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6.2 For new materials, such as nitinol and hydrophobic materials, identify the reason for their development and investigate their properties.
6.3 Assess the impact on society and the environment of materials like oil, plastic, concrete, steel, synthetic fertilisers.
6.4 Analyse how social, ethical and environmental considerations can influence decisions about scientific research in the development and production of new materials.
6.5 Describe examples of how advances in materials science and technology have affected people’s lives, including generating new career opportunities.
6.6 Investigate, using scientific evidence, claims made in the media or advertising in relation to a new material.
Monday P3&4 L4
Monday P3&4 L4
6.2 For new materials, such as nitinol and hydrophobic materials, identify the reason for their development and investigate their properties.
TASK 6.2A
TASK 6.2A
Read information and view videos from Week 9.
Where and what is nano? How will it shape our future?
Nanoscience is the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at the nanoscale, where properties differ significantly from those at a larger scale. The strange world of nanoscience and nanotechnology – it can take you into atoms and beyond the stars.
View video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ba1DByUmM [17.26 mins]
Nitinol
Nickel Titanium Naval Ordnance Laboratory - Nitinol
View a few minutes of the video (demonstration only): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI-qAxKJoSU [9.41 mins]
A rover on the Moon has metal wheels that can flex around rocky obstacles, then reshape back to their original form. On Earth, surgeons install tiny mesh tubes that can dilate a heart patient’s blood vessels all on their own, without mechanical inputs or any wires to help.
These shape-shifting capabilities are all thanks to a bizarre kind of metal called nitinol, a so-called shape-metal alloy that can be trained to remember its own shape. The decades-old material has become increasingly common in a wide range of everyday applications. And in the next decade, the metal will face its most challenging application yet: a sample return mission on Mars.
Nitinol, made of nickel and titanium, works its magic through heat. To “train” a paper clip made of nitinol, for example, you heat it at 500 degrees Celsius in its desired shape, then splash it in cold water. Bend it out of shape, then return the same heat source, and the metal will eerily slink back into its original form.
The temperature that triggers nitinol’s transformation varies depending on the fine-tuned ratio of nickel to titanium. Engineers can tweak the metal to adapt to a wide array of conditions, making it a key tool in places where complex mechanics won’t fit, like the blood vessels surrounding a human heart or a hinge that positions a solar panel by responding to the sun’s heat.
View a few minutes of the video: Liquid Armour to see how prison guard uniforms are being made blade resistant using nanotechnology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYIWfn2Jz2g&t=291s [9.51 mins]
Ferrofluid is a liquid that is attracted to the poles of a magnet. Ferrofluids are made of nano-scale ferromagnetic, or ferrimagnetic, particles suspended in a carrier fluid (usually an organic solvent or water).
View a few minutes of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8cCvAITGWM [10.05 mins]
Aerogel
Aerogel is a synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component for the gel has been replaced with a gas without significant collapse of the gel structure. The result is a solid with extremely low density and extremely low thermal conductivity.
View a few minutes of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnOoDE9rj6w [13.20 mins]
Many expect that clothing a few years from now will have some greatly enhanced function, making use of science to create cleaner, safer textiles. One way to achieve these goals is to use nanotechnology to do things like kill bacteria or remove dirt.
Nanotechnology in the clothing industry is not new. Beginning in the mid-2000s, many clothing companies started incorporating silver nanoparticles into their products. Silver nanoparticles are antimicrobial, which means they kill the bacteria that cause bad odours. By including these nanoparticles in fabric to prevent odour, the resulting clothes need to be washed less frequently. These nano-infused items range from socks to t-shirts and are still popular today.
There is a lot more new technology beyond antimicrobial nanoparticles coming from the field of nano-fabrics. Other desirable clothing characteristics that could be achieved with nanotechnology include self-cleaning fabrics, water-repelling textiles, and clothing that can reduce odors by chemically changing the compounds that cause bad odour. Recently, fabrics coated with silver and copper nanomaterials were produced that can degrade organic matter, such as food and dirt, upon exposure to the sun. These nanomaterials absorb visible light, producing high energy “hot” electrons that can break down surrounding organic matter. Incorporating these nanomaterials could thus help create clothes that clean themselves.
Nanotechnology can also be harnessed to produce water-repelling, or hydrophobic, materials. Imagine how convenient it would be if rain was completely repelled by your umbrella, to the point that you could wrap it up when you get inside- no having to shake it off or leave it open to dry! New nanofabrics can do just this because they contain patterned nano-silicone spikes. Silicone is naturally water resistant, and the use of nano-sized patterns makes the material even more hydrophobic. When a water droplet comes into contact with the surface of these materials, it balls up and slides off instead of being absorbed.
Self-cleaning fabric (Pearson 9 pp37-8)
Self-cleaning fabrics are coated in molecules of a polymer such as PFC (perfluorocarbon). This results in a rough surface that is highly water- and dirt-repellent. Nano-tex™ is a self-cleaning fabric that uses polymers to form ‘whiskers’ on the surface of the fabric. Figure 1.4.5 shows the whiskers as tiny branching polymer fibres that are stuck to the weave of the fabric. These fibres hold water droplets away from the surface of the fabric, preventing water from sticking to it. This makes the fabric hydrophobic - highly water repellent, commonly referred to as ‘water-hating’. (The opposite is hydrophilic or ‘water-loving’.)
On some hydrophobic surfaces, known as super-hydrophobic surfaces, water forms nearly spherical drops. Superhydrophobic surfaces are self-
cleaning—they allow water drops to pick up and carry dirt off the surface.
Practical 6.2A: Design experiment: Nano Materials
Practical 6.2A: Design experiment: Nano Materials
Tuesday P2 L5
Tuesday P2 L5
Thursday P3 L5
Thursday P3 L5
6.3 Assess the impact on society and the environment of materials like oil, plastic, concrete, steel, synthetic fertilisers.
TASK 6.3A
TASK 6.3A
Research to present the impact on society and the environment of one of:
oil
plastic
concrete
steel
synthetic fertilisers
Which is worse? Round Robin and vote to last man standing.
Friday P3 L4
Friday P3 L4
Good Friday - Public Holiday
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