What a material is
A material is the stuff a thing is made of: wood, metal, glass, plastic, cloth.
Material What a thing is made of, like wood or metal.
Step 1: Something to Notice
Watch first. The explanation comes later.
Two cups sit on a table. One is glass and one is paper. Both hold water, and only one of them is still a cup after you drop it.
They are both cups. So what is actually different?
Step 2: Find Out
Read across each row to find out what one material is like.
Step 1 — Predict
Which material do you think is both hard and see-through?
Choose what you think will happen. You cannot see the experiment until you do — guessing first is what makes it worth watching.
Step 3: So Here Is Why
Now the explanation, after you have seen it happen.
A property
A property is something true about a material that you can go and check yourself.
Property Something a material is like, that you can test.
More than one at a time
A material has many properties all at once. Glass is hard, and see-through, and waterproof, and it breaks if you drop it. Which of those matters depends on what you are making. For a window the see-through part matters most.
The object and the material are different
A cup is an object. Glass is a material. A cup can be china, plastic or metal.
Step 4: A Common Mistake
Lots of people think
“You describe a thing by saying what it is — a cup, a coat, a window.”
Step 5: Same Object, Different Material
The same idea somewhere new.
A spoon can be metal, wood or plastic. A bag can be cloth, paper or leather. The object stays the same; the material is a separate question.
Step 6: Think It Through
Practice makes it stick.
The Two Cups
Problem 1 of 1
Which cup would you still have after dropping it?
What Is It Like?
1 of 3
Which material is see-through?
2 of 3
Which material is bendy?
3 of 3
Put each material in the right box.
Tap something to move it.
- Empty
- Empty
Step 7: Quick Check
Show what you know.
Question 1 of 1
What is a property?
What You Found Out
- A material is what something is made of.
- A property is what a material is like: hard, bendy, see-through.
- A material can have several properties at once.
For the grown-up
Properties are what a material is like — Hard or soft, bendy or stiff, see-through or not, rough or smooth, waterproof or absorbent. These are properties, and every material has its own set of them.
You find out by testing — Bend it, scratch it, drop water on it, hold it up to the light. A property is something you can check rather than something you have to be told.
What a material is — A material is the stuff a thing is made of. Wood, metal, glass, plastic, cloth, rubber. Pick up any object and you can ask two separate questions about it: what is it for, and what is it made of. This chapter is about the second one.
A property — A property is something true about a material that you can go and check. Hard or soft. Bendy or stiff. See-through or not. Rough or smooth. You do not have to be told a property — you can test for it yourself.
The object and the material are different — A cup is an object — a thing with a job. Glass is a material. The same object can be made of different materials: a cup can be china, plastic, paper or metal, and it is still a cup. So "what is it?" and "what is it made of?" are two separate questions.