12 PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS 1. Adjectives describing properties - form nouns from the adjectives: A brittle material or thing breaks easily; e.g. glass, egg noun: A soft material is easy to scratch e.g. chalk noun: A tough material / thing does not break easily; e.g. steel noun: A flexible material bends easily: e.g. rubber noun: A hard material is difficult to scratch. e.g. glass noun: A rigid material does not bend easily; e.g. concrete noun: Some materials have a smooth surface; they produce little friction when they are rubbed; e.g. ice noun: You can see through transparent materials; e.g. water noun: Some materials have a rough surface and produce a lot of friction; e.g. sandpaper noun: You cannot see through translucent materials but the light passes through them; e.g. dirty water noun: Soluble materials dissolve easily; e.g. salt noun: You cannot see through opaque materials and the light cannot pass through them; e.g. metal noun: Materials which are insoluble do not dissolve; e.g. glass noun: Combustible materials burn easily e.g. wood noun: Bates, Martin and Dudley-Evans, Tony: Nucleus of General Science. 2. Adjective + the infinitive. Choose the right word in the second sentence to say the same as the 1^st one. 1. You can scratch chalk easily. Chalk is easy / hard to scratch. 2. Steel cannot be bent without force. Steel is easy / difficult to bend. 3. Diamond is so hard that it can cut glass. Diamond is hard / soft enough to cut glass. 4. You can burn paper without much effort. Paper is hard / easy to burn. 5. Rubber cannot be torn apart easily. Rubber is too elastic / brittle to be torn apart. 3. Look at the materials in task 1 and in pairs, say a few sentence about their properties. Make sentences with an adjective + the infinitive. 4. An experiment: Complete the text with the correct form of the word in brackets. https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening/upper-intermediate-b2/a-lecture-about-an-e xperiment Pitch is the name (1)……………………………… (give) to a black substance that can be manufactured from petroleum, coal tar or plants. It was (2)……………………………… (original) used in road (3)……………………………… (construct), boat- (4)……………………………… (build) and waterproofing roofs. It is known for its viscosity (being semi-fluid), its (5)……………………………… (sticky) and its (6)……………………………… (elastic). In fact, pitch is the world’s (7)……………………………… (thick) known fluid. An experiment to let drops of pitch form and then fall has been going for 92 years without (8)……………………………… (interrupt). 5. Circle the best answer. 1. The pitch drop experiment is … a. the oldest experiment in history. b. the oldest experiment that is still running today. c. the longest experiment in 1927. 2. The creator of the experiment wanted to … a. have an experiment that lasted a long time. b. show the dangers of everyday materials. c. show that common substances have extraordinary properties. 3. Pitch is a substance … a. that looks solid but is actually liquid. b. that looks liquid but is actually solid. c. that doesn’t appear to be liquid or solid. 4. The professor heated and poured the sample into a a. porcelain vessel. b. plastic beaker. c. glass funnel. 5. The first time a drop of pitch fell was … a. eight years after the experiment began. b. three years after the experiment began. c. forty years after the experiment began. 6. Which of the following sentences is true about Professor John Mainstone? a. He never saw the pitch drop. b. He was responsible for the experiment for over fifty years. c. He took over the experiment in 1927. 7. In the year 2000, … a. an electricity failure meant the pitch drop was not filmed. b. scientists set up a live stream of the experiment. c. the ninth drop of pitch fell. 8. In Dublin, … a. news about unusual events spread very quickly. b. scientists set up a similar experiment. c. people weren’t interested in such a slow event. 6. Do you know of any other famous experiments? What are they? 7. Here are other properties of materials. Form adjectives from these nouns. Czech translation Noun Adjective 1. pružnost elasticity elastic 2. křehkost fragility 3. tažnost ductility 4. kujnost malleability 5. vodivost conductivity 6. žáruvzdornost heat-resistance 7. zápalnost flammability 8. jedovatost, toxicita toxicity 9. reaktivita reactivity 10. netečnost inertness 11. lehkost lightness 12. savost, absorpčnost absorbency 13. viskozita, lepkavost viscosity 14. hustota density 15. trvanlivost, odolnost durability 16. odolnost proti korozi corrosion resistance 17. síla strength 18. rozpustnost solubility 19. hořlavost combustibility 20. propustnost permeability 8. Grammar: the use of adjectives + infinitives – study the examples here: http://www.grammaring.com/adjective-to-infinitive 9. Discoveries and inventions Add the words 1 -6 to the text. Read the text to find out what makes the properties of steel better, and under what conditions. Underline your answers. In 1913, English metallurgist Harry Brearly accidentally discovered that adding chromium to low carbon steel gives 1__ stain resistance. It is the addition of a minimum of 12% chromium to the steel 2__ makes it resist rust, or stain 'less' than other types of steel. The chromium in the steel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to form a thin, invisible layer of chrome-containing oxide, called the passive film. The sizes of chromium atoms and 3__ oxides are similar, so 4__ pack neatly together on the surface of the metal, forming a stable layer only a few atoms thick. If the metal is cut or scratched and the passive film is disrupted, 5__ oxide will quickly form and recover the exposed surface, protecting 6__ from oxidative corrosion. The passive film requires oxygen to self-repair, so stainless steels have poor corrosion resistance in low-oxygen and poor circulation environments. http://worldsteel.org 1. its 2. that 3. other 4. they 5. less 6. them it which his that little it this what their what more us 10. Describing advantages and drawbacks Talking about ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES The greatest advantage of … Another point in favour of … is The major benefit of… One drawback of… Another point against … is… A major disadvantage of … PROS CONS good points, pluses, positive aspect, advantage, positive point, benefit bad points, minuses, disadvantage, drawback, negative effect, You will get a picture showing a new invention. Describe the invention and persuade your classmates about its benefits. HOMEWORK: How to make graphene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehvksWx3AJQ&list=PLA8E157D4D495E8D0 0.30 – 3.30 , 5.35 – 6.56 The scientists from the University of Manchester show how to make graphene from graphite and explain why graphene is an extraordinary material. Complete the gaps with the given words. Then listen and check. impression squishy sticky naked excess absorbs rip edge sample cleave range conductor light 1. We take some graphite and place it on some tape, …………………….. tape. 2. Then you just press the graphite, it’s ………………………. . 3. Press the graphite on the tape and then you can take an …………………………….. . 4. When you press the tape together, you’re basically removing a few layers, (…) so we just remove the …………………. graphite. 5. It’s quite thick - it’s still a graphite, you can see it with the ……………………….. eye. (…) 6. Once you press the flakes onto the silicon surface, just grab the ………………………. of the tape and the trick is to remove the tape slowly. 7. If you do it too quickly, then the layers don’t …………………. that well. 8. What we would then do is transfer the ……………………… to a microscope. (…) 9. Nice thing about graphene is that it’s got a whole …………………….. of properties which are all great. 10. Despite the fact that it is so thin, it’s also the strongest material. If you try to ……………………….. it apart, it takes more force than anything else. 11. Since it is so thin, it’s also very …………………………… . 12. It’s mostly transparent – it’s about 97% transparent to light but another way of looking at it is despite being that thin it still ……………………… 3%. 13. Graphene is the best ………………………………. of electricity and heat because electrons can zip through graphene as if they are particles of light.