Year 7 Science

Materials and their Properties

Lesson 2

Using Raw Materials

The objects around us are made from materials that are not found naturally. Your pen or biro has a plastic outer case. The plastic had to be manufactured before the pen could be made. What raw material is used to make plastic?

We use raw materials in the world to make new materials. From these we make most of the objects we see around us.

Activity 1.

Things Around Us

Examine a variety of objects. Using a copy of the table below list all the materials used to construct the object. Consider whether they are natural or manufactured.

Some objects are already included.

How do you decide whether a material is natural or manufactured?

Activity 2.

Clothing labels.

Look at the label in a selection of clothes. Write down a list of the materials used.

These can be divided into two groups. Use the table headings below.

Start with natural materials first. The other materials are likely to be synthetic.

Click here for a possible selection.

Activity 3.

Raw Materials.

The raw materials we use to make new materials come from the air, rocks, soil and living things.

Rearrange this table to place with right substance with the correct raw material.

Click here for colour coded answers

Activity 4

Making a new material

Raw materials are treated to change them into something new. This is called a process.

Raw material New material

Wood to Charcoal

Turning the raw material wood into charcoal is an ancient process. Charcoal has been used for centuries for writing, drawing and perhaps more importantly in another processes. The extraction of iron from iron ore.

Charcoal is mostly pure carbon. It looks similar to burnt wood. Indeed you may find bits of charcoal in the remains of old camp fires. It would seem that fire must be involved in changing wood to charcoal.

How?

A fire does not produce much charcoal most of the wood burns away or is left as ashes.

Try to find out what you can about the process of turning wood into charcoal.

These are key words:

wood

heat

air

oxygen

carbon

fire

Write a paragraph about the process.

Click here to compare your ideas with ours.

Activity 5

Crude oil.

For such a messy mixture crude oil is a very useful substance. There are many materials that can be extracted from the oil.

Petrol is one of them.

We can then make new substances if the raw materials are processed.

The substances below can be found in a barrel of crude oil.

Copy the diagram and place a sustance next to each arrow.

The lowest temperature should be at the top and the highest next to the bottom arrow.

Naphtha is the substance from which we can use to make many other useful materials like plastics.

Activity 6

How much is in a barrel?

Use the percentages of the substances found in a barrel of North Sea Oil to draw a bar chart.

Coal is a fossil fuel like crude oil. You will find out more about how they were made from living things that existed millions of years ago.

Coal is a raw material. Can you find out which other materials can be made from coal?

Teachers and Parents.

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