Materials: Properties, Uses & Impacts — Drills · Grade 8 Science

Chapter: Properties of Matter

What these drills covers

By the end of Materials: Properties, Uses & Impacts you should be able to:

6 questions, written answer and multiple choice, each with a worked explanation.

Vocabulary used: synthetic material, constraint, trade-off, model, evidence, system boundary, assumption.

Problem 1

Name one property a window needs and one way to test it.
Answer and explanation

Transparency; measure or compare how much light passes through equal-thickness samples.

Problem 2

What information would help compare reusable and single-use cups?
Answer and explanation

Manufacturing resources and energy, number of reuses, washing impacts, and disposal or recycling options.

Problem 3

Choosing a material for a saucepan handle, the most important property is
  1. high thermal conductivity
  2. low thermal conductivity
  3. high density
  4. shiny appearance
Answer and explanation

low thermal conductivity

A poor conductor stays cool enough to hold.

Problem 4

A material that returns to its shape after being stretched is
  1. brittle
  2. elastic
  3. dense
  4. conductive
Answer and explanation

elastic

Elastic materials recover their original shape when the force is removed.

Problem 5

Explain why the best material for a job depends on more than one property.
Answer and explanation

A single property rarely settles a choice: a material may conduct heat well but corrode, or be strong but too heavy or costly. Selection means weighing the properties the job actually requires against the ones that would cause problems, including cost, durability and what happens to the material at the end of its life.

Response criteria

  • State a scientifically accurate conclusion.
  • Show the data, mechanism, or calculation that supports it.
  • Include units, conditions, or limits where relevant.

Problem 6

Name two impacts to consider when choosing a material beyond how well it performs.
Answer and explanation

How it is obtained — the energy, water and land used in extracting and processing it — and what happens afterwards, whether it can be reused or recycled or becomes waste. A material that performs well but is hard to recycle and energy-intensive to produce may be the worse choice overall.

Response criteria

  • State a scientifically accurate conclusion.
  • Show the data, mechanism, or calculation that supports it.
  • Include units, conditions, or limits where relevant.

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