Classwork (Research on materials and sustainability)

Assignment:


Check you SST email account for the template on proposed solution. Complete the template on proposed solution before proceeding with the following task.

In your environment group, research on materials and sustainability. Use the following questions as your guide

1. What are the different types of materials in the market? Classify the materials into wood, metal, plastics and others.
2. What are the properties of the different materials?
3. How do the different materials come about? What are their compositions?
4. Give examples of the use of each material.
5. What is sustainability?
7. What does it mean when we say that a product is sustainable? Give an example of a sustainable product and explain why the product is sustainably.
8. What does it mean by a sustainable environment? Give an example of a sustainable environment.
Note: Make sure that you cite the source of the information.
At the end of the lesson, post your group findings on the group's admt blog.

Materials and sustainability

1. The different types of materials in the market are:

• wood
• metal
• plastics
• nylon
• rubber
• ceramic
• cotton
• Wool

2.

- Wood is high in density, strong, flexible and can be hard or soft. 

• Metal is high in density, strong, hard and inflexible
• Plastics are high in density and strong. They can be hard or soft, flexible or inflexible.
• Nylon is high in density, strong, hard and inflexible.
• Rubber is high in density, strong, hard and can be flexible or inflexible
• Ceramic is high in density, strong, inflexible and can be hard or brittle.
• Cotton is high in density, strong, flexible and can be hard or soft.
• Wool is high in density, strong, flexible and soft.

3.

• Wood comes from trees
• Metal comes from the ground
• Plastics are man-made. They are made of Monomers, carbon, hydrogen and petrochemicals
• Nylon is a man-made material. They are made of linear polyamides.
• Rubber come from rubber trees. They contain latex, which is used to make rubber.
• Ceramic is a man-made material. 
• Cotton comes from fruit of cotton plants
• Most of the wool comes from sheep.

Composition Of Wood

Newly formed cells have the wall composed of cellulose, a substance similar to starch in composition. The contents of the cell are made up of a number of substances, the chief of which are albuminoids, starchy matters, oils, and water with dissolved sugars, gums, and acids.

In the heart-wood the contents have disappeared, air taking their place, and the cell-wall has become very much thickened by a deposit within the cellulose of a dense substance called lignin, which gives to wood its elasticity and hardness.

In the living tree, air and water are present in varying quantities, depending on the season and kind of wood. The amount of water is frequently as much as fifty per cent. During the seasoning of pine, about twenty per cent of water is removed from the wood. This may be called free water, because it exists in the plant with all the ordinary properties of water. But there is also in pine-wood about the same amount of water, which is chemically combined with carbon to form cellulose and lignin. The presence of this modified water may be demonstrated by placing the wood in a partially closed iron vessel, and heating it red hot; the wood is reduced to charcoal, while water is given off, together with a small quantity of gases, oils, and other matters.

The elementary composition of wood varies according to the kind, the soluble matters in the soil, and the amount of moisture absorbed by the tree. Generally wood contains large quantities in proportion of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; less of nitrogen, sulphur, and potassium; and small quantities of iron, phosphorus, calcium, sodium, and silicon, with traces of many other elements.

Fig. 10. - Diagram showing growth of the cell-wall.

1. Cambium-cell: a, protoplasm or living contents of the cell; b, nucleus in the protoplasm; c, thin mem-, brane through which the sap passes. In the heart-wood this membrane has broken down, as at d.

2. Protoplasm forming a wall of cellulose.

3. Protoplasm has disappeared. Cellulose changing into lignin.

4. Cell-wall composed of lignin and thin membrane.

If wood is burned in the open air, the carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, and part of the oxygen are driven off in gaseous form; the other elements remain, and constitute the ash, of which the principal ingredient is potassium.

The amount of ash is greater in the palms and least in the pines. The percentage of a few are as follows:

White oak	.........	0.41
Hickory	..........	73
Black walnut	...........	79
Palmetto	.........	7.66
Black iron-wood,	............	8.31
Spanish-bayonet	.............	8.94

Oregon pine	...........	0.08
Red cedar	............	0.13
Redwood	..........	0.14
Chestnut	...........	0.18
White pine.	...........	0.19
Whitewood.	............	0.23

1. Give examples of the use of each material.

wood - timber, furniture

metal - utensils, machinery

plastics - containers, furniture

nylon - socks, fishing line

rubber - erasers

ceramic - tiles

wool - socks

Source: http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvement/woodworking/Exercises-Wood-Working/Composition-Of-Wood.html

5. What is sustainability?

Sustainability means to be able to maintained at a certain rate or level

7.What does it mean when we say that a product is sustainable? Give an example of a sustainable product and explain why the product is sustainably.

It means that the product is can be use for a period of time. 

Example:

Stainless steel Fork

It is because it doesn’t rust because once it rust, then we will be unable to use it anymore.

1. What does it mean by a sustainable environment? Give an example of a sustainable environment.

It is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as naturally possible.

Example is eco-industrial parks