Year 9 - Design and technology
Smart materials in design
Developments in new materials: supporting new parents
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils will develop knowledge of smart and modern materials and apply this to designing a product to support new parents. They will develop strategies for generating ideas by investigating a specific context.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to identify smart materials, uses and applications.
Key Notes
- Smart materials change their material properties in response to an external stimulus.
- Smart material examples include thermochromic pigments, photochromic pigments and shape memory alloys.
- Stimuli include sunlight, water/moisture, pressure and temperature.
- Smart materials gives designers and engineers exciting possibilities when developing new products.
Vocabulary To Learn
- stimulus/stimuli: (singular/plural) - something that encourages activity or change
- material property: a characteristic of a material
- response: a reaction to a stimulus
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Smart materials are only for fun products like colour changing mugs.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Smart materials change their material properties in response to an external stimulus. Smart material examples include thermochromic pigments, photochromic pigments and shape memory alloys.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'stimulus/stimuli'
(singular/plural) - something that encourages activity or change.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Smart materials are only for fun products like colour changing mugs. Correction: Smart materials give designers and engineers exciting possibilities when developing new products. Possibilities often focus on function and/or form. For example, thermochromic materials can be used to indicate a temperature and warn users of danger.
More Lessons In This Unit
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