Natural/Synthetic
What is the main difference between natural and synthetic materials?
Natural materials come from nature. Humans make synthetic materials.
What three places can natural materials come from? MUST HAVE ALL THREE.
Animals, plants, or the ground.
How are Earth's resources distributed across Earth?
Unevenly.
Name a nonrenewable fuel made from plant material.
Coal (most common response)
Why might a specific material be chosen to create something?
Based on its PROPERTIES (soft/hard, fragile/durable, shiny/dull, etc)
Why do we develop synthetic materials?
To improve a material for a specific use.
Name two ways we extract resources.
Mining, Drilling, or quarrying.
Name a RENEWABLE fuel made from plants.
Ethanol (most common answer)
What are synthetic materials the result of? Hint: What kind of process does the material need to go through to be synthetic?
A chemical reaction.
What are ALL synthetic materials made of?
Natural materials.
Why are Earth's resources unevenly distributed?
Mostly climated related.
Why are different fuels projected to run out at different times?
Different levels of usage or different amounts on reserve.
Give an example of a synthetic material made from a natural material.
Answers may vary.
Some foods are synthetic because they have "bioengineered" food ingredients. Why might someone want to bioengineer food?
To improve the flavor and/or look of the food.
What kind of reason is behind extracting resources even if it hurts the environment? (Hint: starts with an "E").
Economic reasons.
What is an example of a individual benefit versus a societal benefit?
Answers may vary.