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Matter Lab 6-8 / Week 11 / Bench Day
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Week 11 · From Nature to New Materials

Bench Day

Bench Day: Where did it come from?
// Paper from wood, plastic from oil, glass from sand, steel from iron ore
⏱ about 20 min

Bench Day: Where Did It Come From?

Saturday morning, Rocket turns the kitchen into a scavenger hunt. "Find one thing from a tree, one from oil, one from sand, one from rock."

A grown-up holds up a steel pan. "Rock," Raven says. "Iron ore to steel."

"Window," Rocket says, tapping the glass. "Sand."

Nova hovers near the recycling bin. "This bin is full of journeys," she says. "Each one started somewhere."

Raven lifts a cereal box. "Wood. And it says it was made from recycled paper. So this fiber has traveled before."

"How many times can it go around?" Rocket asks.

"Five to seven, the agency says," Raven answers. "Then the fibers get too short. What do you notice about that number?"

  1. Synthetic materials come from natural resources through a chemical process, and they impact society.
  2. Paper comes from wood fibers separated by pulping, formed on screens, pressed and dried.
  3. Many plastics come from petroleum or natural gas. Small molecules called monomers join into giant polymers.
  4. Glass comes from silica sand melted near 1600 degrees Celsius and cooled into a solid that is not a crystal.
  5. Steel is iron from iron ore combined with a little carbon. About 98 percent of iron ore goes to steelmaking.
  6. In 2018, paper was recycled at 68.2 percent, glass at 31.3 percent and plastics at 8.7 percent.
◇ FAMILY SCAVENGER HUNT
Together, find one object made from each resource: wood, petroleum or natural gas, sand, and iron ore. Try for two of each.
One person names the object, one names the resource, one names the material. Swap roles each round.
Look in the recycling bin together. Sort what you find into paper, glass and plastic and count each pile.
Compare your counts with Thursday's table. Which material is your family best at recycling?
For a grown-up
The hunt uses everyday objects. No cutting or opening of anything is needed.
Glass objects stay in a grown-up's hands or on a table. Nobody carries glass around the house during the hunt.
The material facts this week come from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Geological Survey and the Energy Information Administration. Chemistry facts come from chem.libretexts.org.
Safety first
Handle glass with two hands over a table. Step back and call a grown-up if anything breaks.
Nothing is tasted. Wash hands after sorting the recycling bin.
THINK IT THROUGH
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
A cereal box says it is made from recycled paper. What natural resource did its fibers start as?
A steel pan, a glass window and a plastic bag. Which came from iron ore?
How many times, at most, can a paper fiber generally be recycled before it is too short? Type the number.
WHY THIS EXERCISEEven a recyclable material has limits, and that limit shapes how we use it.
Bench Day checkTrue or false?
Glass objects are carried around the house during the hunt.?
A recycled paper fiber still started as wood.?
Petroleum is a natural resource behind many plastics.?
WHY THIS EXERCISESafe hunting and clear sorting make your family data worth recording.
Draw a map of one room with four objects marked. Show one from wood, one from oil or gas, one from sand and one from iron ore.
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