Using Resources - Y11 Flashcards
What are ceramics?
- Non-metal solids
- High melting points
- Some can be made of clay
Example is glass
What is clay?
- Soft material when it’s dug up out of the ground
- Can be moulded into shapes
What happens when clay is fired at high temps?
Hardens to form a clay ceramic
What is clay ideal for?
Pottery and bricks
What is glass?
- Transparent
- Can be moulded when hot
- Brittle when thin
What is most glass made out of? How is it formed?
- Soda-lime glass
- Made by heating a mixture of limestone, sand and sodium carbonate unti; it melts
- When mixture cools, it forms glass
What has a higher melting point than soda-lime glass? How is it made?
- Borosilicate glass
- Same way as soda-lime glass, using a misture of sand and boron trioxide
What are composites?
Made of one material embedded in another
Reinforcement
- Consists of fibres or fragments of a material
- Is then surrounded by a matric or binder material
Name 4 composities
- Fibreglass
- Carbon fibre
- Concrete
- Wood
Fibreglass
- Consists of fibres of glasses embedded in a matrix made of polymer (plastic)
- Low density (like plastic)
- Very strong (like glass)
- Used for skis, boats, surfboats
Carbon fibre
- Has a polymer matrix
- Reinforcement is made from long chain of carbon atoms bonded together (carbon fibres) or carbon nanotubes
- V strong and light
- Used in aaerospace and sports car manufacturing
Concrete
- Made from aggregate (mix. of sand and gravel) embedded in cement
- V strong
- Building material
Wood
- Natural composite of cellulose fibres held together by an organic polymer matrix
What could you do to change the properties of a polymer?
- Change reaction temperature
- Reaction pressure
- Catalyst
Thermosoftening polymers
- Melt when heated
- Can reshape them while they’re soft
- Turns solid when cooled down
Melting of thermosoftening polymers process
- Intermolecular forces break when heated
- Polymer strands can separate from each other and polymer melts
- Cooling causes intermolecular forces to reform, polymer turns solid
Thermosetting polymers
- Don’t melt when heated
- Strong, hard, rigid
- Connected by strong crosslinks - not broken by heat - solid structure
Low density poly(ethene)
- made from ethene
- made at moderate temp and high pressure
- Flexible
- Used for bags and bottles
High density poly(ethene)
- Made from ethene
- Made at low temp and pressure
- With catalyst
- More rigid than LD
- Used for water tanks and drain pipes
Properties of ceramics (glass, clay ceramics like porcelain and bricks)
- Insulators of heat and electricity
- Brittle
- Stiff
Properties of polymers
- Insulators of heat and electricity
- FLEXIBLE
- Easily moulded
- Clothing, insulators in electrical items
Properties of composties
- depend on the matrix/binder and reinforcement used to make them, many diff uses
Properties of Metals
- Malleable
- Good conductors of heat and elec.
- Ductile
- Shiny
- Stiff
- Cutlery, car body work, elec. wires
What is bronze an alloy of? Uses?
Copper and tin
Medals, statues, decorative ornaments
What is brass an alloy of? Uses?
Copper and zinc
water taps, musical instruments, doorknobs
Gold
- Zinc, copper, silver used to harden gold
- Pure gold is soft
- 24 carat = 100%
- 18 carat = 75%
Aluminium alloys
- Low density
- Pure Al is soft
- Good for aircrafts
High carbon steel vs low carbon steel
High = Strong but brittle - cutting tools, bridges
Low = Softer, easily shaped - car bodies
Steels containing what are resistant to what
- Containing chromium and nickel (stainless steels) because steel is an alloy of iron which can rust
- are hard and resistant to corrosion
- used for cutlery
What metal is the word “rust” for? Wb other metals?
Iron can rust
Other metals corrode
How does iron rust?
Needs to be in contact with water and oxygen (present in air)
What is rust in scientific words?
Hydrated iron (III) oxide
Equation for formation of rust
iron + oxygen + water -> Hydrated iron (III) oxide
Where does corrosion only happen?
Surface of a matieral where its exposed to air
Does rust flake off? How does this affect the whole object?
- Soft crumbly slid flakes off to leave more iron to rust again
- All iron will corrode away one day
Aluminium corrosion facts
- Corrodes when exposed to air
- Not completely destroyed like iron
- Alumnium oxide forms when Al corrodes doesnt flake away
- Forms a nice protective layer, stops further reaction
Will it rust?
Iron nail is in test tube in distilled water, open to air
Yes
Will it rust?
Nail is boiled, distilled oil covered in oil
No, boiled water removed any dissolved air
Oil prevents any air in test tube from dissolving in water
Will it rust?
Nail is anhydrous calcium chloride powder with rubber bung
No, powder removes any water from the air in the test tube
Bung prevents moist air entering
4 ways to prevent rusting
- Painting/ coating with plastic = big and small structures
- Electroplating
- OIling/greasing - for moving parts eg bike chains
- Sacrificial method (Coating with zinc)
Sacrifical method
- Placing more reactive metal like zinc or mg
- Water and oxygen react with sacrifical metal instead of iron (sacrifical protection)
Galvanising
- object galvanised by spraying it with layer of zinc
- layer is firstly protective
- if scratched, zinc around site of scratch works as a sacrifical metal
Electroplating
- Electrolysis to reduce metal ions onto an iron electrode
- can be used to coat iron w/ layer of a diff metal that wont be corroded away
Corrosion
Destruction of material by chem reactions with substances in the environment
What are natural resources?
- Resources that form without human input
- anything from the earth, sea, air
What is done with some natural products?
- Replaced by synthetic products
- Or improved upon by man-made processes
How has rubber been modified?
- Rubber originally comes from sap from trees
- Man-made polymers can replace rubber in uses like tyres
How has agriculture been modified?
- Fertilisers = high yield of crops
Is timber a renewable resource?
- Yes
- Takes a few yrs to grow