This chapter studies the many materials that objects around us are made of and the properties used to classify them. Any substance used to make an object is a material — paper, wood, cloth, glass, metal, plastic, clay, and more — and a single object may be made of several materials, while one material can be used to make many objects. The method of arranging objects or materials into groups based on a common property is called classification. The chapter explores several properties. By appearance, materials may be lustrous (shiny, usually metals such as iron, copper, and aluminium) or non-lustrous (dull, such as paper, wood, and rubber), noting that not everything shiny is a metal. By feel, materials may be hard (difficult to compress or scratch) or soft (easily compressed or scratched), though these are relative. By how much we can see through them, materials are transparent (seen through clearly, like glass and water), translucent (seen through but not clearly, like butter paper and frosted glass), or opaque (cannot be seen through, like wood and metal). By behaviour in water, materials may be soluble (dissolve, like sugar and salt) or insoluble (do not dissolve, like sand and chalk powder), and some gases such as oxygen also dissolve in water. The chapter then introduces two properties shown by all materials: mass (how heavy or light an object is, measured in grams and kilograms) and volume (the space it occupies, measured in litres and millilitres). Anything that occupies space and has mass is called matter; thus all materials are kinds of matter. The chapter highlights SI conventions for writing units (kg, L, mL, m\u00b3) and links the modern classification of materials to the ancient Indian system of twenty properties described in Ayurveda.
Materials and classificationLustrous and non-lustrous materialsHardness, transparency, and solubilityMass and volumeMatter and its units
Key terms
Material
Any substance that is used to create or make an object, such as paper, wood, metal, glass, or plastic.
Classification
The method of arranging objects or materials into groups based on a common property.
Lustrous and non-lustrous
Lustrous materials have a shiny surface and are usually metals, while non-lustrous materials are dull, such as paper, wood, and rubber.
Transparent, translucent, opaque
Transparent materials can be seen through clearly, translucent materials are seen through but not clearly, and opaque materials cannot be seen through at all.
Soluble and insoluble
Soluble materials dissolve in water, such as sugar and salt, while insoluble materials do not dissolve, such as sand and chalk powder.
Matter
Anything that occupies space and has mass; mass is measured in grams and kilograms, and volume (the space occupied) in litres and millilitres.
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