Notes

32 pages
colour illustrations.
Contents: What are materials? -- Types of materials -- Properties of materials -- Using the wrong materials -- Materials science -- Origin of matter -- Building blocks of matter -- Bonding makes materials -- Recycling materials -- Natural materials -- Man-made materials -- Life makes its own materials -- Shape and materials -- Materials used by animals -- Words about materials.
Summary: Find out why choosing the right material for a structure is an important job for engineers. Even in the kitchen at home, we need to choose a utensil made of the correct material for its purpose. We cannot store water in a paper bag, so we need to choose a waterproof container instead. When we make this choice, we are considering the different properties of materials, just as scientists do when they perform an experiment in their laboratory.
STEM is everywhere.