

400
600
Temperature / K

800

1000

This graph shows how the resistivities of five different metals depend on temperature.
For platinum, many measurements were made, and the results are shown as a continuous curve. For
the other four metals, measurements were made only at a few temperatures and the lines are drawn
to connect data points.
1. Which of the metals shown has the lowest resistivity?

2. From the graph, find the resistivity of platinum at a temperature of 800 K.

3. Describe in words how the resistivity of platinum changes as the temperature increases.

4. How do the resistivities of the other metals change as the temperature changes?

5. Lines have been drawn to connect the data points for four of the metals. Do you think that this
gives a reasonable picture of how their resistivities change as the temperature increases?

6. Some resistance thermometers are made using a coil of platinum wire. As the temperature of the
wire increases, its resistance increases. Measuring the resistance can then give a measure of the
temperature. Use the graph to explain how such a resistance thermometer can be used over a
wide range of temperatures, and why platinum is a better metal for this purpose than gold or
silver.

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106
104

Silicon (calculated)

102
100
102
104
Platinum

106
108
0

200

400
600
Temperature / K

800

1000

This graph shows how the resistivity of silicon, a semiconductor, changes as the temperature
increases. The values have been calculated using information about the properties of silicon.
Also included are the data for platinum; these are the same data used in the first graph.
7. Look at the resistivity scale on this graph. How does it differ from the scale used in the first
graph? Why is this type of scale used here?

8. At 300 K, the resistivity of platinum is about 107 m. What is the resistivity of silicon at this
temperature? By how many orders of magnitude do the two resistivities differ?

9. Describe in words what the graph tells you about how the resistivity of silicon changes as the
temperature increases. How does this compare with the behaviour of platinum?

10. Use the idea of free (conduction) electrons to explain why these two materials behave in such
different ways.

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Questions on metals
Question 70X: ExplanationExposition
Quick Help

Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Answers

Getting started
These questions are intended to help you think about the relationships between the microstructure of
materials and their macroscopic properties. To deal with real-life problems, you need a good grasp of
basic concepts. So the questions begin with some simple reminders of terms and go on to help you
revise ideas of microstructure. It is important to understand how metallurgists can modify these
structures; some questions deal with this too.
Questions
1. Describe the behaviour of a material which is
stiff but not strong, and another which is
hard but not tough.

2. Look at the picture of a ball-bearing analogue. Identify each of the defects that are labelled on the
picture.

Open the JPEG file

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3. A student bends a straight bar of copper into a u-shape. He is then unable to bend it straight
again. Explain why this happens (the answer is not that he has tired himself out!)

4. What would you do to a sample of metal in order to (i) anneal it, (ii) quench it? What change to
the properties of the material would you expect as a result of each treatment? How does the
microstructure of the material change as a result of each treatment?

Use the image above of a model of a grain boundary, a dislocation and a vacancy. It also appears in
Display Material 150S 'Making models of metals'.
5. For each defect, estimate how much it distorts (stresses) the atomic structure around it. A
measure of the distortion might be how far (in atomic diameters) you have to move from the
defect before its effect on the position of the nearby atoms becomes negligible.

Cadmium can be grown as a single crystal in the shape of a thin cylinder. When pulled in tension,
steps appear on the surface.

6. Explain in terms of dislocation movement how these steps might have formed. Estimate how
many dislocations will need to move to form a step 0.1 mm high.

7. How does the addition of carbon to pure iron lead to a harder material? Explain the microscopic
effects that occur to harden the material.

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Ductile materials 'neck' down when they are deformed in tension. You may well have seen this
happen in the laboratory (the figure shows the sequence of failure).

voids (inside)

concave surface
convex surface

Eventually the material fails in a 'cup-and-cone' fracture. Scanning electron micrographs show that
small cavities (usually referred to as 'voids') are forming in the region of the fracture.
8. Suggest some reasons why these voids might form.

9. Why does the specimen only neck down in one place?

The graph shows the force-extension curves for two steel wires with identical shapes; one steel has a
high carbon content, the other is a mild steel with small amounts of carbon.

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extension

10. Which wire is stronger?

11. Which wire is tougher?

12. Which is the mild steel specimen?

13. Account for the difference in mechanical properties of the steels, paying particular attention to the
amount of carbon and to the way in which this will modify the behaviour of the steel at the
microscopic level.

Conductivity
Question 170X: ExplanationExposition
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Hints | Answers

Quick Help

1. Pure copper has a high conductivity. Copper is alloyed with tin to form bronze. How do you
expect the conductivity of bronze will compare with that of copper? Explain.

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2. Gold is often used for the electrical connections on circuit boards. Name two properties make it
suitable for this purpose.

3. Sketch diagrams to show how a series of electrons hopping into vacancies in a semiconducting
material can give the appearance of a single vacancy or 'hole' moving in the opposite direction.

Thermistors and light-dependent resistors (LDRs) are both semiconductor devices whose conductivity
depends on their physical conditions.
4. Describe how a thermistor behaves, and explain what is happening inside the material.

5. Do the same as question 4, but for an LDR.

Biological tissues
Reading 10T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

All the materials making up your body are made up of cells. There are many different types of cell.
They group together to form the tissues and complex organs which make up the body. It is the
different properties of these cell types, and the way in which they are arranged, which give the tissues
and organs their unique properties: for example, the strength of bone, the strength and elasticity of
muscles, and the elasticity of skin.
A tissue is the name given to a group of cells (which are usually all similar or at least of only a few
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types) and the substance which surrounds them. Together, the cells and the intercellular substance
perform a particular function. Bone, tendon and skin are examples of tissues. The study of tissues is
called histology.
Tissues can be identified by looking at sections under the light microscope.
Bone

Open the JPEG file

Source

Cartilage and bone are the main supportive tissues in vertebrates. They are types of 'connective'
tissues which are distinguished by the presence of a small number of different cells in a large quantity
of intercellular material. Bone contains calcium which gives it its great strength.
This is a section through a developing long bone. Can you see the nuclei in some of the individual
cells?
Tendon

Open the JPEG file

Source

Tendons are cords of tough, fibrous connective tissues which attach muscles to bones and so
transmit the muscles' pull to the bones. They need to be very strong and also elastic.
This is a section through a tendon. You can see that it consists of a group of parallel fibres. What
features of this tissue do you think might contribute to its strength and elasticity?
Artery

Open the JPEG file

Source

A blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the tissues is called an artery. Arteries need to
have thick, elastic, muscular walls because they carry blood at high pressure.
This image shows the cross section through an artery. You should note the thick walls of muscle
tissue and the blood cells inside the vessel.
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The pressure of the blood in veins is much lower than that in arteries. What differences do you think
you would see between this cross section and the section through a typical vein?
Skin

Open the JPEG file

Source

In mammals, most heat exchange occurs through the skin, and it plays an important role in
temperature control.
The skin consists of separate layers of different tissues. The top layer is called the 'epidermis', and
the middle layer the 'dermis'. The lowest layer consists of subcutaneous fat (adipose tissue). The top
layers of the epidermis consist of dead cells.
This image shows a cross section through thin human skin. Try to identify the three layers. Note that
the adipose tissue layer is the only one where individual cells will be clearly visible.

Physics in Use:
Presentation on materials briefing for students
Reading 20T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes

Quick Help

The task
In this unit, we hope you will take a deeper interest in some of the wide range of materials people
have either discovered or invented, and used. It is no exaggeration to say the material world
profoundly influences our civilisation and so our lives.
We have designed the course so that you gain the background knowledge to:
1. Research one material of your choice.
2. Make a presentation about it.
There are many novel materials, but you could also look at a traditional or historical material. Working
intensively, the total time you spend on this task should be in the range of three to five hours.
You are expected to:
1. Show the relationships between the bulk properties of the material and its use.
2. Set your material in a context.
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This forms one of two coursework tasks for the AS course.

The criteria for assessment are given in the OCR Specification.
First you need to select a topic and use a number of resources to do your research (magazines,
textbooks, websites, papers etc). The 'starters' provided may give you an idea or you may already
have your own. Research takes time, particularly if you have to write off for some information. You
must begin this early. It is important you keep a record of where you found a piece of information.
Next you need actually to digest and interpret and understand the information. It is not enough simply
to collect it. The skill of research is to accumulate information and then organise it to tell the story you
want to tell. In doing this you need to bear in mind your audience, which is your fellow students. If you
can't understand it, it is most unlikely your 'explanation' will help them.
That leads you on to think of the third aspect, the presentation itself. You will need to choose how to
present your research. Thinking about your presentation will force you to order your material and
understand what is really important.
Finally, for this presentation you are asked to set the material you have chosen in a wider context. It
would be easy to report only on the technical details of a material. Physics needs to connect with the
real world, so you are asked to inform your audience about the connection between your material and
the real world. This may be an example of its aesthetic, social, historical, political or economic impact,
either locally, nationally, globally or on a much more human scale, closer to home.

Biomimetics
Reading 30T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet will get you started on a case study of biomimetics. It contains a brief
introduction, which explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study, followed by a list of resources
which will point you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section; these could help you focus your
thinking on this topic.
Why study nature?
Long before humans had mastered even the most elementary materials (such as stone) or the
simplest of engineering principles (such as the wheel), nature had evolved thousands of elegant and
intelligent solutions to the problems of everyday life. Think of traps like a spider's web, the economic
packaging of leaves and petals in a bud, the strength of wood and the toughness of mother-of-pearl
which lines the shells of molluscs. Rather late in the day, humans have realised that they might be
able to turn nature's material science to their own advantage. Modern analytical methods are
revealing the inner structures of biological materials, while a study of natural design principles may be
applied to human engineering problems. This new science is called biomimetics and it is 21st-century
science, ready to take its place alongside polymer science and metallurgy in offering us advanced
materials and design solutions to a wide range of problems.

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Resources to use
The following references will be useful:
Papers
These background papers explain the principles of biomimetics and give some examples of the
science in practice:
Vincent J 1996 Tricks of nature New Scientist (17 August) 3840 (written by one of the world's
leading experts in biomimetics)
Reading 20T 'Materials from Nature'
There are several short features on biological materials in New Scientist, but they will not be indexed
under biomimetics; look for the material itself, for example wood, bone.

Books
Amato I 1997 Stuff: the Materials the World is Made Of (Avon Books). Pages 15770
This contains a discussion on biomimetic materials covering their history, some of the pros and cons,
and a detailed description of the structures of several biological materials such as nut and mollusc
shells, along with an indication of their present and future applications.
Ball P 1997 Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century (Princeton University Press).
Chapter 4 contains a lengthy and detailed discussion on biological materials, including a section on
spider silk, wood, mother-of-pearl and bone. There is a short section on biomimetics too, but this
deals mainly with design principles rather than materials. Check the bibliography which contains
many extra useful references.
Working with Materials: Wood, Metal, Plastic 1996 Collins Real World Technology (Collins
Educational).
All you need to know about wood, its properties and applications!
Lewington A 1990 Plants for People (Natural History Museum Publications).
Lots of information about the origins and applications of plant materials such as cotton, silk and wood.
Vincent J F V 1990 Structural Biomaterials (Princeton University Press).
Technical, but good for looking up facts and figures.

Getting started:
Questions to think about
1. What are the main differences in structure between biological materials and metals?
2. Is biomimetics all about copying nature?
3. Could biomimetics ever become as big as the plastics industry?
4. Wood is a very abundant material on the planet. Can we find new uses for it? What could it
replace?
5. What other biological materials have untapped potential? Could they find new applications in their
present form or would it be better just to use the concept and create a new material from it?
Can you find examples of each?
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Introduction to proteins
Reading 40T: Text to Read
Quick Help

Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Proteins are essential components of all living things. They have a wide variety of biological functions,
including transport (e.g. haemoglobin), nutrition (e.g. digestive enzymes such as trypsin) and support
(e.g. the muscle protein myosin and collagen).
These substances are all very different, but they are all built up in the same way. Proteins are large
molecules which are built up as long chains of 'building blocks' called amino acids. Twenty different
types of amino acids are found naturally in proteins. The sequence of amino acids in a particular
protein chain determines the shape and function of that protein. An enormous number of proteins can
be built up from these 20 units. This is like building up thousands of words from the 26 letters of the
alphabet but some proteins are many thousands of units long!
Protein crystal

Open the JPEG file

Source

Proteins are very small far too small for their detailed structure to be visible even using the most
powerful electron microscopes. Scientists use the technique of x-ray diffraction to calculate the
structures of proteins from the way in which x-rays are scattered by the arrangement of atoms in a
crystal. We now know the structures of thousands of different proteins.
This is a picture of a protein crystal, as seen down an ordinary light microscope. Although proteins
are complicated molecules, their crystals usually have simple shapes, and look rather like crystals
which can be grown from common substances like salt.
Diffraction pattern
When a beam of x-rays is shone at a protein crystal, different regular layers of atoms 'reflect' the
x-rays. This produces beams of x-rays which 'scattered' in different directions. The scattered x-rays
are more intense in some directions than others, so they form patterns which look like this:

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Open the JPEG file

Source

The pattern of atoms making up the protein the protein structure can be reconstructed from this
pattern using powerful computers.
Ferritin
The structures of small proteins can be easiest to understand. Ferritin is a small protein which is built
up from about 180 amino acids. It is found in mammals, including humans; it is involved in storing iron
in a soluble, non-toxic form so that it can be transported easily and safely around the body.
The structure of ferritin, or of any protein, can be represented in several different ways. Each of these
display styles shows something different about the protein's shape or function.
'Wireframe' model

Open the JPEG file

In this picture the bonds between atoms are shown as 'sticks'. You can't see the atoms at all, but you
can tell where they are as there is an atom at each end of each bond. The bonds are colour-coded by
the element type: Carbon atoms are grey, oxygen atoms are red and nitrogen atoms are blue.
Hydrogen atoms are not shown in this structure this is quite common. There is therefore only one
other element shown here sulphur. Can you guess, without looking at the structure, what colour is
used to represent sulphur? Were you right?
What do you think that this style of displaying molecules is most useful for? (Hint: think about scaling
up the molecule so that you can see it in more detail.)
'Ball-and-stick' model

Open the JPEG file

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This is very similar to the 'stick' model but the position of each atom is also shown as a 'ball'. The
radius of each colour of ball is proportional to the size of an atom of each element.
This style is commonly used in plastic models of atoms and molecules.
'Spacefilling' model

Open the JPEG file

If you could shrink yourself down to atomic size, you would not see the bonds between atoms at all.
Instead, you might see atoms as very roughly spherical 'clouds' of electrons surrounding the tiny
nuclei. The 'spacefilling' model shown here is therefore the most 'realistic'. Again, each atom is shown
as a sphere, but the spheres are larger and the bonds are not visible.
Is it easy to see the structure of the molecule?
'Cartoon' model

Open the JPEG file

None of the styles you have seen already is very good at showing the way that a protein chain folds.
This protein consists of four long coils called 'helices', and one shorter coil, all joined by loops. Go
back to the other representations. Can you see the chain, even knowing roughly what it should look
like?
People have developed 'cartoon' representations of proteins to illustrate the path of the protein chain.
This is still ferritin; it's now very easy to see the helices and loops. Each helix is coloured separately.
Schematic diagram of fold

Open the JPEG file

Source

Sometimes it is useful to look at the protein as a two-dimensional 'schematic' illustration. This is a

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two-dimensional schematic picture of ferritin, with the helices shown in the same colours. The chain
starts at the 'bottom' of the blue helix (blue arrow) and ends at the 'top' of the red helix. Can you see
the long loop between the green and yellow helices in the three-dimensional cartoon?
You should always remember that although this is a very useful way of looking at protein structure, it
is totally unrealistic. Real proteins don't look at all like these cartoons!

Hip replacements
Reading 50T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet will get you started on a case study of hip replacements. It contains a brief
introduction, which explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study, followed by a list of resources
which will point you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section; these should help you focus your
thinking on this topic.
Bone repair:
Materials science to the rescue
Bone serves us superbly as a scaffolding material which supports and protects our bodies. However,
like other biological materials, it changes as we age (think of skin) because of biological and
mechanical wear and tear. The joints, the places where bones meet, are especially vulnerable in this
respect and damaged joints greatly impair mobility as well as being extremely painful. Fortunately a
damaged joint can be replaced by a prosthesis (the general term for an artificial body part). The hip
joint is actually the most common prosthesis, with around 40 000 hip replacement operations being
performed each year in the UK (and half a million world-wide). Replacements of the knee, shoulder
and finger joints are also fairly common operations.
Joint replacements have a high success rate and it used to be that the prosthesis would last a person
for the rest of his or her life. However, as the population ages, and as more prostheses are given to
younger people, more prostheses are failing (their average lifetime is only 1015 years). Up to 20% of
all joint replacement operations (costing around 5000) are repeats. It is not the material of the
prosthesis itself which fails more that the joint works loose because of the way the body responds to
the material (in a nutshell, the prosthesis weakens the surrounding bone). Here is a marvellous
opportunity for materials scientists to save the NHS money and to give people a better quality of life
by searching for better materials for hip replacements. The researchers are already making good
progress. Bone replacement materials (which could one day be used in joint replacements) are
already being tested in people, to repair bone damage in the skull, jaw, ear and spine.
Resources to use
The following references should be useful:
Papers
Bonfield W and Tanner E 1997 Biomaterials a new generation Materials World (January) 1820
Professor Bonfield is one the leading experts in bone replacement materials his description of his
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work on Hapex, a composite bone mimic, is well worth reading. He also discusses materials currently
used in hip replacement.
Pengelly A 1998 Implanting wisdom Materials World (December) 75860
A materials scientist describes, from his own experience, what it is like to have a hip replacement,
discusses the problems and suggests some solutions.
Peppas N A and Langer R 1994 New challenges in biomaterials Science 263
A more technical report which gives an overview of the whole field of biomaterials. You may like to
include some of these ideas and examples in your case study.

Books
Ball P 1997 Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century (Princeton University Press)
(chapter 5 Spare parts, structural repairs) pp 2216
A good introduction to the topic, and an overview of some of the new materials which are being
developed for bone repair.
Callister W D Jr 1997 Materials Science and Engineering: an Introduction (Wiley) (chapter 23 section
6 Artificial total hip replacement) pp 7328
Although this is a university textbook, don't be put off, because this section contains all the facts you
need about the materials currently used in hip replacements, as well as describing the requirements
needed in materials to be used in the body.
Revise/learn some not too complex biology about bone and joints (any textbook of biology, anatomy
or physiology).
Visits
Find out what your local hospital is doing in the area of joint replacement (check with your teacher
first to see how best to approach them). You may be able to chat to an orthopaedic surgeon, find out
how many operations are done, see the prostheses and find out more about costs and generally find
out how this aspect of materials science is benefiting your own community.
Getting started:
Questions to think about
1. What are some of the reasons for people needing hip and other bone replacements?
2. What are the properties of bone that bone replacement materials need to mimic? How far can
they do so?
3. What properties would you expect of a material that is to remain in the human body for several
years (or even for life)?
4. Describe the properties (give figures, if you can) of the materials used in hip replacements (note:
these include metals, ceramics and plastics).
5. Describe some of the new materials being developed for bone replacement, giving their expected
advantage over current materials.
6. What are the benefits for individuals and for society as a whole in developing new bone
replacement materials?
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Contact lenses
Reading 60T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet will get you started on a case study of contact lenses. It contains a brief
introduction, which explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study, followed by a list of resources
which will point you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section; these should help you focus your
thinking on this topic.
Materials to see through:
A century of contact lenses
Contact lenses are an excellent example of how materials to suit a particular purpose have evolved
over time. Having spectacles made of glass is one thing (and now even these are made of plastic) but
imagine putting a piece of glass onto the surface of your eye in order to see better. Yet the first
contact lenses, made in 1887, were actually made of glass, because there were no other suitable
materials available. It was only with the discovery of plastics, from the 1930s, that the use of contact
lenses became widespread.
Today, they are made from a variety of transparent polymers, and there are several different types of
lenses from soft lenses which last for many months and lenses you can sleep in, to daily disposable
ones and even tinted lenses that change the colour of your eyes. In short, the contact lens wearer
has never had so much choice, thanks to advances in materials science.
The main classes of contact lens materials are listed below:
1. Hard contact lenses (not much worn now) are made from polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)
commonly known as Perspex. This is a transparent, rigid plastic which does not allow oxygen to
pass through it.
2. Soft contact lenses (long-term and disposable) are made from a class of polymers known as
hydrogels. Most of them are based upon a polymer called hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA)
which contains hydroxyl (OH) side chains. These attract water molecules, forming a hydrogel
material which is part way between a solid and a liquid. Hydrogels are very flexible, and mould
easily to the contours of the eye. They also allow some oxygen through, which is essential to the
health of the eye. They contain between 35 and 80% water.
3. Several types of polymer containing silicon have been tried for rigid gas-permeable lenses that,
because they allow oxygen through, are suitable for extended wear. Silicone rubber lenses, for
instance, offer no barrier to oxygen. However, most of the silicon-containing polymers are very
hydrophobic (in contrast to the hydrogels which are hydrophilic), which makes them
fundamentally incompatible with the eye. There has been more success with gas-permeable
lenses made of polymers containing fluorine side chains.
We require a great deal from a material to be used in contact lenses, and none of the examples
above quite fits the bill which is why the search for new and improved materials continues.
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Resources to use
Revise, or read up on, the optics of the eye and disorders of refraction such as short-sightedness
(myopia) in a biology textbook (or ask a friend doing biology to explain this to you) so you can relate
this to the job contact lenses do.
If you wear glasses or contact lenses yourself, you could interview your optician (or write with a list of
questions) to find out more about who wears which kinds of lenses and the factors involved in
prescribing them.
Getting started:
Questions to think about
1. What properties must a contact lens material possess (go beyond material properties for this
one).
2. List the advantages and disadvantages of contact lenses compared with spectacles.
3. Which is the better type of material for contact lenses hydrophobic or hydrophilic? Why? If you
don't understand these words, look them up.
4. What types of visual defect can contact lenses correct? (illustrate with graphics).
5. List the advantages and disadvantages of (a) hard contact lenses, (b) daily disposables and (c)
extended-wear lenses.

Metal alloys:
Then and now
Reading 70T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet is intended to help you get started on a case study that looks at our
manipulation of metals to produce predictable and desired properties. There is a brief introduction
that explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study and there are resources that will point you in the
direction of the information you need.
A history of metallurgy
The extraordinary rise of Homo sapiens over the past few thousand years goes hand in hand with the
mastery the species has attained over materials. From the first stone knives and axes to today's
complex and tailor-made artefacts, our species has manipulated the raw materials of the planet and
transformed them to match our own needs.
In this case study you might choose to look at the broad history of metallurgy, at a specific material of
importance in past times, or one that is important now.
The history of western European metallurgy goes something like:
Stone Age (up to 4500 BP) (BP means 'years before the present')
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Bronze Age (about 4500 to 2500 BP)

Iron Age (from about 2500 BP)
Steel Age (200 BP)
Plastics Age (50100 BP)
Superalloys Age (the one we are in!)

You could take a broad historical look at all the developments represented in this list.
Ask yourself questions about the materials and their fabrication and about the way that they came into
use. Why did we begin to use one material more than another? What made us change from one
material to another? Was it some change in the needs of the people of the time? Or did some
development enable a difficult material to be worked easily? Are there any parallels between the use
of materials and the arts and sciences of the time? What about the architecture, what were bridges
and buildings constructed from? How did the materials affect the lives of the wealthy or of ordinary
people? Did nomads use different materials from town dwellers?
Alternatively, you could consider just one material in more detail. Here are three lists of questions for
you relating to three of the materials: bronze, steel and the superalloys being developed today.
Bronze
What is bronze? How was it made? To what uses was it put? Is bronze used today? Was it, during
the Bronze Age, a common material or was it confined to the rich people? What are the tensile
properties of bronze? How do these reflect the uses to which it was put? In what ways did it change
people's lives?
Steel
Steel is another material that has been of great importance in our historical development. What is its
history? Has it always been used the way it is today? What are pig iron, wrought iron, steel? Which
important scientists and engineers contributed to its history? Have all cultures used steel in the way
we do in the West?
Superalloys
If you have access to Ivan Amato's book (see Resources to use) read chapter 7. He gives three
detailed examples of superalloys: the steel alloy used for fuel pump bearings in the Space Shuttle
(this pump operates in probably one of the most hostile environments in the world), the development
of a lighter but stronger metal for gears, and self-sealing steels that 'repair' themselves.
Choose one of these examples and try to amplify what Amato covers. What are the requirements for
a bearing steel or a gear? What are the metals with a memory that he describes? What other uses
might these metals have?
Consider the Olson diagrams he describes. Try to understand how modern materials scientists are
more predictive about their new materials than people were able to be 50 or 100 years ago. What are
the reasons for this? (And if you want some light relief, look at the Olson diagram for ice cream and
try to find out something about how it is made in the kitchen and commercially!)
Resources to use
There are some large questions in this case study. You can find many books on the history of science
and engineering that give accounts of the history of materials, including detailed descriptions of
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processes.
Alexander W and Street A Metals in the Service of Man (Penguin)
Amato I 1997 Stuff: the Materials the World is Made Of (Avon Books)
Bronowski J 1973 The Ascent of Man (BBC Books)
Derry T K and Williams T I 1960 A Short History of Technology (Oxford University Press)
Gordon J E 1968 The New Science of Strong Materials, or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor
(Penguin)
Gordon J E 1978 Structures, or Why Things Don't Fall Down (Penguin)
All these books will take you on into other texts and convey to you the wonderful story of metals
technologies.

Cakes, confectionery and chocolate

Reading 80T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms | Resources

Quick Help

This information sheet will get you started on a case study of chocolate and related foodstuffs. It
contains a brief introduction, which explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study, followed by a list
of resources which will point you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section; these should help you focus your
thinking on this topic.
Fats, sugar and a large measure of materials science
Whatever your view on the nutritional value of chocolate, sweets, cakes and biscuits, they are all
fascinating to study from a materials point of view. The main component of chocolate, for example, is
cocoa butter a fat which is extracted from the cocoa bean. Unlike other natural fats, cocoa butter is
remarkably uniform in its composition and has a sharp melting point of 34 C (just below body
temperature). These simple physical facts underpin the whole of the chocolate industry; chocolate is
either solid or liquid with no in-between stages (compare butter) and it melts in the mouth, giving a
pleasing cooling effect that adds to the taste sensation.
Sweets are based on sugar, and food scientists can produce a wide range of different textures and
mechanical properties in confectionery just by controlling the size of the sugar crystals as a product is
manufactured (not unlike the manufacture of different steels, in fact). And we should also mention
ice-cream an impressive material made from just fat, sugar and air. Biscuits and cakes rely on the
action of heat to create interesting materials from simple ingredients flour, sugar and eggs.
Many food materials are composites (and manufacturers are dreaming up new concoctions all the
time). Whatever the latest recipe or process, though, it must produce a material with a tensile strength
that gives a pleasing texture in the mouth. We expect our food to break down into pieces as we chew
but how it does this is important, for it must release its flavour at a rate compatible with our rate of
chewing otherwise the experience would be distinctly unpleasant. These are the kinds of questions
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that material scientists specialising in food are currently researching.

Resources to use
McGee H 1997 On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen (Collier Books). This book
contains all you need to know about the history and science of chocolate, ice cream, confectionery
and baked goods see chapters 1, 6 and 8.
Getting started:
Questions to think about
1. Can you describe, say, ten confectionery, cake or biscuit products that could be classed as
composite materials and give their main components?
2. What are the mechanical properties of a chocolate bar?
3. Find out how one particular product in this category is manufactured from its raw materials.
4. How big is the chocolate / confectionery / biscuits and cakes industry in the UK?
5. Why do we find these foods appealing? What aspects of material properties are involved?
6. Dream up a new type of chocolate bar or sweet, based on what you have learned about the basic
ingredients and the kind of materials they can form when processed together then make a sales
pitch to your company outlining the materials science involved.

Environmentally friendly plastics

Reading 90T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet will get you started on a case study of how plastics which are easier to dispose
of are being developed, and why this is important for the environment. It contains a brief introduction,
which explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study, followed by a list of resources which will point
you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section; these should help you focus your
thinking on this topic.
Reducing waste with new polymer materials
The properties that make plastics such excellent materials for so many applications are their downfall
when it comes to their disposal. They are physically and chemically inert, which means they withstand
corrosion and wear during their lifetime. But when it comes to throwing them away, they linger for
many years, taking up valuable space in landfill sites and generally having a negative effect on the
environment. In Europe, over 7% by mass of household waste is composed of plastics. But the
volume taken up in landfill dumping by plastic packaging and related products is larger than this,
because plastics have low density (another of their apparently desirable material properties).
Over the last 20 years or so, materials scientists have become more environmentally aware, and tend
to think in terms of a 'cradle to grave' (lifetime cycle) analysis of their products. This means that
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disposal of a material becomes a vital part of the cost/benefit equation. With any material there are
three main disposal options: landfill (dumping), incineration (burning) or recycling. For plastics, the
latter two options have not, to date, proved to be particularly economic or practical.
That is why there have been developments in creating polymers which degrade more easily once
they are disposed of in landfill. There are four basic categories of these new materials, which are
listed below:
1. Biodegradable polymers, like Biopol; these are made by bacteria and can easily be broken down
(by bacteria) in the environment, because of their chemical structure.
2. Photodegradable polymers. These are synthetic materials with chemical bonds which are broken
by sunlight, rendering the polymer chain more accessible to degrading bacteria in the soil where
the material is dumped.
3. Synthetic biodegradable plastics. Like Biopol, in principle, these have starch granules embedded
in polymer chains. This means that bacteria degrade the material into tiny particles which are, in
turn, more easily broken down.
4. Water-soluble plastics. These contain hydoxyl groups, which are water soluble.
Resources to use
Callister W D Jr 1997 Materials Science and Engineering: an Introduction 4th edn (Wiley) chapter 24
A university textbook, but don't be put off; chapter 24 is all about environmental considerations and
the use of materials. It is a fairly easy read and will give you all the background you need for this case
study.
Emsley J 1994 The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide (W H Freeman)
Emsley J 1998 Molecules at an Exhibition (W H Freeman)
Two chemistry books with plenty of useful material on plastics manufacture and disposal.

Getting started:
Things to think about
1. What is meant by the term biodegradable?
2. What types of plastics can be incinerated or recycled?
3. Why are biodegradable polymers expensive?
4. Describe the recycling symbols given on the labels of plastic products.
5. What are the facts and figures for plastics waste in the UK? World-wide?
6. Is plastics waste worse for the environment than metal or glass waste?

Disaster!
Titanic and Challenger
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Reading 100T: Text to Read

Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet is intended to help you get started researching a case where a material has
failed with disastrous consequences either the sinking of the Titanic or the destruction of the Space
Shuttle Challenger . There is a brief introduction that explains why each topic may be interesting to
study, followed by a listing of resources to point you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section of each topic; these could help you
focus your thinking.
Titanic
On 15 April 1912, during its maiden voyage, the White Star Line's Titanic sank with the loss of 1500
lives. This disaster has gripped the public imagination ever since, and there are many questions
surrounding the tragedy. There have been suggestions that the ship was incomplete when it sailed
and that there were poor decisions about the construction and design of the vessel. You could focus
on two aspects of the incident: either the ship itself or the properties of the iceberg that caused its
destruction.
The ship
Ships are made of steel; the plates are riveted together to make a hull which is (more or less)
watertight. In the Titanic complete sections of the hull and the structure were designed so that they
could be isolated from each other to prevent seawater in one section from spreading throughout the
ship. This design failed because the water was able to move over the top of the watertight sections.
But there have also been questions about the quality of the steel used in the hull its metallurgy.
Materials science in the 1910s was less advanced than it is today and you will be able to find articles
that discuss some of the conclusions reached following the sampling of steel taken from the hull
during recent salvage work.
There are a wide variety of articles that refer to the Titanic disaster in both printed and electronic form.
This interest has been re-kindled following the making of an epic film on the subject during the late
1990s.
1. What recent evidence is there about the metallurgy of the ship's hull? There have been
underwater examinations of the fracture itself and chemical analyses of damaged metal removed
from the wreck.
2. What does this evidence show?
3. How would metallurgists treat the problem of designing the material for the hull today? What
solutions might they develop?
The ice
The ice tore a huge hole in the side of the ship, which on the face of it is surprising for we tend to
think of ice as a weak, plastic, rather slippery material. This is wrong. Ice especially ice below the
melting point can be a strong and resilient substance. During the Second World War there was
even a proposal to construct an aircraft carrier from a composite of ice and wood pulp.
An Atlantic iceberg consists of old ice. Most icebergs calve from the ice pack and then move into the
region between northern Canada and Greenland. As many as seven years can elapse before the
berg moves south and into the shipping lanes. During this time the ice will recrystallise and change its
mechanical properties as it does so. But this time span is as nothing compared to the age of the ice
crystals which originally fell on Greenland to make the iceberg. This snow could have fallen in 1000
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BC and be calving from the edge of the ice sheet today.

You could develop a case study that investigates the mechanical properties of ice either in its pure
form or as berg ice. You might begin with the book The Physics of Glaciers by W S B Paterson
(Pergamon Press), available in a number of editions.
1. What processes occur in the ice during the long interval between snowfall and iceberg calving?
2. How does the grain shape and the grain size change in the ice (i) before it leaves the ice sheet,
(ii) once it has entered the sea?
3. What are the mechanical properties of the ice?
4. How do the mechanical properties of the iceberg and the steel of the Titanic's hull compare?
Challenger
In 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed in an explosion shortly after take-off. This
tragedy stunned the world and halted space flights by NASA for a significant time. A subsequent
board of enquiry found that the probable cause of the accident was faulty O-rings in the fuel tanks.
The story of the discovery of the problem is an interesting one and features one of the great
twentieth-century physicists, Richard Feynman. In a famous televised session he demonstrated the
problem with the O-rings to his fellow committee and a huge television audience using some simple
but effective apparatus. He wrote about this in his book (1989), What Do You Care What Other
People Think? (Bantam Books). You may also find it interesting to scan the New Scientist CD-ROM if
you can obtain access to it (New Scientist 5 August 1995). Finally, there is a 20 minute sequence
introducing the problem in a video package produced for schools in the Teaching Pack of
Experiments in Materials Science published by the Institute of Materials. You may wish to use part of
this video to illustrate an oral presentation.
1. What was the problem with the O-ring material? How was the problem cured?
2. Could you, in your presentation, demonstrate the O-ring problem in a similar way to Richard
Feynman? (Hint: the temperature difference between the compartment of a domestic freezer and
boiling water is about 120 C.)
3. Were there other problems relating to the decision-making process at NASA?
4. Have there been further O-ring failures in the space programme?

Paper versus plastic

Reading 110T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet will get you started on a case study of how to assess the overall cost/benefit
ratio of two different materials paper and polystyrene as used for making a disposable coffee cup.
It contains a brief introduction, which explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study, followed by a list
of resources which will point you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section; these should help you focus your
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thinking on this topic.

Cradle to grave:
A full environmental audit
So far, you have looked at materials in use, appreciated how their properties match them to their job
and seen how designer materials have been created from insights into the structure of everyday
materials like materials, plastics and ceramics. But that is only part of the story. Increasingly, as
natural resources dwindle under the demands an increasing human population puts on them, it has
become necessary to consider materials in the context of their life cycle. Cradle to grave or life cycle
analysis means just what it says; the costs to society and the environment of the manufacture of a
material, and the corresponding costs of its disposal, are now seen as important as the cost/benefit
analysis of the material in use.
There is a tendency to assume that natural materials paper, wood and so on are always best, at
least when it comes to manufacturing and disposal costs. So you may be surprised that a life cycle
analysis of the costs and benefits of a paper cup compared to a polystyrene cup shows that the
plastic squares up better to the analysis than its common image may suggest. But the main lesson to
take away from this case study is that such comparisons are complex and you can rarely give a
clear-cut decision on which material is best.
The important thing, however, is to put materials into this broad context considering their whole life
cycle so that we can, in the future, make wise choices of materials that will benefit both the
increasing human population and the global environment.
Resources to use
Here are some references which you may find useful:
Papers
Hocking M B 1991 Paper versus polystyrene: a complex choice Science 251 5045.
This is the major resource for this case study; although the figures are a little out of date, it is an
excellent example of how to analyse the various factors in a life cycle assessment of two materials for
comparison. Although Science is an academic journal, you should not have much difficulty in
grasping Hocking's arguments.
Emsley J 1991 Degradable plastics. Inside Science New Scientist (19 October).
This paper, designed for A-level students, puts Hocking's analysis into context.

Books
Callister W D Jr 1997 Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction 4th edn chapter 24.
A readable and up-to-date introduction to the ideas of life cycle analysis and environmental audit.
Emsley J 1994 The Consumer's Good Chemical Guide (W H Freeman) chapter 6.
All about the environmental impact of plastics.

Getting started:
Questions to think about
1. What is meant by life cycle analysis?
2. What are the potential adverse environmental impacts of the main classes of materials: metals,
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polymers, glasses and ceramics?

3. Are natural materials always best?
4. Construct a flow chart showing the 'cradle to grave' analysis of a material of your choice.

Toughened glass
Reading 130T: Text to Read
Teaching Notes | Key Terms

Quick Help

This information sheet will get you started on a case study of toughened glass. It contains a brief
introduction, which explains why this is a worthwhile topic to study, followed by a list of resources
which will point you in the direction of the information you need.
Before you start work, study the questions in the final section; these could help you focus your
thinking on this topic.
Car windscreens
Most of us have seen the sobering aftermath of a serious accident shattered glass sometimes on
the road, but surprisingly often, still intact as a windscreen but now totally opaque. Car windscreens
would be very dangerous if they fractured like ordinary window-glass. So how are they treated to
make the glass more safe when broken?
The mechanical strength of glass is impaired by the presence, in the interior of a glass and on its
surface, of very small cracks (known as 'Griffith cracks'). These cracks may vary in size between 1
m and 1 nm. Their effect is to distort the stress pattern in a material, concentrating the stress in the
region round the tip of the crack. The cracks thus act as stress-raisers, and the local stress around
the crack can reach the theoretical fracture stress, while the general stress level is still well below the
breaking stress for the material.
Clearly, a crack can grow only when the region about it is in a state of tensile stress, so that the way
to stop the Griffith cracks growing is to ensure that the surface is maintained in a state of
compression. In thermal toughening, the glass is heated above the temperature at which it melts (its
transition temperature), and the surface is rapidly chilled.
Thermal toughening
In practice this involves rapid cooling as the final stage in the manufacture of the glass article. The
outside of the glass is cooled to room temperature by means of air jets, with the result that the surface
molecules have little time to rearrange themselves. The interior cools more slowly; the molecules
rearrange themselves so that more shrinkage occurs than in the outer layers. Consequently the
structure becomes denser from the surface inwards, and this means that whereas the outer layers
are in compression, the centre layers are in tension.
When such toughened glass does break, it shatters into small dice because the release of the high
stress energy goes to creates many new surfaces. These dice are not cubes but have the shape
shown in the diagram, where the influence of the compressive surface forces and tensile inner forces
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can be clearly distinguished.

centre plane of glass sheet

The deformation has the desirable effect of reducing the sharpness of the edges.
Glass cannot be further processed once it has been toughened in this way, since any disturbance of
the surface destroys the balance of stresses and causes the glass to shatter. The process of thermal
toughening is therefore particularly well-suited to the strengthening of flat glass, and of articles of
simple shapes, like car windscreens and tumblers. It is less applicable to complicated shapes
because stresses tend to build up at irregular points, and may cause the glass to shatter.
Air-cooled toughened glass cannot be made thinner than about 34 mm, because the surface
compressive stress is proportional to the temperature gradient created as the air jets play on the
surface. The gradient decreases with the thickness of the glass.
Chemical toughening
In this process, a finished glass product is placed in a fused salt containing alkali ions larger than the
alkali ions in the glass. The temperature is kept below the temperature at which the glass melts.
Some of the surface ions in the glass are then replaced by larger ions from the fused salt, and this
produces surface stresses which are retained on cooling to room temperature, to give the surface the
desired state of compression. Thus, if soda-lime-silica glass is placed in fused potassium nitrate, the
cooled glass is found to be considerably strengthened.
Resources to use
The following references could be consulted for further information:
Chown M 1995 Why do teardrops explode? New Scientist 145 (11 February)
British Glass Manufacturers Federation 1992 Making Glass 3rd edn
Getting started:
Questions to think about
1. Minor collisions often result in fragments of glass on the roadway and in car parks. This glass will
not puncture the tyres of your bicycle. Collect some samples and see whether the shape of the
fragments corresponds to that described in the text.
2. What exactly happens when a windscreen shatters? Consider this from a safety point of view.
3. Do some research on the composition of glass.
4. What other uses are there for toughened glass?
5. What are Prince Rupert's drops? New Scientist carried an article on this topic (see reference
above). Can you account for the behaviour of Prince Rupert's drops in terms of thermal
toughening?

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Revision Checklist
I can show my understanding of effects, ideas and relationships by
describing and explaining:
the evidence we have for the sizes of atoms and molecules
AZ references: electron microscopes and atomic microscopy
differences between the mechanical behaviour of different classes of materials - metals, glass
and ceramics, polymers, composites in terms of their structure and bonding, including effects
of dislocations and of crack propagation
AZ references: crystals, metals, ceramics, polymers, glass, composite material, cracks,
bonding
Summary diagrams: Cracks and stress, Stopping cracks, Fracture energy and tensile strength,
Shaping and slipping, Metals and metal alloys, Ceramics versus metals, Explaining stiffness and
elasticity
differences between the electrical behaviour of conductors, semi-conductors and insulators, in
terms of the number of free charge carriers
AZ references: electrical conductivity and resistivity
Summary Diagrams: Conduction by metals and semiconductors, Free electron model of metal,
Conduction in doped silicon

I can interpret:
images produced by SEM (scanning electron microscopy), STM (scanning tunnelling
microscopy), AFM (atomic force microscopy) and other images to obtain information about the
structure of materials
AZ references: electron microscopes and atomic microscopy
Summary Diagrams: Looking inside wood, Looking inside metals and ceramics, Looking inside
polymers, Looking inside glasses

I can calculate or make justified estimates of:

the size of a molecule or atom
interatomic forces using the value of the Young modulus (e.g. in steel)
AZ references: atom
Summary Diagrams: Explaining stiffness and elasticity, Fracture energy and tensile strength
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I can show an appreciation of the growth and use of scientific

knowledge by:
giving examples of how the properties of a material are linked to its structure and so affect its
use
AZ references: metals, ceramics, polymers, glass, composite material
Summary Diagrams: Cracks and stress, Stopping cracks, Fracture energy and tensile strength,
Shaping and slipping, Metals and metal alloys, Ceramics versus metals, Explaining stiffness and
elasticity

In giving a presentation I have shown that I can:

use resources to gather, analyse and communicate information about the properties and uses of
a material
e.g. textile fibres, building materials, designed materials, semiconductor materials

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