It's an advanced material world
Activities
Strange Matters, USA
Stuff for teachers – students investigate structure, properties, processing and performance aspects of material science.
Science Net Links, American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA
Materials and manufacturing – students identify the properties, limitations and durability of materials and their suitability for different purposes.
Recycled materials – students identify materials that can be recycled and possible uses for these materials.
Carbon: Structure matters – students explore the molecular structure of matter and how it can affect the physical characteristics of a material.
Polymers and people – students learn how advances in science depend on advances in technology and vice versa.
What do scientists do? – students report on scientific fields of research to appreciate the diversity of science.
Polymer Science Learning Center, University of Southern Mississippi, USA
Educational resources – provides links to a number of activities and demonstrations about polymers, including ‘Polymers that save lives’ and ‘As the ball bounces’.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, USA
Absorption and radiation – students investigate the effect of different colors, reflective surfaces and materials on radiant heat absorption and heat radiation.
Nanosense, USA
Size matters – provides an introduction to nanoscience, focusing on concepts related to size and scale, unusual properties of the nanoscale and example applications.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
A teacher's guide to superconductivity for high school students – students investigate the properties and uses for superconductors using demonstrations and experiments.
Science upd8, UK
Is it terminal for Telfon? – students evaluate evidence surrounding the use of the chemical PFOA and considers a range of viewpoints on the issue including their own.
Hard stuff – students learn how scientists made a super-hard material that is cheaper and better at cutting than diamond. You will need to register to access the activity, but it is free.
University of Cambridge, UK
Atomic scale structure of materials – provides an introduction to crystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous solids, and how the atomic-level structure affects the properties of a material.
Exploring the nanoworld, University of Wisconsin, USA
Memory metal – nickel-titanium is used to illustrate how novel properties can occur when alloys are created and how phase changes can occur between two solid phases.
Using shape memory metals in simple machines – students learn the connection between memory metal’s atomic structure and its physical characteristics, and identify how memory metal characteristics can be used to solve problems.
National Physics Laboratory, UK
Polymer stretching – this applet helps to visualise the changes going on within a polymer when it is stretched.
Semiconductor resistivity – this applet allows you to change temperature, substrate, and doping in a simulated semiconductor, and discover what difference these parameters can have on the conductivity of the material.
The bike: Bicycle frame design project – students choose suitable materials to make a bike frame.
Interviews with Australian Scientists, Australian Academy of Science
Transcript of an interview with physical chemist and materials scientist, Professor Frank Caruso. Includes teachers notes and activities.
Structures and materials, VicPhysics, Australia
Copper wire prac – students investigate the behaviour of copper wire under tensile stress.
Page updated August 2007.